SAVY 2019: Session 4, Day 1 – Unpacking the Magic of Harry Potter (Sarah B.) (Rising 5th/6th)

Posted by hallep on Monday, July 8, 2019 in Grade 5, Grade 6, SAVY.

Hello, SAVY parents!

It was so wonderful to meet all of our young witches and wizards today! We had a wonderful first day getting to know each other and our subject matter for the week—the expansive world of Harry Potter.

Today, we explored the ways that Harry Potter can be considered a cultural phenomenon, and how HP seems to crop up even in the most unexpected of places. From bobble heads to theater productions, we brainstormed the ways that HP has been co-opted and reinterpreted across the globe and across media formats.

We also zipped through two major research paradigms (naturalistic and positivistic) in order to discuss qualitative research methods in more depth. As part of our course this week, students will design and conduct a small research project relating to something they are curious about in the HP-verse. We spent some time today coming up with the research questions that will guide the projects, and we will continue developing these projects throughout the week. Your students had creative, insightful questions, and we are excited to see what their research reveals!

After a much-deserved snack break, we continued on with our intellectual heavy-lifting with a crash course through some of the critical theories we will use to re-examine HP texts. We talked about how we can use the lenses of critical theories to look more deeply at how race, class, and gender appear in HP texts and how these portrayals can reveal and/or challenge stereotypes.

Tomorrow, we will play quidditch during the Organized Recreational Activity (ORA) session, so please make sure students come in comfortable clothes.

We are looking forward to another great day tomorrow!