What the Harry Potter Symposium Taught Me

Let me tell you a sad story. Once upon a time, I was shadowing an 8th English class and we were all in a library. The librarian asked the students to raise their hands if they have read the Harry Potter books. About 3-5 out of twenty students raised their hands in each of the 4 classes I attended. That's like 20% people. After that experience, I decided that if I became a middle school teacher or even got to do British literature in High School, I would most definitely be bringing Harry Potter to the masses! So I was incredibly excited to go to the Harry Potter Pedagogy (or teaching) Symposium.

While none of the content related to The Count of Monte Cristo or my thesis whatsoever, two of the the three presented their comparison papers. Which is what I'm most nervous about in writing my paper-its comparison structure. It was helpful to see their successful structure. One person compared Remus Lupin's teaching style to Dorlores Umbridge's, while another compared the first day lesson plans of Lupin, Umbridge and Treawley. Both of them organized their presentation by focusing on each character at a time. I realized that for my paper, if I did that tactic, I could easily end up giving more importance to Edmond Dantes, who I have a lot more text on, and make the comparison unequal between him and the Queen of Hearts. So I am going to organize my paper based by the common and contrasting elements not the characters.