Harry Potter in the Classroom… Why That’s a Good Thing

Ten Wonderful Things, Pt. 4: Harry Potter from Classroom as Microcosm made me laugh out loud. Unless you are an English teacher, it might not strike you as funny. (Of course, if you aren’t an English teacher, what are you doing on the blog?) Even if you are an English teacher, if you’re a big Twilight fan (and there are plenty) you still might not like it. BUT for the rest of you, the article was delightful.

I assign it in my Child Studies course, where we first read Franny and Zooey. They almost all hate F & Z, and they all, almost without exception it seems, love HP. The reasons for this are a focus of discussion for much of the course; “What makes a book good?” is a running question from the beginning of the semester until the end, when they write a story themselves and evaluate it according to the criteria they come up with.

Harry Potter is special because they think it’s good, but it’s also special because I think it’s good.

This is not the part I found most delightful, but is, instead, just a tease. Enjoy the post!