This teaching blog is shaped by a clear conviction: the books and stories we choose for our students matter deeply. Every text, story, and film I write about is the result of a personal and thoughtful choice — selected from what I have personally read, studied, loved, and found significant, profound, and enduring.
Here you will find reflections, analyses, and ideas for middle and high school classrooms. Analysis becomes discovery, and stories become encounters. They are not chosen simply because they fit a syllabus; they are rich in beauty, depth, and human insight — and students deserve what is most beautiful, most challenging, and most significant in storytelling. This teaching blog is where that search begins.
Latest Posts
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The Creation of Narnia in The Magician’s Nephew (and in the Classroom)
Read more: The Creation of Narnia in The Magician’s Nephew (and in the Classroom)The creation of Narnia in The Magician’s Nephew is one of the strangest and most beautiful moments in the book, where Aslan sings the world into being. In my classroom, this scene has sparked deep reflections on language, imagination, and understanding — and I want to share them with you.
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Teaching The Magician’s Nephew in Middle School: A Practical Guide for the Classroom
Read more: Teaching The Magician’s Nephew in Middle School: A Practical Guide for the ClassroomHere I share my experience teaching The Magician’s Nephew in middle school. Discover tips on structuring lessons, fostering curiosity, and helping students engage deeply with Lewis’s world.
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The White Witch and the Concept of Tyranny: Teaching Power and Justice Through Fantasy
Read more: The White Witch and the Concept of Tyranny: Teaching Power and Justice Through FantasyThe White Witch is not simply cruel—she is a tyrant with a theory, one she states aloud to a boy who has just asked how she could destroy a world. This article reads Jadis as a case study in how power exempts itself from the rules, tracing the three ways she escapes judgment across Lewis’s…
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To Kill Two Mockingbirds: Stories of Boo Radley and Tom Robinson
Read more: To Kill Two Mockingbirds: Stories of Boo Radley and Tom Robinson“It is a sin to kill a mockingbird,” says Atticus in chapter 10. If you’ve ever had a student exclaim, “Oh, wait, that’s the title! But… what does it mean?”, this article will help you dive deeper into the metaphor, exploring the stories of Boo Radley and Tom Robinson and offering insights for your classroom…
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Mystery Writing Through Film: From Vertigo to Knives Out
Read more: Mystery Writing Through Film: From Vertigo to Knives OutThe best mysteries fool you on purpose — the truth in plain sight the whole time. Here’s how I use two films that pull that trick in opposite ways, Vertigo and Knives Out, to teach middle schoolers the craft of misdirection, then set them writing their own.
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Circe Novel by Madeleine Miller: A New Voice from Myth for High School Students
Read more: Circe Novel by Madeleine Miller: A New Voice from Myth for High School StudentsReading the Circe novel with my students opened a new window onto the Odyssey. Miller’s retelling captivated us all, offering rich opportunities to explore character, power, and the human side of the gods.