Ramblings on OotP
I'm re-reading OotP at the moment and, as always with the Potter books, noticing new things. Anyway, I don't have anyone to share these ideas with, so I'm going to inflict them on my f-list.
I've just been reading Chapter 12 - Professor Umbridge.
Thought No. 1:
While Trelawney is a complete charlatan and a very irritating woman, there actually isn' ( Read more... )
I've just been reading Chapter 12 - Professor Umbridge.
Thought No. 1:
While Trelawney is a complete charlatan and a very irritating woman, there actually isn' ( Read more... )
Comments 13
Part of me thinks Divination and Trelawney's classes would be rather fun. Though obviously she and Firenze have a slight contrast in methods, too. ;)
Reply
DADA seems particularly well suited to practical examples rather than all theory.
Yes, in fact most subjects at Hogwarts (apart from History of Magic and maybe some of the classes we don't really know anything about, like Arithmancy) have a very practical bent and the majority of teachers teach the practical element in class and leave the theory aspect for homework. Which makes sense, as book learning doesn't require much input from a teacher.
Which makes me wonder whether some of Umbridge's motivation for only teaching theory might be because that's all she can do. Obviously the bulk of her reasons are to do with her silly ideas about Dumbledore building an army, but the bottom line is that she's a bureaucrat not a teacher or any kind of expert on defensive magic so perhaps doesn't have the knowledge / confidence to start showing them spells. If you look at it, she doesn't even really teach the theory - she just ( ... )
Reply
Reply
She doesn't really understand magic, I don't think, how to use it in a practical and inventive way, to make it your own and use it how you want (see how quickly she goes to pot when faced with original thinkers like Fred and George), it's all about rote learning.
I think you're right. Umbridge, as a bureaucrat and politician, probably has no need to use magic in anything more than a very mundane, everyday way, as a labour saving device almost. And this ties in with my comments above in the response to Gilpin's reply about her not really having the experience to teach DADA. Remus, on the other hand, very much has this creativity - he was a Marauder, and its easy to draw comparisons between the Marauders and Fred and George - and thus I think his confidence in his practical skills very much comes across in his teaching.
their teaching methods say a lot about their characters Yes, and this is true for all the teachers I think. Partly because we ( ... )
Reply
Of course the fact that the only bit of invention we see from her is something specificallyd esigned to harm children also says a lot about her character....
A fic about what Dumbledore was like as a teacher would be a great read. I bet he'd be a bit like Remus and Professor Flitwick - all about energy and enthusiasm for his subject, as excited to be teaching as his pupils are to be taught.
Reply
Dunno, I'd always rather assumed it was something that already existed, but either way, it doesn't exactly show her in a good light.
A fic about what Dumbledore was like as a teacher would be a great read.
Are you volunteering? ;)
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment