ACTIVITY 1: LOOK
This draws attention to the visual aspects of the videos only.
The participants take notes on the following points as they watch the short clips of the first lessons of each Hogwarts teacher:
- The layout of the classroom
- What the pupils are doing before the teacher arrives
- How and from where the teacher enters the classroom
- The appearance of the teacher
- How s/he uses the classroom space
- The pupils’ reactions to the teacher
These points act as a springboard for guided observation, reflection and discussion, with participants comparing notes on each teacher.
ACTIVITY 2: LISTEN
This focuses on the discourse of each teacher. Participants are given the scripts of each clip, and are asked to highlight the words and phrases that reveal the respective teacher’s beliefs about subject matter, learning and teaching.
For example, Snape storms into the classroom roaring, ‘There shall be no silly wand-waving or incantations in this
classroom.’ He remarks that potionmaking is a ‘subtle science and an exact art’ that he doesn’t expect many to ‘possess the disposition’ to master.
Taking this together with his severe appearance – long black flowing robes – and his intimidation of Harry with questions about wormwood and bezoars, we can infer that Snape is an authoritarian figure who takes his subject matter very seriously.
In fact he sees it as superior to any other school subject.
He doesn’t believe that every child is able to learn how to make potions.
This causes the pupils to be afraid of him and unwilling to speak out.
At this point, participants can be led to think about a hypothetical authoritarian English language teacher who tells his/her students that some have the aptitude to learn a foreign language while others simply do not. S/he deliberately asks difficult questions to trip students up and corrects everything that the students dare to utter. What would the atmosphere be like in his/her classroom? How would language learning be helped or hindered?
ACTIVITY 3: CONNECT
The final activity helps the participants to connect what they have seen and considered to the ‘real’ world of teaching. Prospective teachers are encouraged to pay attention to the points outlined above in the classrooms of teachers they observe during teaching practice.
Critical discussion can be encouraged on the wider issues – teacher favouritism, reward and punishment, the effects of examinations on teaching and learning, and even the stereotypical representations of teachers in popular culture.
In this way, teachers can develop skills of observation and reflection in what Umbridge calls ‘a secure, risk-free’ environment.
