Learning to Learn by Atharrv

Learning to Learn by Atharrv - August 2026 Scholarship Essay

Throughout my middle school life, I have had to work on many essays for ELA, Science, and Social Studies. I was always good at essay writing, so I never had to ask anybody for help. I got great grades for all of my essays, so I seldom had something to worry about. I was usually the one offering advice to others, and many people looked up to me.

However, in 8th Grade, ELA Honors hit hard. I expected it to be hard, but the original Honors teacher retired, and the new Honors ELA teacher was my 6th grade ELA teacher, one that was super strict. She had higher expectations from us, as we were the Honors class. It was nearly impossible to live up to her expectations. Especially the essays. We had to write an essay almost every 2 months, and her grading was strict. I was one of the best essay writers in my class, alongside a couple friends, so I was always helping other people with their essays. Whenever the teacher said to go proofread with a classmate, anybody who would come to me would get their essay proofread, not the other way around.

This carried on for a long time, until once, one of my friends gave me a suggestion on one of my essays. After I read over my own essay, I realized that the suggestion did really make sense. After this incident, I decided to ask for feedback on my own writing. Whenever someone gave me any feedback, I would listen to it and think about what they said. More times than not, the feedback worked and it really improved my writing.

Soon, I developed a habit of asking for feedback, one that went way past ELA class. I would ask for feedback on many of the projects that I did. Every time that I got feedback, I would take it as a learning opportunity. I would use every piece of feedback as a way to grow, and I would keep the feedback in mind for next time. Instead of being arrogant, I became more accepting of suggestions. I really improved. All because of 1 piece of feedback in an ELA Honors class.