Christopher Bontjes is a classroom teacher who has taught music in public schools for 25 years. During this time, he has worked with students ranging in age from Kindergarten through adult.
He has also been a performing magician for more than 40 years (starting in his parents’ show at age 4) and has entertained audiences of all sizes and ages across America.
Christopher recently discovered that, throughout his teaching career, he had been intuitively using techniques he learned as an entertainer to keep his students focused on their lessons. Upon making the discovery, he began to experiment with consciously adding entertainment techniques to his lessons. He was blown away by the power of these techniques to gain and hold the attention of his students and to engage them more fully in lessons.
Understanding that most teachers do not have a background in entertainment (or any training at all in methods used in the entertainment industry to get and hold the attention of a group of students or audience members), he has embarked upon a mission to share his discovery and his knowledge of entertaining with as many teachers as possible.
As a part of this effort, he has combined his knowledge of entertainment techniques with his knowledge of teaching to write Create Captivating Classes: Why NCLB Should Mean No Child Left Bored.
Christopher is a member of the National Education Association, the National Association for Music Education, The Society of American Magicians, the International Brotherhood of Magicians, and the Magic Circle. He currently teaches general music to students in grades K-6 in Westville, Illinois. He is an active performer as both a musician and a magician. He served as National President of The Society of Amerian Magicians in 2012-2013.