Herbology
June Flamsteed is Hogwarts' own flora loving lady, her passion for plants inspiring the children she teaches to get involved and find their inner green thumb, so to speak. This term was no different as the Herbology professor took her class into the black lake to check out some aquatic plants, and later introduced them to some pesky vegetation that is all bite. In both cases, the kids were forced to focus, follow directions, and get up close and personal with the plant life found right here at Hogwarts.
The kids found themselves meeting Professor Flamsteed out by the lake bright and early, dressed in their swimwear and ready to discuss aquatic plants. No really, they were. If you were paying attention-and we know you were-you would've learned that aquatic plants can grow faster than plants living on land. They also help the water and the creatures living in it to survive and thrive. Gillyweed, Aqua Chomp, and Witch's Ganglion are just a few of the aquatic plants that were mentioned, though Gillyweed would be their main focus of the lesson. Someone who consumes even a little Gillyweed can breath and move underwater, the length of time depending entirely on how much you take. It is grey-green in color and is native to the Mediterranean Sea. It also helps a person adjust to the temperature under the water. To warm the kids up before taking to the drink, June had them move their bodies. Once done, the kids were split into groups and given some Gillyweed so they could explore the shallows of the lake area around where they were. As an added thrill, those lucky enough to find it were met with a treasure chest guarded by some grindylow. Lucky students can use their wands under the water because who didn't want to surface with whatever prize was in that trunk?
It was back to the greenhouses for the next lesson of note, this one bringing the students face to face with an unfamiliar plant set right in the middle of their work stations. A warning not to touch the plant in question was a great way to get the kids guessing about what it might be, and what it might be capable of. One thing was obvious, this plant was probably hard to handle. What were some some examples of hard to handle plants? Well, poisonous oleanders might give you some trouble, or mandrakes whose cry could be fatal to those who heard it. There were tools to help handle those though, and as Mr. Atlas Flamsteed pointed out, any plant can be hard to handle if you aren't a plant person. The big reveal came when Professor F told the group that they were going to interact with a baby Vampiric Vegetation that had fangs and could bite. Cool, right? Well, as long as the kids were careful! Stunning and defanging was the job and the kids fought on, experiencing nips here and there during practice, but eventually managing to manually defang some of those sassy babies without too much damage. They repotted them after and Professor Flamsteed would surely call that a win.
The kids found themselves meeting Professor Flamsteed out by the lake bright and early, dressed in their swimwear and ready to discuss aquatic plants. No really, they were. If you were paying attention-and we know you were-you would've learned that aquatic plants can grow faster than plants living on land. They also help the water and the creatures living in it to survive and thrive. Gillyweed, Aqua Chomp, and Witch's Ganglion are just a few of the aquatic plants that were mentioned, though Gillyweed would be their main focus of the lesson. Someone who consumes even a little Gillyweed can breath and move underwater, the length of time depending entirely on how much you take. It is grey-green in color and is native to the Mediterranean Sea. It also helps a person adjust to the temperature under the water. To warm the kids up before taking to the drink, June had them move their bodies. Once done, the kids were split into groups and given some Gillyweed so they could explore the shallows of the lake area around where they were. As an added thrill, those lucky enough to find it were met with a treasure chest guarded by some grindylow. Lucky students can use their wands under the water because who didn't want to surface with whatever prize was in that trunk?
It was back to the greenhouses for the next lesson of note, this one bringing the students face to face with an unfamiliar plant set right in the middle of their work stations. A warning not to touch the plant in question was a great way to get the kids guessing about what it might be, and what it might be capable of. One thing was obvious, this plant was probably hard to handle. What were some some examples of hard to handle plants? Well, poisonous oleanders might give you some trouble, or mandrakes whose cry could be fatal to those who heard it. There were tools to help handle those though, and as Mr. Atlas Flamsteed pointed out, any plant can be hard to handle if you aren't a plant person. The big reveal came when Professor F told the group that they were going to interact with a baby Vampiric Vegetation that had fangs and could bite. Cool, right? Well, as long as the kids were careful! Stunning and defanging was the job and the kids fought on, experiencing nips here and there during practice, but eventually managing to manually defang some of those sassy babies without too much damage. They repotted them after and Professor Flamsteed would surely call that a win.
History of Magic
With another year of Hogwarts in full swing, it was up to Professor Gabriela Recard to bewitch the imaginations of the students and paint them a picture of Wizarding history throughout the ages. Returning for her fifth and final year, Professor Recard did an amazing job educating the children of Hogwarts on their history.
Throughout the school year, Professor Recard touched upon many interesting topics but none was more interesting than her lesson on the role that the media can/has played in the Wizarding world. With a variety of posters on show, the children volunteered opinions on what they thought, with many voicing differing opinions.
With so much media presence in the lives of witches and wizards today, how does one really know what to trust and believe? Next, Professor Recard asked the students to discuss times that the media has tried to sway peoples’ opinions and boy did they reply with some fascinating answers. Between Phoebe James highlighting the media’s portrayal of the Wizarding world under the control of the Neo-Alliance, and Evan Nam’s own mini-history lesson on the escapades of Sirius Black, you’d be hard pressed to find a student that wasn’t paying attention.
Eventually, the hard-hitting questions began to fly in the form of several questions that touched on the moral ethics of writing and journalism in general and how they twist and bend the truth to sell, something this reporter finds totally justifiable if done correctly. Some, however, feel differently. With the Nam siblings taking different viewpoints on this debate, it was up to the students to write an article on something that they were an expert on and pitch it to the rest of the class, but with one little twist… it had to be fun!
With History of Magic covering a wide range of topics, it would be difficult to find two lessons that were the same. This becomes abundantly clear in a later lesson when the students covered the history of the Gaunt family. With a drawing of a snake, a ring and a large black stone situated in the middle, it was quickly deduced by some of the students that they would be studying the history of one of the oldest Wizarding families. They first began looking at The Sacred Twenty-Eight however. This led to some children, such as Violet Blackthorne, correctly stating that they were a group of Pureblood families in the 1930’s who had dangerous views on Muggles. This was further added to by Claudine Blaze who correctly asserted that the list was indeed incomplete with some names purposely being missed out, such as the Potters. A class debate was quickly struck up that led to a difference in opinion between Emmerson Cambridge and Ashley Fox, which led to Professor Recard quickly stepping in to assert that having Muggle blood is indeed something to be celebrated.
Alas, despite the best of intentions, sometimes two people cannot see eye to eye and such was the case with Professor Recard and Miss Cambridge. Despite the rest of the class continuing with the next task - searching the bloodlines of several former Hogwarts students to see if they’re related to them through Pureblood ancestry - Miss Cambridge vehemently defended her previous answer by saying that she was simply stating the facts, whilst Professor Recard alluded to the meaning behind her choice of wording. Although this is debatable, let us not delve too deeply and move away from the interesting lesson that took place that day.
Without so much as flinching, the class was moved swiftly on to the next question: how this all relates to the Gaunt family and why they were so significant. Many students pointed out some of the many achievements in the Gaunt family, such as their role in creating Ilvermorny, whilst others pointed out their relation to Salazar Slytherin and Tom Riddle – or, as he was better known as, He Who Must Not Be Named. One thing was for sure however, all of the students left with an appreciation of the history of the Gaunt family and how their complicated and somewhat dangerous believes have, in the past, had a drastic effect on the history of both the Muggle and Wizarding world.
This became abundantly clear in the final task when the children were asked to write a summary on one of the Gaunt family members and how they would have reacted to certain events. With many of the students handing in some interesting pieces of writing, it’s safe to say that the students of Hogwarts will be able to draw on the past misgivings of the Wizarding world to help them define their own future in the Wizarding world going forward.
Throughout the school year, Professor Recard touched upon many interesting topics but none was more interesting than her lesson on the role that the media can/has played in the Wizarding world. With a variety of posters on show, the children volunteered opinions on what they thought, with many voicing differing opinions.
With so much media presence in the lives of witches and wizards today, how does one really know what to trust and believe? Next, Professor Recard asked the students to discuss times that the media has tried to sway peoples’ opinions and boy did they reply with some fascinating answers. Between Phoebe James highlighting the media’s portrayal of the Wizarding world under the control of the Neo-Alliance, and Evan Nam’s own mini-history lesson on the escapades of Sirius Black, you’d be hard pressed to find a student that wasn’t paying attention.
Eventually, the hard-hitting questions began to fly in the form of several questions that touched on the moral ethics of writing and journalism in general and how they twist and bend the truth to sell, something this reporter finds totally justifiable if done correctly. Some, however, feel differently. With the Nam siblings taking different viewpoints on this debate, it was up to the students to write an article on something that they were an expert on and pitch it to the rest of the class, but with one little twist… it had to be fun!
With History of Magic covering a wide range of topics, it would be difficult to find two lessons that were the same. This becomes abundantly clear in a later lesson when the students covered the history of the Gaunt family. With a drawing of a snake, a ring and a large black stone situated in the middle, it was quickly deduced by some of the students that they would be studying the history of one of the oldest Wizarding families. They first began looking at The Sacred Twenty-Eight however. This led to some children, such as Violet Blackthorne, correctly stating that they were a group of Pureblood families in the 1930’s who had dangerous views on Muggles. This was further added to by Claudine Blaze who correctly asserted that the list was indeed incomplete with some names purposely being missed out, such as the Potters. A class debate was quickly struck up that led to a difference in opinion between Emmerson Cambridge and Ashley Fox, which led to Professor Recard quickly stepping in to assert that having Muggle blood is indeed something to be celebrated.
Alas, despite the best of intentions, sometimes two people cannot see eye to eye and such was the case with Professor Recard and Miss Cambridge. Despite the rest of the class continuing with the next task - searching the bloodlines of several former Hogwarts students to see if they’re related to them through Pureblood ancestry - Miss Cambridge vehemently defended her previous answer by saying that she was simply stating the facts, whilst Professor Recard alluded to the meaning behind her choice of wording. Although this is debatable, let us not delve too deeply and move away from the interesting lesson that took place that day.
Without so much as flinching, the class was moved swiftly on to the next question: how this all relates to the Gaunt family and why they were so significant. Many students pointed out some of the many achievements in the Gaunt family, such as their role in creating Ilvermorny, whilst others pointed out their relation to Salazar Slytherin and Tom Riddle – or, as he was better known as, He Who Must Not Be Named. One thing was for sure however, all of the students left with an appreciation of the history of the Gaunt family and how their complicated and somewhat dangerous believes have, in the past, had a drastic effect on the history of both the Muggle and Wizarding world.
This became abundantly clear in the final task when the children were asked to write a summary on one of the Gaunt family members and how they would have reacted to certain events. With many of the students handing in some interesting pieces of writing, it’s safe to say that the students of Hogwarts will be able to draw on the past misgivings of the Wizarding world to help them define their own future in the Wizarding world going forward.
Muggle Studies
Always helpful and forever exuding his own sense of style in the only way that he knows how, Professor Schmoe somewhat surprisingly started off the school year with a Muggle Studies lesson in the Hogwarts grounds.
That didn’t stop the professor from leading with a deep first question with him asking the children to reflect on the meaning of empathy and how it differs from pity. With a variety of answers coming from every direction, the students were then asked to take part in their first Muggle Studies lesson of the year; they were asked to write down one assumption that has been made about them. Whilst a seemingly deep and somewhat difficult question to answer, the students did an admirable job being truthful for the most part, with a little added drama on the side for the Professor to deal with between Atlas, Alfred, Daniel and Victoria.
With the lesson moving on with only a small amount of awkwardness, they were then asked to silently reflect on how this made them feel when assumptions were made about them with the option of sharing how it made them feel. So naturally, many students couldn’t resist sharing their feelings and raised their hands because what student doesn’t love talking about their feelings and getting vulnerable in front of their peers? This however could simply be down to how at ease they feel with Professor Schmoe as their Muggle Studies Professor. With everything that happened during the previous year and some of the assumptions that were pushed upon the students and faculty from the Neo-Alliance at Hogwarts, the next part of the lesson touched upon how these assumptions and stereotypes could be harmful. Together, the students cast out any lingering shadows from the Alliance for the most part by preaching the need for learning from past mistakes (as suggested by Evan Nam and Violet Blackthorne) and using your own initiative to seek out the truth rather than simply relying on the words of others (as suggested by Gemma Kitridge and Claudine Blaze). To finish off the lesson, the lucky students had to write down some of the many assumptions made about muggles and then toss them into the fire. Sounds fun, right? They finished the lesson with s’mores, or rather, sch’moeres. Despite not all of the students indulging, the lesson itself was an important one for all to learn from, not simply those at Hogwarts.
The muggle studies continued through the Hogwarts year with a lesson later on in the year, only this one wasn’t outside but back inside in the Muggle Studies classroom although rather than finishing the lesson with s’mores, they began it with the sweet scent of freshly baked bread which had been freshly baked for the students. What Schmoe could you ask for? Some markers that worked maybe? That certainly would have helped the lesson start off more smoothly for the muggle studies professor but alas, with some backup from the Hogwarts students, that was soon rectified and the lesson continued with another hitch. Or at least, that was the hope. The finding of the markers proved a little trickier than expected with many of the students struggling to find them. Whilst this was going on however, other students preferred to spend the time making the bread vanish…with their mouth.
In the furore that occurred whilst the markers were being found, various muggle gadgets, gizmos and trinkets were left strewn across the floor of the classroom. With little information given to them, the students were next asked to pick one and identify what it could be used for, something quite tricky if one doesn’t come from a muggle background. Case and point, Teddy James choosing to use a muggle head massager as a weapon to muggle duel with. Or when Lydia Wolff mistook a muggle potato masher for a bubble wand.
Whilst wizards seem to have a variety of spells that allow them to make light work of some tasks, muggles do not and require a cacophony of different gadgets to make their lives easier. It was the job of the students to then figure out how wizards use magic to make their lives easier that a muggle may struggle with, with one such example from Dahlia Donovan being that wizards can simply repair something broken whilst muggles often struggle to repair or have to repair the broken item.
Those poor muggles. Luckily for them, however, the Hogwarts students were tasked with creating items that could aid muggles with their inconveniences and then pitch it to the rest of the class. With some of the ideas being somewhat suspect - case and point Remy Gaektheos’ cotton candy pants - some were a little more useful. Despite this, there were many ingenious ideas such as Claudine Blaze’s mini paintbrush-like device and, whilst there may not be many intrepid entrepreneurs, it seems as though the budding relationship between the next generation of muggles and wizards is blossoming.
That didn’t stop the professor from leading with a deep first question with him asking the children to reflect on the meaning of empathy and how it differs from pity. With a variety of answers coming from every direction, the students were then asked to take part in their first Muggle Studies lesson of the year; they were asked to write down one assumption that has been made about them. Whilst a seemingly deep and somewhat difficult question to answer, the students did an admirable job being truthful for the most part, with a little added drama on the side for the Professor to deal with between Atlas, Alfred, Daniel and Victoria.
With the lesson moving on with only a small amount of awkwardness, they were then asked to silently reflect on how this made them feel when assumptions were made about them with the option of sharing how it made them feel. So naturally, many students couldn’t resist sharing their feelings and raised their hands because what student doesn’t love talking about their feelings and getting vulnerable in front of their peers? This however could simply be down to how at ease they feel with Professor Schmoe as their Muggle Studies Professor. With everything that happened during the previous year and some of the assumptions that were pushed upon the students and faculty from the Neo-Alliance at Hogwarts, the next part of the lesson touched upon how these assumptions and stereotypes could be harmful. Together, the students cast out any lingering shadows from the Alliance for the most part by preaching the need for learning from past mistakes (as suggested by Evan Nam and Violet Blackthorne) and using your own initiative to seek out the truth rather than simply relying on the words of others (as suggested by Gemma Kitridge and Claudine Blaze). To finish off the lesson, the lucky students had to write down some of the many assumptions made about muggles and then toss them into the fire. Sounds fun, right? They finished the lesson with s’mores, or rather, sch’moeres. Despite not all of the students indulging, the lesson itself was an important one for all to learn from, not simply those at Hogwarts.
The muggle studies continued through the Hogwarts year with a lesson later on in the year, only this one wasn’t outside but back inside in the Muggle Studies classroom although rather than finishing the lesson with s’mores, they began it with the sweet scent of freshly baked bread which had been freshly baked for the students. What Schmoe could you ask for? Some markers that worked maybe? That certainly would have helped the lesson start off more smoothly for the muggle studies professor but alas, with some backup from the Hogwarts students, that was soon rectified and the lesson continued with another hitch. Or at least, that was the hope. The finding of the markers proved a little trickier than expected with many of the students struggling to find them. Whilst this was going on however, other students preferred to spend the time making the bread vanish…with their mouth.
In the furore that occurred whilst the markers were being found, various muggle gadgets, gizmos and trinkets were left strewn across the floor of the classroom. With little information given to them, the students were next asked to pick one and identify what it could be used for, something quite tricky if one doesn’t come from a muggle background. Case and point, Teddy James choosing to use a muggle head massager as a weapon to muggle duel with. Or when Lydia Wolff mistook a muggle potato masher for a bubble wand.
Whilst wizards seem to have a variety of spells that allow them to make light work of some tasks, muggles do not and require a cacophony of different gadgets to make their lives easier. It was the job of the students to then figure out how wizards use magic to make their lives easier that a muggle may struggle with, with one such example from Dahlia Donovan being that wizards can simply repair something broken whilst muggles often struggle to repair or have to repair the broken item.
Those poor muggles. Luckily for them, however, the Hogwarts students were tasked with creating items that could aid muggles with their inconveniences and then pitch it to the rest of the class. With some of the ideas being somewhat suspect - case and point Remy Gaektheos’ cotton candy pants - some were a little more useful. Despite this, there were many ingenious ideas such as Claudine Blaze’s mini paintbrush-like device and, whilst there may not be many intrepid entrepreneurs, it seems as though the budding relationship between the next generation of muggles and wizards is blossoming.
Potions
Potions is many students' favourite class, because of its beauty and delicate nature as well as its practicality. Some potions calm us down, some give us strength, while some can even save lives. Professor Shreya Varma's fun and enlightening lessons this term taught us much about the valuable magical subject of potions. I wandered down to the dungeons one evening to visit the potions master and ask her a few questions.
Hi, Professor Varma. Thanks for agreeing to meet with me today. May I ask how you became a potions master? I’m curious about the motivation for your career choice and the kind of things you did after Hogwarts to achieve your goal.
Hello there, Max! It's my pleasure. I was always drawn to potions during my time at Hogwarts, so starting in my third year, I took up a few independent studies with my professor. Later, I enrolled in alchemy. After graduating, I headed to university to further my studies before accepting a job as an alchemist at the Italian Ministry of Magic. Don't get me wrong—I enjoyed working with elixirs and theorems, but researching death day in and day out was a bit, well, depressing to say the least. I decided to pivot back to general potions, and during my doctoral program in Edinburgh, I realized that my favorite thing was tutoring younger potioneers. Teaching brought me a joy unlike anything else. I knew I needed to follow my heart...and that led me straight back to Hogwarts.
You are known for your enthusiasm, charisma and cheery dungeon classroom. Have you ever been treated differently for not being a stereotypical potioneer? If so, how do you respond to those prejudiced people?
Absolutely. For one, I was the only girl in several of my upper-level potions courses at university. I remember cracking jokes and smiles during some of our experimental class sessions, only to be met with glares from my oh-so-serious classmates. We somehow have developed this twisted perception that potioneering is such a brooding subject. And yes, while it does require immense focus, I'm a firm believer that you can still have fun in the potions classroom. That’s the attitude that I like to keep, and I can only hope that others will catch on.
A memorable lesson from this term was the one on the developing solution. If you were about to have all your memories erased and could only preserve one specific memory in a magical photograph, what would it be?
Oh, goodness. That would be just terrible, wouldn’t it? I suppose I would preserve a memory of my family. They mean the world to me. Perhaps the time when we visited my relatives in Jaipur. I was probably about seven or eight. My parents took Solani—my twin sister—and me to a hidden wizarding bookstore in town. Solani was frustrated that she couldn’t reach a book on the top shelf. I tried to levitate it down for her…but you know how those young magic skills go. I accidentally made all the books fly off the shelves, ripping out pages and breaking covers in the process. It was literally raining books. We just looked at each other and burst out laughing, and then we started dancing amongst the destruction. My mother was quite mad at us at first, but she eventually broke down and joined us, as did my father. We ended up having a Varma dance party in the middle of that bookstore. It was absolutely joyous.
Another notable class was the one where we studied ways to identify potions. I think we all learned an important lesson that we should never rely on labels alone to determine what a potion is. Do you have any additional advice for students who are too trusting, or for students who are too suspicious of everything?
A very important lesson indeed. Potions can so easily be mislabeled, and when I was a young student, I had to learn that the hard way, too. I think it’s a matter of finding a balance. You don’t want to be too trusting that you start sipping unknown vials right and left. But you also don’t want to be too skeptical that you never allow yourself to play and be experimental—after all, that’s when some of the best potions have been discovered. I would say to start by trusting yourself. Study well, work hard, and then trust your intuition. You know more than you think you do.
Finally, if you were a potion - weird premise, I know - what would you be and why?
Ah, not a weird premise at all, my dear. I think about this often, and my answer would probably change if you asked me tomorrow. I’d like to think that I was Felix Felicis, because, well, who doesn’t want to be Felix Felicis? More realistically, perhaps I’d be an Invigoration Draught. I’d like to think that I give my students a little peppy boost.
Hi, Professor Varma. Thanks for agreeing to meet with me today. May I ask how you became a potions master? I’m curious about the motivation for your career choice and the kind of things you did after Hogwarts to achieve your goal.
Hello there, Max! It's my pleasure. I was always drawn to potions during my time at Hogwarts, so starting in my third year, I took up a few independent studies with my professor. Later, I enrolled in alchemy. After graduating, I headed to university to further my studies before accepting a job as an alchemist at the Italian Ministry of Magic. Don't get me wrong—I enjoyed working with elixirs and theorems, but researching death day in and day out was a bit, well, depressing to say the least. I decided to pivot back to general potions, and during my doctoral program in Edinburgh, I realized that my favorite thing was tutoring younger potioneers. Teaching brought me a joy unlike anything else. I knew I needed to follow my heart...and that led me straight back to Hogwarts.
You are known for your enthusiasm, charisma and cheery dungeon classroom. Have you ever been treated differently for not being a stereotypical potioneer? If so, how do you respond to those prejudiced people?
Absolutely. For one, I was the only girl in several of my upper-level potions courses at university. I remember cracking jokes and smiles during some of our experimental class sessions, only to be met with glares from my oh-so-serious classmates. We somehow have developed this twisted perception that potioneering is such a brooding subject. And yes, while it does require immense focus, I'm a firm believer that you can still have fun in the potions classroom. That’s the attitude that I like to keep, and I can only hope that others will catch on.
A memorable lesson from this term was the one on the developing solution. If you were about to have all your memories erased and could only preserve one specific memory in a magical photograph, what would it be?
Oh, goodness. That would be just terrible, wouldn’t it? I suppose I would preserve a memory of my family. They mean the world to me. Perhaps the time when we visited my relatives in Jaipur. I was probably about seven or eight. My parents took Solani—my twin sister—and me to a hidden wizarding bookstore in town. Solani was frustrated that she couldn’t reach a book on the top shelf. I tried to levitate it down for her…but you know how those young magic skills go. I accidentally made all the books fly off the shelves, ripping out pages and breaking covers in the process. It was literally raining books. We just looked at each other and burst out laughing, and then we started dancing amongst the destruction. My mother was quite mad at us at first, but she eventually broke down and joined us, as did my father. We ended up having a Varma dance party in the middle of that bookstore. It was absolutely joyous.
Another notable class was the one where we studied ways to identify potions. I think we all learned an important lesson that we should never rely on labels alone to determine what a potion is. Do you have any additional advice for students who are too trusting, or for students who are too suspicious of everything?
A very important lesson indeed. Potions can so easily be mislabeled, and when I was a young student, I had to learn that the hard way, too. I think it’s a matter of finding a balance. You don’t want to be too trusting that you start sipping unknown vials right and left. But you also don’t want to be too skeptical that you never allow yourself to play and be experimental—after all, that’s when some of the best potions have been discovered. I would say to start by trusting yourself. Study well, work hard, and then trust your intuition. You know more than you think you do.
Finally, if you were a potion - weird premise, I know - what would you be and why?
Ah, not a weird premise at all, my dear. I think about this often, and my answer would probably change if you asked me tomorrow. I’d like to think that I was Felix Felicis, because, well, who doesn’t want to be Felix Felicis? More realistically, perhaps I’d be an Invigoration Draught. I’d like to think that I give my students a little peppy boost.
Transfiguration
Can you believe that after the chaos of Battle of Hogwarts, students were expected to just...jump back into class like normal?! Yup, it's true. Thankfully, all our veteran professors were there to answer the call and assure that they did their best to make all the students comfortable at Hogwarts once again. One of those veteran professors is none other than our Transfiguration professor and Ravenclaw Head of House, Norma Carton. We got to sit down with Professor Carton and ask him a few questions about his class, life after the big battle, and Peter Pan!
Hello Professor Carton! Thanks for chatting with us today. First off, what was the biggest challenge you faced getting back into teaching after the events of last term?
It was trying to figure out how to help the students move forward. My natural response to trauma is to sweep it under the rug and continue as if it never happened, but that wasn’t going to work this time. At the same time, I wanted to trust my students to work things out on their own and not pry into their lives. It was quite a balancing act trying not to go to one extreme or the other.
That makes sense - it's got to be hard trying to accommodate all those students and their individual needs! As far as subject matter goes, what was your favorite lesson this term?
Definitely the Draconifors lesson! Transformation is one of my favorite branches of transfiguration to teach, and it was fun to see the predictions everyone made for the experiment part of that lesson. Overall, I think the students were engaged in that lesson, and that’s what we professors like to see most.
Despite the fact that Healer Poppy was a little...let's say ECCENTRIC, she made a mean bread! What was your favorite flavor of bread?
None, to be honest. I’m not a big eater of bread or sweets in general, so I didn’t have enough of it to form a preference.
This term, those students who felt their inner thespian calling got to try out for Peter Pan! If YOU could pick any role to be in the Peter Pan play, what would you have loved to play??
Let me preface this by saying I am not cut out to be an actor! I think the only character I could possibly have done justice is George Darling. He’s practical, fastidious, not very good with emotions, but while he may not understand them, he’s ultimately trying to do right by the children he’s responsible for. At the end of the day, that’s what we as professors are trying to do, so I can see some of myself in him.
Finally, if you could have done one thing differently this past term what would it have been?
I would’ve done a better job of reaching out to the students who were struggling. You know, making sure they’re okay and trying to help in any way I could.
I think I speak for everyone, Professor Carton, when we say that you did a great job trying to help students get back to normal. Thank you for all you do!
Hello Professor Carton! Thanks for chatting with us today. First off, what was the biggest challenge you faced getting back into teaching after the events of last term?
It was trying to figure out how to help the students move forward. My natural response to trauma is to sweep it under the rug and continue as if it never happened, but that wasn’t going to work this time. At the same time, I wanted to trust my students to work things out on their own and not pry into their lives. It was quite a balancing act trying not to go to one extreme or the other.
That makes sense - it's got to be hard trying to accommodate all those students and their individual needs! As far as subject matter goes, what was your favorite lesson this term?
Definitely the Draconifors lesson! Transformation is one of my favorite branches of transfiguration to teach, and it was fun to see the predictions everyone made for the experiment part of that lesson. Overall, I think the students were engaged in that lesson, and that’s what we professors like to see most.
Despite the fact that Healer Poppy was a little...let's say ECCENTRIC, she made a mean bread! What was your favorite flavor of bread?
None, to be honest. I’m not a big eater of bread or sweets in general, so I didn’t have enough of it to form a preference.
This term, those students who felt their inner thespian calling got to try out for Peter Pan! If YOU could pick any role to be in the Peter Pan play, what would you have loved to play??
Let me preface this by saying I am not cut out to be an actor! I think the only character I could possibly have done justice is George Darling. He’s practical, fastidious, not very good with emotions, but while he may not understand them, he’s ultimately trying to do right by the children he’s responsible for. At the end of the day, that’s what we as professors are trying to do, so I can see some of myself in him.
Finally, if you could have done one thing differently this past term what would it have been?
I would’ve done a better job of reaching out to the students who were struggling. You know, making sure they’re okay and trying to help in any way I could.
I think I speak for everyone, Professor Carton, when we say that you did a great job trying to help students get back to normal. Thank you for all you do!