“Jeff Christensen’s extraordinary life experiences combined with his exceptional
presentation skills help him deliver empowering and life enriching magical
theatre. He truly creates “real magic” in both his performances and keynote
presentations.” - Jeff McBride, Founder, McBride Magic & Mystery School
“Thirty years ago, these four cards
changed my life.”
With Emma by his side and two
children growing up alongside
them, the roller coaster of Jeff’s life
began picking up speed, but as he
moved along to the more practical
parts of his degree, Jeff found that
being at the front of the classroom
would take some getting used to.
One day while working at an inner
city school, Jeff approached a shy
student and performed a simple one-
coin routine. The young girl stayed
silent throughout the trick, but by
the end she ran off with a big smile
on her face. The smile was wiped off
Jeff’s face however, when the girl’s
teacher immediately pulled him
aside and asked him what he’d done.
Stammering that it was a simple coin
trick, Jeff’s shock grew even bigger
12 JANUARY | 2020
when the teacher shared that that student
hadn’t smiled all year. It was then that Jeff first
realized the great potential magic had to help
students learn.
Spurred on by the potential of this idea, Jeff
quickly learned that incorporating magic into
teaching takes some fine-tuning. One day
as a substitute teacher supervising a class
Jeff decided to show a student the Balducci
Levitation. This was back when David Blaine
had come onto the scene, so everyone was
doing it. The response in this case however
was a little stronger than Jeff was expecting,
when the boy stared at Jeff, then ran
screaming down the hall and through the
school shrieking “Mr. C can fly!! Mr. C can fly!!”
Jeff remembers thinking “Okay, that might not
be good.”
After these initial bumps however, Jeff began
to use magic not just as fun in the classroom
but as part of his teaching. He found that
not only did it promote critical thinking but
it helped to keep the kids focussed. It was
even handy when there was no trick, as
the kids stayed sharp just in case one was
coming along. In science classes he would
perform an illusion and ask the students to
use the scientific concepts they had been
studying to explain it. In math he created a
unit on probability that used Zener cards to
measure students’ ability to predict the future.
Students were asked if they believed that they
had psychic powers and could tell what the
future would bring. Then they would use the
scientific method to perform experiments in
prediction. As the data from their experiments
tended toward the norm for every child, the
kids in Jeff’s classroom truly internalized the
definition of the term “random chance”. As
part of his Master of Education degree Jeff
completed a research project exploring the
use of magic in an educational setting. Jeff is
now often in demand to present his work at
conferences and educational events.