[HPforGrownups] Lupin as a teacher/Snape as teacher

[Laura Lynn Walsh]

No: HPFGUIDX 138662

>Alla:
>I said many times  that I LOVED Lupin's boggart lesson. I did not
>take it as a mockery of Snape or if it was it was an extra bonus, IMO.
>
>I am positive that Lupin's primary motivation was to help Neville,
>NOT to mock Snape.
>

As a teacher, I also enjoyed this lesson.  Even if Lupin had not
originally intended to use Neville as the example student, once
Snape criticised him in front of the whole class, using Neville
was perfect.  Lupin could guide him through the entire exercise
as part of his teaching, thereby assisting him in getting each of
the steps done correctly.  All that Neville really has to do is to
concentrate and do what he has been told.  He needs courage to
follow through with the plan, but that is what Griffindors are
supposedly good at.  It is a perfect example of scaffolding.
Using a student with poor self-confidence helps him to become
successful and boosts his self-esteem.

I also don't think that Lupin knew Neville's boggart would be
Professor Snape.  My own feeling is that Lupin would actually
have preferred it NOT to be him, as his relationship with Snape
is already uneasy.  But the boggart is what it is for each person,
and once he had chosen Neville to use as the example student,
he couldn't then back out and tell him to choose a less sensational
boggart.  In their marauder days, Lupin didn't participate in the
Snape baiting - according to Sirius and as we see in the pensieve
memory.  He didn't attempt to stop it, but he also didn't actively
support it.

Laura Walsh   lwalsh at acsalaska.net