As to be expected, AP Literature is heavily focused on literary analysis. And by the end of the first semester, I had a hunch my students needed a breather. So where do you think I turned for inspiration?

To the ENGLISH tab of my 1992-93 high school binder, of course. Yes, I’ve held onto that handy resource, and it has helped me more than once.

This time around, I pulled out a memorable exercise and adapted it for FlipGrid. Students had to list three favorite “sensory details” for each of the five senses, plus a sixth category, an “all around good feeling.” I shared from my own 28-year-old list in a video and presented them with the challenge.

Wow. So delightfully refreshing. It filled me with good feelings for my students and reminded me what it’s like to be 17 or 18. One student described “the sound of opening a new can of tennis balls” and another held up her hands with crooked fingers to show the “all-around good feeling” she experiences when someone grabs onto a chain link fence.

Resurrecting my old list, complete with comments and a sticker from my teacher, put me in a sentimental mood. I wanted to tell her how much she meant to me. I majored in English and became a teacher in part because of her. I don’t so much remember the lessons and lectures and insights about novels that I learned as I remember how I felt in her class. Mrs. Baron treated us with respect. She wanted to know who we were and what we thought. She delighted in her students and supported our becoming young adults by giving us the space to express ourselves and make mistakes. She made me feel interesting and valued. I recall lots of laughter and bonding with my classmates. Her classroom was a special space during a transformative time.

I don’t know why it took me so long to tell her all of this. Perhaps that’s just part of the loveliness of being a self-involved teenager and young adult. And then I didn’t become a teacher for the first 20 years after college.

But the time seemed right over Christmas break, and thanks to the internet I found her. We Zoomed this morning (yay for Zoom!). Anticipation had me emotional for a week. Gratitude, sentimentality, a sense of coming full circle: to be teaching AP Lit now (with three of the same texts on the syllabus) … well, it’s simply a blessing beyond words.

Christine Baron is just as I remembered her. Just as other-centering and gracious. Just as supportive, spirited, and wonderful. She is the type of teacher I want to be. And lucky me, she has offered to stay in touch.

Perhaps with regular contact, I will be able to do more than replicate her assignments. I hope to channel Mrs. Baron’s love and delight. To not lose sight of the preciousness of each of the young people who come into my care on their way to adulthood.