We tend to rush students toward the trial in To Kill a Mockingbird. But the slow first half is where the novel does its quietest work — teaching us to misjudge Boo Radley before we’re asked to judge Tom Robinson. A teacher’s reading of waiting, with ideas for the classroom.
Atticus Finch’s closing argument works as a legal argument, a study in rhetoric, a moral challenge, and a historical document — all at once. Here is how I read it, and what I have found most productive for teaching it.
Steinbeck called it his most ambitious novel. At over 600 pages, with a cast of characters spanning two generations, East of Eden is not an easy text to teach. This guide explains why it belongs in your high school classroom anyway — and how to make it work.
Teaching East of Eden in High School: Are We Free to Choose Who We Become? Read Post »
Explore whether The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a true allegory or a rich imaginative supposal by C.S. Lewis, and learn how this distinction can deepen students’ understanding of Aslan and the novel’s themes of redemption, sacrifice, and moral growth.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Allegory: Understanding C.S. Lewis’s Intent Read Post »
When I read The Magician’s Nephew with my students, they almost always notice echoes of the biblical creation story — and they’re right. In this article I follow three of those echoes: the world sung into being, the naming of the creatures, and the choice in the walled garden — with the questions that open each one up in the classroom.
The Magician’s Nephew and the Bible: An Intertextual Comparison Read Post »
In The Magician’s Nephew, C. S. Lewis wrote the origins of Narnia—yet he wrote them last, five years after The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. This article looks at what that “written later, set first” paradox means for the classroom, and at how the choice between publication and chronological order shapes the way students come to know the series.
Narnia Reading Order for the Classroom: Publication Order vs Chronological Order Read Post »
