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TEACHER:
OPTIONAL COURSE: A Journey Through the Worlds of Fantasy
GRADE: 12th intensive study
LEVEL: Advanced
NO. OF CLASSES / WEEK: 1 class/week
UNIT: “J.K.Rowling-A Fantasy Writer’s Recipe for Success”
LESSON: “Harry Potter – A Developing Hero?”
TYPE OF LESSON: Practising the receptive and productive skills
using critical thinking strategies
MOTIVATION: This lesson was conceived in order to provide the students with more
in-depth information on one of today’s highly popular fantasy series, Harry Potter,
helping students to analyse the hero status of its protagonist in relation to the general
features of this archetype. The use of critical thinking strategies will allow the students to
express their thoughts, opinions and feelings on the subject in a personal manner,
motivating them to actively participate in the class activities.
PRELIMINARY CONDITIONS: The students will base their new acquisitions on the
knowledge they have already acquired during this optional course on fantasy literature
and on the information taken from the media on the Harry Potter series. They are also
familiarised with some of the critical thinking strategies to be used in this lesson.
COMPETENCES:
1. to be able to brainstorm on a given topic
2. to select and comment upon significant quotations from a text
3. to analyse ideas in a text and then share them with a classmate
4. to express and argument their opinions
5. to feel confident about engaging in a debate on a given subject
TECHNIQUES: conversation, explanation, identification, scanning, debate;
Critical thinking strategies: clustering, dual entry diary, reciprocal teaching, corners
MATERIALS: worksheets, notebooks, blackboard, picture
TIME MANAGEMENT: the lesson will take 50 minutes.
EVALUATION: the systematic observation of the students, analysing the arguments
they bring to support their opinions, analysing the products of their activity
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Duriez, C. 2003. J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. The Story of Their Friendship, Sutton
Publishing, Gloucestershire
Rowling, J.K. 2004. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Bloomsbury, London
Rowling, J.K. 2004. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Bloomsbury, London
Rowling, J.K. 2004. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Bloomsbury, London
Rowling, J.K. 2004. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Bloomsbury, London
Rowling, J.K. 2004. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Bloomsbury, London
Rowling, J.K. 2006. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Bloomsbury, London
Rowling, J.K. 2008. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Bloomsbury, London
Steele,J.,Meredith,K.,Temple,Ch. 1998. Un cadru pentru dezvoltarea gândirii critice
la diversele materii de studiu, LSDGC.
Whited, L.A. (ed.) 2002. The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter. Perspectives on a Literary
Phenomenon, University of Missouri Press, Columbia and London.Available at:
http://books.google.ro/books?id=iO5pApw2JycC&printsec=frontcover&dq=
harry+potter&lr=#v=onepage&q=&f=false
*** Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2005, Oxford University Press [Online].
Available at: http://www.oup.com/elt/catalogue/teachersites/oald7/?cc=global
*** SparkNotes – Harry Potter. Available at:
http://gsearch.sparknotes.com/search?q= harry+potter& searchbg=&template
=default&output= xml_no_dtd&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&client= default_frontend
&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&site=default_collection&x=17& y=28)
THE LESSON STAGES:
BRAVERY,
OPTIMISM,
WISDOM
QUEST GROWTH
JOURNEY LEARNING
TRIALS DEVELOP-
TESTS MENT
THE HERO
HELPERS
MENTOR INNOCENCE
↓
SPECIAL EXPERI-
POWERS ENCE
GOOD
VS.
EVIL
QUOTATIONS – HARRY POTTER
• "[The Sorting Hat] only put me in Gryffindor," said Harry in a defeated voice,
because I asked not to go in Slytherin." "Exactly," said Dumbledore, beaming once
more. "Which makes you very different from Tom Riddle. It is our choices, Harry, that
show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." (The Chamber of Secrets)
• “But yeh must know about yer mom and dad,” he said. “I mean, they’re famous.
You’re famous.” (Hagrid, The Philosopher’s Stone)
• “By attempting to kill you, Voldemort himself singled out the remarkable person
who sits here in front of me, and gave him the tools for the job.” (Dumbledore, The Half-
Blood Prince)
• "The wand chooses the wizard. […] I think we must expect great things from you,
Mr. Potter....After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things—terrible, yes, but
great" (Mr. Ollivander, The Philosopher’s Stone).
• "There are strange likenesses between us, after all. Even you must have noticed.
Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to
come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself" (Tom Marvolo Riddle aka
Voldemort, The Chamber of Secrets).
• "…he was not going to die kneeling at Voldemort's feet...he was going to die
upright like his father, and he was going to die trying to defend himself even if no
defence was possible..." (Harry, The Goblet of Fire).
• "His mother died in the attempt to save him—and unwittingly provided him with a
protection I admit I had not foreseen....I could not touch the boy." (Voldemort, The
Goblet of Fire).
• “We thought you knew what you were doing! . . . We thought Dumbledore had
told you what to do, we thought you had a real plan!” (Ron, The Deathly Hallows)
• “ ‘So,’ said Harry, dredging up the words from what felt like a deep well of
despair inside him, ‘so does that mean that . . . that one of us has got to kill the other one
. . . in the end?’ ” (The Order of the Phoenix)
• “Well, they’re writing about you as though you’re this deluded, attention-seeking
person who thinks he’s a great tragic hero or something,” said Hermione, very fast, as
though it would be less unpleasant for Harry to hear these facts quickly.” (The Order of
the Phoenix)
CRITICAL CONSIDERATIONS ON HARRY POTTER
“Heroes respond to a call to sacrifice and to give their lives. Their lives begin in the
ordinary world, where they are summoned to adventure and perilous tasks. This involves,
with the help of a mentor, crossing a threshold into another world in which they undergo
various trials and encounter allies and foes. There are other elements in the journey, but
eventually the hero returns to the ordinary world bearing something of benefit. The
journey is an archetypal pattern, and there are myriad ways in which a story may be told
and yet display the archetype […] Harry’s great returning gift is that of hope – hope that
seemingly implacable evil will be overcome.”
“[Harry] is not in fact strictly a hero in classical terms, but an ordinary boy, mundane
and reluctant […]. Although he has remarkable gifts of magic, he has to rely on moral
courage and on his friends to accomplish his tasks. He is not the self-sufficient,
individualistic hero. In mythic terms, he is very like the ordinary hobbits Frodo and Sam
in ‘The Lord of the Rings’, whose weakness and small stature accomplish what the great
and powerful cannot. […] Harry’s testings and trials prepare him for his ultimate
suffering in the last book, which leads at last to healing and peace.”
(Colin Duriez, The Unauthorized Guide to Harry Potter, 2007, pp. 168-169)
“Rowling has been very clear on the Bildungsroman aspect of her series, having
said of Harry, “I do want him to grow up”. […] Most heroes journey as part of their
development. […] he journeys each year to Hogwarts […] a place of tests: some
academic, some practical, some moral. Many of these tests include adventure, danger,
choice – heady stuff that forces Harry to grow or fail. And failure in a universe of magic
is too often fatal.” (Mary Pharr, Harry Potter as Hero-in-Progress in The Ivory Tower
and Harry Potter, 2002, p.58)
Heady, adj. = extremely exciting.
“[…] Harry is not the most focused or relentless hero, at least not until later in the
book. His tendency to stray from his quest is not literal or physical, but mental and
emotional. When there are no clear leads and nothing to do, […] Harry tends to lose
focus and drift, following his emotions. This happens most dangerously in Godric’s
Hollow, when Harry leads them into a trap, his real reasons for going there having
nothing to do with the quest and everything to do with his grief and doubt concerning
Dumbledore.”
“Because Harry was famous before he even knew he was a wizard, much of his
personality is shaped by his desire to live up to his fame. He steers clear of special
treatment, flattery, and praise. He strives to live a normal wizard's life, and to a great
extent he does. He has close friendships, enemies, dilemmas, and triumphs just like any
other twelve-year-old boy. But Harry is distinct because of his courage and loyalty.”
(http://www.filmofilia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/harry_potter_6_poster_5.jpg)