On the first day of the 2015-2016 school year, CHS journalism advisor, Erin Castellano, walked into English teacher Sue Teson’s first hour class as a student, along with 22 anxious juniors.

Teson, who has been teaching for 27 years, was the recipient of the Bill Mendelson Excellence in Teaching Award last year. To say the least, she is a legend. Castellano speaks for many when she says, “I’m like a big, big fan.”

Castellano’s admiration for Teson was present from the start. “She was obviously someone that I had a deep respect for,” Castellano said. “Lots of my students and graduates have talked about how she was such a wonderful teacher, and I was always kind of intrigued by her.”

As it turns out, the respect was mutual. “I always kind of admired her from afar,” Teson said. “But it wasn’t until recently that our paths converged.”

The convergence occurred on the way to a girls’ retreat in Caledonia, MO. “We drove down together and we just started talking about school, and about classes,” Teson said. “We just sort of clicked.”

Throughout the trip, Castellano became even more inspired to learn from Teson. “She is somebody who knows a lot about the world around her,” Castellano said. “A plant, for example: she’ll be able to tell you what it is, the history of it, why it is important to the landscape and why it matters. It is fun to be around somebody who can give so much context and depth to the world that you’re in.”

After hearing Learning Center Director Carroll Lehnhoff-Bell rave about how much she loved being a support teacher in Teson’s class a few years ago, Castellano was convinced: she was going to take Teson’s Honors American Literature course.

“I thought, if I’m going to do this, I’m going to do this,” Castellano said. “No better day than today.”

As Castellano walked in on the first day, the students were surprised to see her with a notebook in her hands.

CHS Junior Lawrence Hu reveals his peers’ reaction upon seeing Castellano in class.

“On the first day, [my friends were] like, ‘what is she doing? Is she supposed to be here, or is she just here to survey people or see what is going on?’”

Hu, a Globe student, knew about Castellano’s enrollment in the class prior to the first day of school. He was also one of the first to sit next to her.

“I didn’t know how it was going to work at first,” Hu said. “I thought it was kind of weird, but then I kind of rolled with it.”

To clear the confusion, Teson promptly addressed the class situation. “I said, ‘So here is what is happening,’” Teson said. “As far as class goes, she is one of you. So for groups and graded discussions and those kind of things, she will just be interacting with you as if she is a student in the class, which she is.”

It did not take long for Castellano to fit right in. “It is pretty fun,” Hu said. “We just treat her like a student, but then the moment she steps out of that classroom she is a teacher again.”

As far as the rigorous workload is concerned, Castellano has already been participating in class and completing her homework on par with the other students in the class.

“It is the students’ class,” Teson said. “She makes that very clear. But sometimes when she has something to say when other people aren’t raising their hand, she will share, and it is just really great.”

For Castellano, the experience is much more than just learning and practicing the material. “One piece is that I’m just generally interested in the content, because I think it is presented incredibly well, and I think the stuff she talks about is really interesting,” Castellano said. “But the other piece of that is looking at how she is operating as a teacher and how she is interacting with the students.”

Castellano has already carefully observed Teson’s teaching style and has used it within her own classes. “It has been a great experience learning more about American literature in American history, and also learning how to be a better teacher,” Castellano said. “The goal is just to observe and learn from someone who is a master teacher.”

Castellano is not the only one learning from the experience.

“I think it is pretty cool,” Hu said. “I think it builds a sense of community between the teachers and the students which I feel like we need more of. She probably gets to meet a lot of new students and the students also get to meet her. Also, she [has the opportunity] to build a relationship with Mrs. Teson and the English Department, so I feel like maybe even teachers could learn something from that. You can still learn even though you are teaching other kids.”

Teson sees Castellano as the poster child for the goal of the course.

“It has gotten to the point where, I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say this, but I get a text from her everyday making some kind of connection with something she has seen or a piece of music, something she has heard,” Teson said. “So that’s what is so invigorating about the experience, is that she is really taking this stuff to heart, and really seeing connections between what we are doing in class and our larger American society, which is really the ultimate goal of the course — to make students very conscious of their cultural heritage and how the American story plays out before our eyes everyday.” ⎫