Steps to Becoming a Better Student by Tess

Steps to Becoming a Better Student by Tess - January 2016 Scholarship Essay

As we all know it’s a new year. New Year’s bring out the new habits in all people. One main focus I have this year will be becoming a new hardworking student. There are many different methods people can do to become a better student, but I have one main idea on how to be better. My goal is to ask more questions/ talk more in class. By doing this I hope to get a better understanding of the lessons and know the lessons well enough to help other people.
Usually when I’m in a class I just sit back and listen to the teacher and other students comments. By doing this I get mostly A’s and some B’s. I hope that speaking more will help clear things up about the lessons that I don’t really understand. I have always been a quiet kid in class but since the New Year I realized I only have one more year to learn in High School. Before 2016, when I would get a test back and see that I got something wrong I never asked why I got it wrong. However, this year I got some tests and papers back where I missed some stuff and I ask the teachers what I did wrong and how I can improve my skills.
I hope talking in class will not only help me but also help others. I know that if I have a question and I speak up, some other kid in the class may have the same question as me and it can be cleared up by asking. Some of my friends have told me that my questions have really helped them this year and they are understanding lessons better than they did last year. Another way I will talk more in class is to the kids in my class. In my math class a lot of my friends and others in the class always come up to me and ask me how I did certain problems. It seems that I have helped many students throughout the year this way. The main classes I’m quiet in is English and my history classes. I think my main fear about talking is being wrong. I told myself this year that I need to get over that fear because being wrong is how we learn, and nobody is perfect. If I knew all the answers I shouldn’t be in school and that’s the main reason I go, to learn. What’s ironic about my new year’s resolution is my Sociology teacher told my class that since she has such a small class this year all of the kids in the class need to speak up more. I took her advice and have been talking more. As a result I don’t only talk a lot in her class but I also talk more in my other classes. I don’t talk to the point where I get in trouble, but I talk enough to get my questions out and my points across. I hope to continue this resolution throughout the rest of my High School career and continue it through college.