Teaching Styles

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 147816

> >>Shaun: 
> > Snape can't be a popular teacher. He can't be a teacher where    
> > his students like his classes.

> >>Magpie:
> And yet that's not true.  Snape is very popular with the          
> Slytherins, who cheer wildly for him when he's made DADA teacher.

Betsy Hp:
I also wonder how the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws view Snape.  I'm 
quite sure he's as strict and demanding as we've seen, but they 
wouldn't be subject to his favoritism in quite the same manner 
Gryffindors are.  I'm not saying they'd all love him to pieces 
(though it wouldn't surprise me if at least a few of the Ravenclaws 
do) but I'd imagine he garners about the same amount of respect 
McGonagall does.

[Semi-OT aside: I'm also absolutely positive Snape has a few 
fangirls running around Hogwarts.  As one of the few young-ish male 
teachers, with a strong poetic sense, a love of his craft, and a 
flair for the dramatic there *has* to be some girls giggling over 
him in safety of their rooms.  And nowhere Snape could catch them.]

We do know Hermione thinks well of him as a teacher.  And while he's 
not a favorite with the Gryffindors, only Harry cried aloud when 
Snape's new position was revealed.

I do agree with Shaun, however, that Snape doesn't worry about being 
well liked by his students.  What Snape worries about, I think, is 
that his students learn their craft, be it Potions or DADA.

> >>Alla:
> Well, personally, I think that besides many interviews where JKR
> said what kind of teacher she thinks Snape is, the loudest        
> statement about whether he is good as a teacher was made at the    
> end of HBP, because Snape is no longer at Hogwarts.

Betsy Hp:
Heh.  Neither is Dumbledore.  Or Lupin, for that matter.  Also, in 
his very last scene Snape is still behaving like a teacher, trying 
to get vital information across to Harry.  We've seen how JKR shows 
someone as an ineffective teacher: the students either quit the 
class as soon as they can (Hagrid) or they set up an alternative 
(Umbridge).

It's interesting, because I know we disagree strongly on this, but 
it seems to me that if JKR wanted to *clearly* show that Snape was a 
poor teacher she'd have done so.  Instead she does show us Snape 
treating Harry unfairly (though not so unfairly as to take away his 
ambiguity, unlike Umbridge for example) and yet well able to control 
his classroom, keeping Neville in potions (and possibly Hogwarts), 
taken seriously by Hermione (unlike Umbridge, again), respected by 
his colleagues (unlike Lockhart).

To my mind the very fact that there *are* such strong disagreements 
about Snape's abilities as a teacher means that JKR has been 
purposefully unclear.  When she wants to show ineffective teachers, 
she does so.  And yet, the discussion about Snape rages on.  Which 
means that like his DDM or ESE status, Snape's effectiveness as a 
teacher is ambiguious because JKR wishes it to be so.

(And yes, the above was *really* hard for me to write, because it 
seems so bloody obvious to me that Snape is both a good teacher (I'm 
not saying the best one ever) and totally DDM.  But I'm trying to be 
objective. ::wipes sweat from brow while grinning madly::)

Betsy Hp