Lessons from English Class by Kyra

Lessons from English Class by Kyra - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

When we go to school, we go there to learn. Each teacher is responsible for an assigned topic.

Whether it is English or biology, we are expected to learn the material from them. However,

sometimes it isn’t academic knowledge that we take away from the class. Sometimes what we

learn in these classes isn’t what we expect, but they are the most valuable.

I had the same English teacher, Mrs. Cullison, for three years, and this was completely

unexpected. We were part of the International Baccalaureate program, also known as IB. In this

program, we had a separate English teacher for the ninth and tenth grades, and then the same

teacher for eleventh and twelfth. However, when the IB English teacher for eleventh and twelfth

grade transferred, we were ecstatic to find out Mrs. Cullison was going to be our teacher for the

next two years. We had enjoyed her stark honesty and sarcastic humor, and we found English

class so much more enjoyable because of it.

The most important lesson I learned from Mrs. Cullison, though, didn’t have much to do with

English. Yes, she followed a curriculum, and she made sure all the objectives were met. But she

also taught us about perspective. She used the different points of view in novels and applied it to

real-life situations. Mrs. Cullison showed us how events influence the motivations of characters

and why certain actions in the story are rewarded or condemned, despite our values or desires.

Through our study of literature, she taught me the most valuable lesson of all. She taught me

how to interpret the world and how to respect all viewpoints so I have more success in life.

From her, I learned how to be hopeful and optimistic. This wasn’t a specific lesson from a novel,

but rather through personal experience. I had hoped she would be our teacher again. There had

been times in other classes where I lost faith and became frustrated. However, when the

seemingly impossible happened and she continued to be our teacher, it gave me new confidence

in myself and allowed me to be more optimistic about my future.

Reading books such as Jane Eyre and Their Eyes Were Watching God inspired me to see the

world through the eyes of characters who had lost hope at times but persevered and triumphed

through sustained optimism. Mrs. Cullison used these characters as vehicles to teach us how to

live our lives with purpose.

She also taught us how patience and determination lead to success. When we felt down, she was

always there to pick us back up. Throughout our studies, we had to write essays and do

assignments for the AP and IB exams. Many times, we felt we would fail. We were

overwhelmed to the point where negative emotions clouded our judgment, and some people gave

up. Mrs. Cullison refused to let us feel this way. She would give us pep talks, and she would sit

down to talk to us individually to show she cares. She took the books we read and showed us the

strong, determined characters. She applied the stories in a way we could relate.

The most important lesson I learned came from Mrs. Cullison, my English teacher. She taught us

to have a fresh outlook on life. She taught us to be optimistic and never to give up. These lessons

are what I carry with me as I go into college and adulthood.