Bringing Harry Potter to class
Sonali Bhatia
How can teachers use Harry Potter to inculcate values or teach current affairs?
Here are a few tips.
The significance of ‘houses’:
The four ‘houses’ at Harry’s school, Hogwarts, are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Each house has certain characteristics associated with it. Typically, Gryffindors are brave, Ravenclaws clever, Hufflepuffs loyal, and Slytherins ambitious. Students, at the age of 11, are ‘sorted’ into houses by a hat, which, when worn, can read what’s in the student’s brain and decide which characteristic is predominant in the student.
Each house thinks it is the best – and either admires the characteristics of another house or loathes them. Thus, Gryffindor students get along with Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, but not Slytherins, and so on.
But here’s a thought. What if the characteristics of these houses are, in fact, different characteristics within each of us? Sometimes, we feel brave, sometimes loyal, sometimes we behave intelligently, and sometimes, put our ambition above all else.
Thus, each of us is, in fact, struggling with our own traits – and we need to either enhance or subdue our dominant trait, depending on the need of the hour and the changing situation.
During the Battle of Hogwarts, the classic fight of good versus evil, it is a loyal student who first declares that he does not want to leave the school before the battle starts, but wants to stay and fight. Loyalty comes first, in a battle. Then bravery and intelligence. The ambitious students are all evacuated – they want to save their own skins, not help others. Possibly, survival instinct at play.
Teachers need to talk to students about this. In which situation is loyalty important? When do you need courage the most, and when do you need wits or ambition? How do these combine to make you a whole human being? Situations from Harry Potter or from students’ lives can be role-played to highlight this.
The Patronus
Dementors, in Harry Potter, are soul-less creatures who suck the happiness out of human beings and ultimately take away a human being’s own soul, leaving him or her bereft of any sense of self. This is probably a metaphor for depression. Given the rising rate of depression in students, it is important to discuss the remedy JK Rowling advocates for Dementors. She says one needs to focus on one’s happiest memory and let it take over the mind totally so that one can cast the Patronus charm, which drives Dementors away. Casting the Patronus charm is not easy; it requires a great deal of concentration and one often fails. But if you try again and again, you will get a fully-formed Patronus, which takes the shape of a silvery animal that is close to your heart, and that silvery light makes the darkness of the Dementors disappear.
In classrooms, teachers can perhaps spend two-to-five minutes at the beginning of every period or every session, getting students to breathe deeply and focus completely on their happiest memories. This will possibly calm students down and make them ready to receive learning. It will also help relieve stress.
Current affairs
JK Rowling talks a lot about civil rights – especially the right to equality. Whether it be house-elves or werewolves, she advocates that the law should be equal for all. This is a very important parallel to the shootings we currently hear of in the United States of America – where citizens are targeted by law enforcement officers based on race or ethnicity.
Discussing these issues, drawing parallels to characters like Dolores Umbridge, or even Hagrid, who is basically a loveable character but does not believe in elf-rights, could help school students grasp these concepts.
JK Rowling has indeed created magic. Let us bring that magic to our classrooms and liven up our moral education and current affairs lessons.
The author is a freelance writer and educator. She can be reached at sonaliarun@gmail.com.
