Alex: Teach This 2: Harry Potter

Teach This 2: Using Harry Potter to Teach the Basics of Literature  

1.         Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is a fantasy novel by J.K. Rowling. It has been pushed out of some schools because of themes of witchcraft, but it has no more magical themes than praised young adult novels such as The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe or The Fellowship of the Ring. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone has been shunned by a few but embraced by many. It is the story of a young boy who discovers he is a wizard and goes to a school of witchcraft and wizardry. Along the way he meets friends and goes on adventures.

2.         Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone could be used as a foundational text to teach basic literary concepts. The work is not exceptionally deep, but it can serve a clear, purposeful novel for middle school students in grades 4-7. The book has just enough complexity and plot twists to not only keep students interested, but also to coax students into reading thinking about the underlying concepts behind the book. Rowling’s novel speaks to students because it focuses on adolescents who but overcome a challenge, but she adds a deeper level to the mix by giving these adolescents magical powers. Rowling takes a tried and true adventure story featuring young people and adds a gripping fantasy element. Therefore, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is a powerful text to teach basic literary concepts such as setting, characters, and theme.

            Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is a valuable text to teach setting. According to Katherine Bucher and KaaVonia Hinton, “setting is the time and place in which the action takes place. However, the setting can be much more than a physical description. Sounds, smells, the kinds of buildings, the quality of light, and climate may combine to create the mood and atmosphere for the characters and conflict” (33). This novel is perfect to teach theme because of how radically the setting changes when Harry goes from the muggle or non-magic user world to wizarding world. There is a stark difference in the mood and atmosphere. Rowling describes Harry’s Aunt and Uncle’s house as very normal for a British family. However, when Harry goes to the wizarding world the atmosphere drastically changes from normal to unusual. Rowling writes, “There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place” (105). Students can see that the buildings in the wizarding world are very different and that the setting in the wizarding world is founded on the peculiar architecture that builds a distinct atmosphere. While apparent to the novice reader, these differences in setting would make very for a wonderful teaching tool for middle school students.

            Perhaps the best tool this novel possesses is in its use of characters. It has every type of character that students will encounter in literature. Students can identify different characters within the text. For instance Harry is the protagonist. The text makes this abundantly clear, and students will bond with Harry’s courage and honesty. Rowling also takes the opportunity to use Professor Quirrell as the antagonist and then have a drastic reveal when Quirrell turns out to be working for the real antagonist, Voldemort. It all seems to trivial and simple, but it is the perfect recipe for having students understand the fundamental roles of characters in novels, to not always judge a character right away, as their character may develop. As Mary Vaugn writes, “the texts progress, the battle between Harry Potter and Voldemort is still inevitable, but characters get more complex. For instance, the hapless Neville Longbottom goes from being portrayed as a weakling to a courageous wizard and Professor Snape goes from being portrayed as an enemy to selfless instructor” (12). I long to teach the character development in Leo Tolstoy’s novels, but Neville’s character development and characters like Neville are what students will be emotionally attached to and learn from.

             The book also has manageable themes that are ripe for teaching. One theme that is coated throughout this novel is the importance of remaining friends despite any and all difficulties. Friendship is one of the most important characteristics in school. Students will be able to identify and write about the themes of friendship throughout the novel. Rowling writes, “’There are all kinds of courage," said Dumbledore, smiling. "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends’” (248). Students will be able to relate themes of courage and friendship within the same textual evidence, which will push them to this more complexly about the novel. When the themes interlock and are not independent, students will be able to look at the novel with a new level of depth. The interactivity between themes of friendship, courage, intelligence, or facing your fears all play a role in the novel, and since all the characters experience their own trials, students will be able to find clever ways to relate one theme to another.

            Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is young adult literature at its most powerful level. It is not so complex that it leads readers to lose interest, but it doesn’t spoon feed the reader. It gives adolescents just enough to succeed. Depth of characters and themes can be discovered, analyzed and researched thoroughly based on contextual evidence. The novel introduces critical parts of literary theory in a digestible, engaging manner. In a way, this is the epitome of a teachable young adult novel because of its how Rowling assembled all of the literary components.  By teaching this novel, teachers will give students a chance to learn the central elements of literature because the students will actually read the book and make novel discoveries that will start a passion for reading.

3.         For this activity, sort students into the four houses. I would sort them into a mixture of leaders and followers, extroverts and introverts, boys and girls, or students who are performing well and those that are not succeeding. Students can design the sigil for their house, write a house motto, or think about real life people that should be in their house. Students would need to find contextual evidence that shows the characteristics of their house. Students would need to use characters from each house to show the strengths and weaknesses of their house. Students would work in groups and present their ideas to the class with evidence based in the text.

            In the novel there are moving trading cards that come with certain candies. I would have students design their own trading cards based on themes, characters, or places in the novel. Students will draw their cards. Students will write a description for each card based on contextual evidence found in the text. Students will then trade cards and talk with one another about the significance of each card. According to Bucher and Hinton, “readers embrace literature when they are allowed to dissect it and view it from different angles” (66). With this trading cards method, I hope students begin to view the themes and characters differently than when they are just in the text.

            Students will write a short book about the magical subject of their choice. It can be based on the dark arts, potions, transfiguration, charms, or others. Students will use contextual evidence to write books that would help “muggles” understand what classes students at wizarding schools take. Students will write and assemble their books before presenting them to a partner. The partner will critique the book. Students will then role play presenting their book to the class. The student presenting will pretend to be a wizard or witch and the class will be muggles. Students will ask questions and the speaker will have to defend their book based on contextual evidence.

  

Works Cited

Bucher, Katherine, and KaaVonia Hinton. Young Adult Literature: Exploration, Evaluation, and Appreciation. 3rd ed. Boston: Pearson, 2014. Print.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. New York: A. A. Levin Books, 1998. Print.

Vaughn, Mary. “Keeping It Real: Teaching and Learning in the Harry Potter Series. 12. (2011): 4-64. Web