Another sign of Hagrid's improvement as a teacher

[jenny_ravenclaw]

No: HPFGUIDX 41281

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "darrin_burnett" <bard7696 at a...> wrote:
 
> Hagrid comes back and, though it goes against his nature, teaches 
> baby unicorns, impressing even that Slytherin chick, Pansy 
Parkinson.>

Darrin, Darrin!  You're just baiting me, aren't you?  I have ten 
minutes to make my point and then I am off to the beach for the day.

First, let's be careful with those "against his nature" comments.  Do 
you really think it is in Hagrid's 'nature' to be attracted to big, 
hairy and dangerous beasts?  Or is it just an interest that he allowed 
to go out of control?
 
>Grubby-Plank's lessons left the boys out. Hagrid, more skilled at 
magical creatures, was able to capture the more difficult to find 
babies.>

Yes, her lesson did, and this was one instance where JKR used one of 
the most obvious and unpleasant stereotypes I've seen:  the man-hating 
lesbian.  I know I shall be flamed for this, but Grubbly-Planks close 
cropped hair and barking voice at the boys, leaving them out is 
cliched, cliched, cliched.  I can't figure out why JKR made her 
character at all.

Sorry for the aside comment there.  As for Hagrid bringing in the baby 
unicorns, I wondered when I first read this chapter, why he couldn't 
have done more lessons like this to begin with.  Hagrid absolutely has 
the knowledge of all sorts of creatures that he can share with his 
students, but 99% of the time, he chooses not to. 
  
> In the U.S. education system, teachers are usually on some kind of 
probation period -- in my state of Illinois, it's four years -- before 
being granted tenure. Tenure makes the person more difficult to fire.>

Yes, here in NYC too.  I teach up in the Bronx and was a happy camper 
the day my probation ended.  However, Hagrid's unicorn class doesn't 
show me he's trying to improve.  It showed me he was annoyed with 
Grubbly-Plank and wanted to one-up her.  It also proved to me that he 
is *not* a good teacher because he has the knowledge but doesn't use 
it.  Not so long ago there was a teacher in my school who made Hagrid 
look like the Disney's Teacher of the Year winner.  She often simply 
sat by the door with her purse in her lap, staring at the students.  
When she did teach, she spent weeks on one short story, or chose to 
show videos to her class for days and days at a time.  She was by no 
means stupid - she knew her literature, grammar, writing skills, all 
of it.  She just couldn't share it with her students.  She was by far 
the worst teacher I have ever seen and she was eventually fired from 
the NYC Board of Education, which almost never happens.  

Hagrid reminds me of that teacher.  He has the knowledge, but not the 
abilities.   

> -- Hi, Jenny from Ravenclaw! Anxiously waiting your response ;)>

I knew you would be!  Now I am off to the beach.  Feel free to rip 
into me and I'll get back at - sorry - to you later!

--jenny from ravenclaw **********