“We all went to school,” says Kay McSpadden, “but only a few people know what goes on in schools today.” McSpadden is one of those few — and in Notes from a Classroom she takes readers on a fascinating journey inside the South Carolina high school where she has taught English for nearly 30 years.

Here we meet Myra, the future valedictorian who shines in AP English; Daniel, a 17-year-old artist headed off to war; Jerry, a burly senior who lost both his parents to prison when he was 8 years old; and Tracy, a shy special-ed student who wins the applause of her classmates.

With these students we discover (or rediscover) the great poets and writers of English—from Chaucer to Shakespeare to Billy Collins. We see the written word transform lives. We argue good and evil, fate and free will.

And if we listen carefully, we begin to see the beauty and nobility of an “examined life.”

If you’ve ever had a teacher who changed your life, read Notes from a Classroom and remember.

And if you’ve never had such a teacher, then come, take a seat in Kay McSpadden’s classroom. It’s about time you did.