I was thinking of sending the following e-mail to my professor with the hopes that they will reconsider their position. Does it sound professional and kind? I don't want to come off as a demanding prick. In the kindest way possible, I want to express that I don't think their methodology will work for me. As you said, everyone learns differently and I am not prepared to make such a drastic change to my study habits.
Here is the e-mail. Any constructive criticism is appreciated. I don't want to them to feel as if I created any tension between us.
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Hello Dr. ...,
My name is .... and I am currently registered for your ... class. I am very excited to take the course, but I have one concern I was hoping I could discuss with you that relates to my performance in this course. You mentioned on the first day of class that you would not be providing lecture notes.
A study habit that I've had a lot of success with has been to review the lecture slides prior to attending class and annotating them during the lecture. This has allowed me to stay more attentive as opposed to scrambling to write everything down. Given that the information in this course can become very detailed, I feel that reviewing the lecture notes beforehand would be immensly helpful. I understand that we don't have to write down every single detail, but I have to admit that I am not quick enough to determine what information is and isn't important.
I have only taken one other course in which lecture slides were not made available and I found it very difficult to keep up. What I'm ultimately trying to say is that I am prepared to work hard to succeed in this course. However, I am not prepared to make such a drastic change to my study habits and, given my past experience, I feel that not providing lecture notes may hinder my performance in the course. I hope you will reconsider your position and allow me to study using methods that I am most confortable with.
Thank you and I appreciate your time,
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