SnitchSeeker.com - View Single Post - HoM Lesson 2 - Albus Dumbledore

Lissy Longbottom · 02-27-2021, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

In all honesty, Nem hadn't expected anyone to join them, and yet they weren't remotely surprised when Bernadette Grantham also stopped in the middle of the room. They cast a sideways glance at her as she spoke, but did nothing further. Stark had picked the non-option as well, and Blaze, who'd not actually bothered to get up.

Nem had already looked back at Recard when she responded, and met her cajoling with a dispassionate stare. "I understood the exercise, professor," they said, in the same flat tone. "Like I said, I can't make a decision because I don't have an opinion either way. I don't think his actions were right or wrong. They just were. Not everything is one thing or the other, and I think it's unwise to encourage thinking in extremes when life is so complex and grey. It's restricting, and damaging, and leads to conflict."

Whether any of that was true was neither here nor there; it was ultimately a load of waffle where their personal opinion was concerned. This really was just a matter of apathy, but Nem still exercised some restraint in circumventing the all-out 'I don't care' response. At least in so many words. At least for now.

Whatever. "It's a more useful skill to not let emotions or moral judgements influence this stuff anyway, so I'm happy with my choice." Yes. Happy. Really, just so thrilled.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Wow.

Talk about a professor forcing a student to see things their way instead of allowing students to exercise the freedom to put forth their own thoughts and opinions. Claudine’s gaze hardened, her earlier warmth for Reccard evaporating. She refused to change her stance on the subject, not only because she was stubborn but because she was firm in her earlier answer.

“I can’t make a decision because I also cannot decide whether Dumbledore did the right thing by keeping Harry in the dark or not. Keeping him in the dark would mean that Harry would not be distracted in his search for the other Horcruxes since he wouldn’t be focusing on his fate as one. However, not keeping it a secret meant that Harry would not grow as a person. His deduction and reasoning skills, his maturity and belief in himself, his determination to continue doing what was right... all of that could have been affected negatively.''

Was she even making sense? Claudine was one of those persons who knew what to say in her head but when this introvert opened her mouth, sometimes she surprised herself with uttering the wrong things.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl

Bernie's mouth twitched at Nem's answer to Recard, and then Claudine's, though the latter's response was far less thrilling. Tavie had had a total thoughtful response as well. Hmm. How did Bernadette feel about all this? No, it didn't matter what she felt. She had too many feelings most days, so she was trying (and failing) to set them aside in this moment.

"I just don't think we should be putting value judgments on these things," she shrugged out a response when it was her turn. "Dumbledore is clearly in some kind of moral gray area, as Nem said. Why do we have to project our morals onto him, in saying his decision was RIGHT or WRONG?"

She eyed Recard, thinking suddenly of their encounter at the Portraits, and feeling the fire within her starting up again. Bernie could feel the temper flaring, her blood pulsing, her pupils constricting, she really could, but she also didn't feel much like trying to control herself these days. Maybe this was because of how the adults in this school had failed to act time and time again. And again. And again. Too much caution could be a problem, couldn't it? Wasn't it the fault of adults like Recard that had Bernie and many, many other students in this very situation? And then, like their situation, there was this whole Dumbledore and the Muggles and the horcruxes thing. Could Dumbledore really be blamed for keeping things from Harry? The old man didn't know for certain about the Horcruxes, Bernie had thought.... and anyway, this whole bloody discussion meant next to nothing in light of Rosier's greater good game they were all pawns in. Why weren't they discussing that instead? There were obvious connections here between the two times and yet they were faffing around the room as though RIGHT and WRONG really mattered. The least Recard could do was not force them to take sides. After all, the professor-healer was hardly an example of perfectly moral and chivalrous behavior, or at least to Bernie she wasn't.

After all of these thoughts, some of which showed on her face in the form of microexpressions and clenched teeth, and some of which did not, Bernadette almost spat her final comment.

"Is the point of historical debate make value judgments about historical figures' decisions, Professor, or is it to learn from the consequences of their actions."

No pepperup potion needed over here, Healer. Bernie was hot headed enough already.

Gabi narrowed her blue eyes at the three, who clearly hadn't listened to the last part of her question. You'd have thought she'd asked them to pick which student they thought should be on the top of Rosier's hit list, rather than a simple historical debate, the way they were carrying on about it. "As I said - if you feel you cannot make a decision either way, I wanted you to AT LEAST explain WHY you felt it was a grey area. Which you all did - albeit with a bit more attitude than I would like. Especially when, if you'd just WAITED and participated as I instructed, you would have seen that this exercise is going in that exact direction - that it ISN'T a black and white answer." For their sake, they better cut that attitude and fast. Despite the situation they were all currently in, she wasn't above giving out detentions or taking house points if they insisted on having smart mouths.

She turned to the rest of the class. "You may all return to your seats now." she motioned for them to sit back down as she headed back to the front of the class. "As I just said - the point of this is for you all to listen to the different sides of the argument and realize that the answer as to whether or not Dumbledore was RIGHT or WRONG isn't as easy as it seems. You all made great points in your arguments. However, as some of your other peers pointed out, it's nearly impossible to say exactly what he should have done. Especially when we were not there, nor able to have access to his thoughts and emotions."

As for Bernie's question..."Historical debate serves many purposes. Critical thinking skills need to be practiced, and attempting to figure out WHY things happened the way they did, or speculating what might have happened if things had gone another way, is a fabulous way to do so. Dumbledore is the perfect specimen for this kind of exercise. Regardless of your feelings on the matter concerning Harry Potter...it's quite clear that Dumbledore made an extreme impact on the wizarding world in more ways than one. But it's good to also remember that he was human, just as the rest of us, and faced moral decisions we cannot possibly begin to comprehend."

Now that all THAT was out of the way - it was time for the fun part! "Now, one thing you may have heard about Dumbledore - he was quite the fashion icon. Particularly when it came to his hats. Fashion is a great way to express one's personality - so today you'll be making your own Dumbledore inspired hats," she said with a grin. Nothing like some arts and crafts to hopefully take their minds off the cult takeover for five or ten minutes, yes?

She waved her wand and each student had a drawing of a hat in front of them. "Your task is to decorate your wizarding hat to represent yourselves! At the bottom of the parchment, once you have designed your hat, write a quick sentence or two as to WHY the hat represents you. For example - my hat would probably be Slytherin colored, but would also be covered in runes to represent my previous job as a cursebreaker, which got me in to history!"

Quote:

She reached below her desk and pulled out a couple of boxes of crafting materials as well - construction paper, pipe cleaners, glitter glue, the whole works! "Feel free to use these materials in your design. You have the rest of the class to work on it! Once you're done, bring it up to my desk here."

OOC: We made it to the main activity everyone! Time to make some arts and crafts! Now, for our graphically inclined members, feel free to use Photoshop - or even Paint! - to decorate your hat for your character. If graphics are not your thing, don't fret! Simply describe how your character would decorate it (like the example Gabi gave of her own Slytherin hat). If you choose to submit a graphic for your assignment the answer to the question - how does this represent your personality? - only needs to be 1-2 sentences. If you do NOT submit a graphic, describe your hat and answer the personality question in 3-4 sentences. Make sense?

You have at LEAST 48 hours to work on this! Let me know if you have any other questions!

02-27-2021, 11:59 PM	#87 (permalink)
Lissy Longbottom Giant Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Ferrix: GMT-6 Posts: 56,911 Hogwarts RPG Name: Moritz Schultz (#0f667e) Ravenclaw Seventh Year Hogwarts RPG Name: Nancy Schultz (#ac6f77) Hufflepuff Fourth Year x11 x1	curly haired prefect - "sometimes I get angry!" - 30/90 - chicken emoji - probably @ Disney - I speak dog Quote: Originally Posted by Felixir In all honesty, Nem hadn't expected anyone to join them, and yet they weren't remotely surprised when Bernadette Grantham also stopped in the middle of the room. They cast a sideways glance at her as she spoke, but did nothing further. Stark had picked the non-option as well, and Blaze, who'd not actually bothered to get up. Nem had already looked back at Recard when she responded, and met her cajoling with a dispassionate stare. "I understood the exercise, professor," they said, in the same flat tone. "Like I said, I can't make a decision because I don't have an opinion either way. I don't think his actions were right or wrong. They just were. Not everything is one thing or the other, and I think it's unwise to encourage thinking in extremes when life is so complex and grey. It's restricting, and damaging, and leads to conflict." Whether any of that was true was neither here nor there; it was ultimately a load of waffle where their personal opinion was concerned. This really was just a matter of apathy, but Nem still exercised some restraint in circumventing the all-out 'I don't care' response. At least in so many words. At least for now. Whatever. "It's a more useful skill to not let emotions or moral judgements influence this stuff anyway, so I'm happy with my choice." Yes. Happy. Really, just so thrilled. Quote: Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19 Wow. Talk about a professor forcing a student to see things their way instead of allowing students to exercise the freedom to put forth their own thoughts and opinions. Claudine’s gaze hardened, her earlier warmth for Reccard evaporating. She refused to change her stance on the subject, not only because she was stubborn but because she was firm in her earlier answer. “I can’t make a decision because I also cannot decide whether Dumbledore did the right thing by keeping Harry in the dark or not. Keeping him in the dark would mean that Harry would not be distracted in his search for the other Horcruxes since he wouldn’t be focusing on his fate as one. However, not keeping it a secret meant that Harry would not grow as a person. His deduction and reasoning skills, his maturity and belief in himself, his determination to continue doing what was right... all of that could have been affected negatively.'' Was she even making sense? Claudine was one of those persons who knew what to say in her head but when this introvert opened her mouth, sometimes she surprised herself with uttering the wrong things. Quote: Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl Bernie's mouth twitched at Nem's answer to Recard, and then Claudine's, though the latter's response was far less thrilling. Tavie had had a total thoughtful response as well. Hmm. How did Bernadette feel about all this? No, it didn't matter what she felt. She had too many feelings most days, so she was trying (and failing) to set them aside in this moment. "I just don't think we should be putting value judgments on these things," she shrugged out a response when it was her turn. "Dumbledore is clearly in some kind of moral gray area, as Nem said. Why do we have to project our morals onto him, in saying his decision was RIGHT or WRONG?" She eyed Recard, thinking suddenly of their encounter at the Portraits, and feeling the fire within her starting up again. Bernie could feel the temper flaring, her blood pulsing, her pupils constricting, she really could, but she also didn't feel much like trying to control herself these days. Maybe this was because of how the adults in this school had failed to act time and time again. And again. And again. Too much caution could be a problem, couldn't it? Wasn't it the fault of adults like Recard that had Bernie and many, many other students in this very situation? And then, like their situation, there was this whole Dumbledore and the Muggles and the horcruxes thing. Could Dumbledore really be blamed for keeping things from Harry? The old man didn't know for certain about the Horcruxes, Bernie had thought.... and anyway, this whole bloody discussion meant next to nothing in light of Rosier's greater good game they were all pawns in. Why weren't they discussing that instead? There were obvious connections here between the two times and yet they were faffing around the room as though RIGHT and WRONG really mattered. The least Recard could do was not force them to take sides. After all, the professor-healer was hardly an example of perfectly moral and chivalrous behavior, or at least to Bernie she wasn't. After all of these thoughts, some of which showed on her face in the form of microexpressions and clenched teeth, and some of which did not, Bernadette almost spat her final comment. "Is the point of historical debate make value judgments about historical figures' decisions, Professor, or is it to learn from the consequences of their actions." No pepperup potion needed over here, Healer. Bernie was hot headed enough already. Gabi narrowed her blue eyes at the three, who clearly hadn't listened to the last part of her question. You'd have thought she'd asked them to pick which student they thought should be on the top of Rosier's hit list, rather than a simple historical debate, the way they were carrying on about it. "As I said - if you feel you cannot make a decision either way, I wanted you to AT LEAST explain WHY you felt it was a grey area. Which you all did - albeit with a bit more attitude than I would like. Especially when, if you'd just WAITED and participated as I instructed, you would have seen that this exercise is going in that exact direction - that it ISN'T a black and white answer." For their sake, they better cut that attitude and fast. Despite the situation they were all currently in, she wasn't above giving out detentions or taking house points if they insisted on having smart mouths. She turned to the rest of the class. "You may all return to your seats now." she motioned for them to sit back down as she headed back to the front of the class. "As I just said - the point of this is for you all to listen to the different sides of the argument and realize that the answer as to whether or not Dumbledore was RIGHT or WRONG isn't as easy as it seems. You all made great points in your arguments. However, as some of your other peers pointed out, it's nearly impossible to say exactly what he should have done. Especially when we were not there, nor able to have access to his thoughts and emotions." As for Bernie's question..."Historical debate serves many purposes. Critical thinking skills need to be practiced, and attempting to figure out WHY things happened the way they did, or speculating what might have happened if things had gone another way, is a fabulous way to do so. Dumbledore is the perfect specimen for this kind of exercise. Regardless of your feelings on the matter concerning Harry Potter...it's quite clear that Dumbledore made an extreme impact on the wizarding world in more ways than one. But it's good to also remember that he was human, just as the rest of us, and faced moral decisions we cannot possibly begin to comprehend." Now that all THAT was out of the way - it was time for the fun part! "Now, one thing you may have heard about Dumbledore - he was quite the fashion icon. Particularly when it came to his hats. Fashion is a great way to express one's personality - so today you'll be making your own Dumbledore inspired hats," she said with a grin. Nothing like some arts and crafts to hopefully take their minds off the cult takeover for five or ten minutes, yes? She waved her wand and each student had a drawing of a hat in front of them. "Your task is to decorate your wizarding hat to represent yourselves! At the bottom of the parchment, once you have designed your hat, write a quick sentence or two as to WHY the hat represents you. For example - my hat would probably be Slytherin colored, but would also be covered in runes to represent my previous job as a cursebreaker, which got me in to history!" Quote: She reached below her desk and pulled out a couple of boxes of crafting materials as well - construction paper, pipe cleaners, glitter glue, the whole works! "Feel free to use these materials in your design. You have the rest of the class to work on it! Once you're done, bring it up to my desk here." OOC: We made it to the main activity everyone! Time to make some arts and crafts! Now, for our graphically inclined members, feel free to use Photoshop - or even Paint! - to decorate your hat for your character. If graphics are not your thing, don't fret! Simply describe how your character would decorate it (like the example Gabi gave of her own Slytherin hat). If you choose to submit a graphic for your assignment the answer to the question - how does this represent your personality? - only needs to be 1-2 sentences. If you do NOT submit a graphic, describe your hat and answer the personality question in 3-4 sentences. Make sense? You have at LEAST 48 hours to work on this! Let me know if you have any other questions! __________________ I'm still standin'________________________________________ better than I ever did Lookin' like a true survivor_________________________________feelin' like a little kid