If Only I Could be an English Teacher Again...I Would be a Magician

Sometimes, great ideas come to you long after the fact. 

My last year as a teacher, I taught a unit on C.S. Lewis' The Magician's Nephew, which most Lewis fans know is basically an allegory of the book of Genesis.  In the unit, we read bits from the Bible and compared them to the characters in The Magician's Nephew.  Aslan was God.  The Witch was Satan.  The kids were Adam and Eve.  So on and so forth. 

If I had a chance to do that unit again with students, I would read bits from Genesis, read The Magician's Nephew, and read Lev Grossman's The Magicians.  In doing so, my class would be studying an allegory of an allegory.  That's deep :) 

 

So for all you English teachers out there reading my blog (both of you), strongly consider following this unit of study.  If you care about allegories - which I know you do - you will heed my wisdom, and read these awesome books with your students.  Seriously...Fillory is calling.