JKR Bio Thanks/Ramble about HP & School

[selah_1977]

Original Yahoo! HPFG Header:
No: HPFGUIDX C6934
From: selah_1977
Subject: JKR Bio Thanks/Ramble about HP & School
Reply To: [Yahoo! #6923] Reliable JKR Biography Info
Date: 8/15/00 8:05 pm  (ET)

Thanks, Penny, for the links and sources. I'm compiling a HUGE Harry
Potter album for use during my SS lit unit (Thursdays and Fridays in
November/December), and will go to the library some weekend soon for
clippings. ;)

The larger unit, mandated by the district, is entitled "In Search of
the Real Me". Harry Potter fits under that umbrella. Today during the
conference I got tons of ideas for fun writing extensions, including
"Me Recipes" and "What Color Is Your Personality?"

What I'll have the students do is to do their personal recipes and
colors at home first. Then in class, they'll pick their favorite
character from SS and complete the assignment again in class along with
their Houses. (How can any teacher *not* do the Sorting? It was so much
fun--and the House Cup Competition doubles as cooperative learning...)

I think it'll be interesting to see what colors and recipes my students
come up with this year. For instance, if a student picks Ron as "red",
they'd select a piece of red writing paper and proceed to write a short
paper telling why he has a "red" personality. Then we'll share, analyze
("Why does the color red have that connotation?"), and put them up with
sketches of the characters.

The recipes will be fun, too. A Snape recipe might include a half cup of
shortening, a dash of chili pepper, etc. Hermione would be seasoned with
sage. Hagrid would be a pretty strange dish--wild game sweetened with
honey. Once all 90 are done, we'll do a Harry Potter Character Cookbook.

It's funny, but kids actually learn to write this way. Our fifth grade
writing state assessment scores jumped 14 percentile points b/c we refuse
to make Language Arts "bo-o-ring".

I'll be soliticing the club's ideas later this fall as well. Bear with
me. ;)

Now, if I could just convince the gym teacher and my supervisor that
Muggle Quidditch would be an essential and effective pre-Christmas
lesson...

Ebony AKA AngieJ (AKA Professor McGonagall... no, on second thought,
Flitwick on some days and Snape on others)