Flying: A Memory Skills Refresher

[Deezerz]

It was a nice, crisp December morning. The sun bathed the practice pitch in its dull autumn glow, no clouds to be spotted in the sky. Kennedy had kept close attention to the weather and since there was no snow in the forecast, he decided to set up an activity for his students. One must take advantage of nice weather.

At the entrance to the practice pitch stands the tall Flying Instructor, ready to greet students as they swarm in.

Upon entrance the student will notice wooden boards spread out in intervals and what looks like a nest paired beside each of them. It was an odd set up, that was for sure. What did Professor Escalante have in mind? Come on in and find out. Take a seat on one of the cushions the professor has set out for the comfort of the students.

[MadMadamMalfoy]

“Hi!” Desiree replied to Maria’s greeting with a wave. Yukie’s arrival also got a smile and a finger wiggle in return, and the other students she didn’t know as well (Raj, Regulus, Maxine, and Maisey) got a friendly nod in acknowledgement. Hi, everybody!

She turned her attention to the professor, watching intently as the boards levitated. Oh, the boards had puzzles, cool! And how cute were those colorful eggs in the nests?! Actually yes, Desiree was wondering how the eggs and puzzles went together. She blinked blankly as she listened to the directions. So they were supposed to recreate the puzzle using eggs that transform into the pieces? It all sounded very confusing, but she was game to try!

Desiree retrieved a school broom, which she would’ve used anyway as she didn’t have one of her own. She grabbed a puzzle board, spoon, and egg, selecting one with a star on it as her first piece simply because she liked the symbol. She had just enough time to get the egg on her spoon before the whistle sounded. Now how should she do this? Her left hand seemed a bit steadier, so she used it to hold the spoon while steering the broom with her right. She took off at a careful pace, softly giggling to herself as she watched the egg wiggle in the spoon. As cute as the wiggling was, she hoped it wouldn’t fall. She really did not want to start all over! At least it wouldn’t actually break, though. She wasn’t in the mood to get all eggy today, thanks!

She slowed as she approached the empty board, and the egg transformed into a puzzle piece. After placing it where she thought it was supposed to go, she started to take off toward the nest again but paused as Escalante spoke again. A smooth flight meant less wiggling… Okay, that was good to know, she guessed. Kind of hard to do while steering one-handed, but she’d try!

Desiree made her way back to the nest, selecting a yellow egg with an X this time. She tried to steer a smooth course to the empty board, but she was so focused on flying that she neglected to mind her grip on the spoon. The egg fell and reappeared in the nest. Ugh, now she had to start over!

[FearlessLeader19]

THAT made sense!

Though Jude was yet to fully register that his movements were affecting the egg, he had noted the correlation but, of course, he hadn’t thought the two scenarios were actually related. He hovered there for a bit as he attempted to figure out the best strategy. One could always stick the egg to the spoon but where was the fun in that? So, he resorted to his initial idea. The wooden spoon’s handle was stuck between his teeth which left both hands free. The good thing was that the egg wasn’t heavy and this added no extra discomfort to his teeth.

Needless to say his plan worked {he chose to ignore the ache in his jaws}for Jude quickly crossed to the other side when the egg turned into a puzzle piece. Uh… where exactly did this one go?! The Hufflepuff spent a full minute trying to accurately recall his puzzle. But FINALLY, and with great certainty, the piece was stuck where it belonged.

[MadMadamMalfoy]

Sighing in frustration, Desiree sped off toward the nest again. She fished out another egg, yellow with an X pattern just like before, and carefully balanced it on her spoon. As she did so, an idea occurred to her. What if she tried holding the spoon against her body? That might soften the movement enough to stop the wiggling, and if it didn’t, it wasn’t as if she’d get dirty. The egg would just vanish and reappear in the nest, right? It was worth a try.

Holding the spoon close to her chest with her left hand, Desiree steered her broom straight ahead with her right. She felt the egg wiggling a bit against her as she went, though there seemed to be slightly less wiggling than before. Hehe, that tickled! A giggle at the egg’s movement escaped her, and it took all the restraint she had to stop herself from dissolving into a fit of laughter. No, focus, Des! She told herself. If she let herself get distracted, she’d lose the egg and have to start over. Who needs that?

Approaching the empty board, she slowed down and deposited her egg-turned-puzzle piece where she thought it should go. Two down, several to go! Wasting no time, she headed toward the nest again.

[MadAlice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadAlice

Now...where had the green circle on the red background been? Hope had been sure she had memorized the puzzle, but it seemed that the excitement of flying across the field had weakened her memory of how it went. Hmmm....ah, she thought she had it! Carefully, she placed the puzzle piece that had once been an egg in the upper right corner of the puzzle.

Hope had sailed back across the field after successfully carrying a green egg with a blue circle on it in the bottom left hand corner, where it immediately changed into a puzzle piece on its way in (magic was wonderful!). She had just gently picked up a green egg with a red circle on it, because she'd heard the professor's caution about the eggs liking smooth sailing and she wanted to make sure her egg was happy. She'd also heard him mention being careful the pieces were in the right places, and, even though she was pretty sure she was right so far, she paused to take another look at the puzzle. Uh oh! She suddenly realized that she'd place her first piece in the wrong spot--this egg she was carrying now went in the upper right corner, and the first one went in the middle spot of the left hand column. Darn! She hoped she would be able to get it out again, but wasn't sure she could manage two pieces at once on a broom (that would mean--no hands, wouldn't it?).

Deciding she'd rather risk falling off her broom than having to make an extra trip down and back just to move the erring piece, Hope flew a smoothly as she could back down the field. Her egg seemed to pick up on her agitation, though, because it kept making tiny little jerks every once in a while, which caused Hope to slow down even more. Finally she got near the puzzle and, when she'd got close enough to the (mostly) empty board for the egg to turn into a puzzle piece, she edged up to the right corner and, trying to hold the new piece under one arm while she still used that hand to hold onto the broom, she tentatively reached out with the other hand and tried to pull the first piece out. Drat! it was sticking on one side. Then Hope could feel her legs start to shake with tension as she wobbled from side to side on her broom! She let go of the puzzle and backed off to regain her balance, and then approached it once again, tugging on the side still stuck into the puzzle until she managed to get it lined up with the other side, and then the piece suddenly came out so smoothly that it nearly caused Hope to fall off her broom backwards. But she had it out, and now she had to juggle two pieces.

She decided to move back down to the left side and put in the piece she was still holding in her hand, and then move back up to the right to put the last circle into the corner it belonged in. There! She'd managed it at last. Hope edged back to look at the results--yes, now there was a red circle on green in the upper right, a blue circle on green in the lower left, and a green circle on red right above it in the middle of the green column. And that, Hope was pretty sure, was all the circles.

Satisfied with both her puzzle and her flying, Hope headed back down the field again for more eggs.

[astrocat]

For a steady flier, or someone who was an incredible egg-balancer, this activity would be easy. For Brandon, this activity meant flying really slowly. He moved at a snail's pace, which was even slower than he needed to, just because he wanted to be really careful with his eggs. He didn't enjoy dropping them! Unfortunately, he dropped 2 or 3 more. But his strategy did work, and eventually he made it to the end of the pitch with his last puzzle piece and set it down. He'd made 16 round trips. So... less than 2 attempts per egg? And most of them were in the beginning. Was that good??? He watched the other kids to see if he was the worst or not.

[FearlessLeader19]

Jude alternated between keeping the spoon’s handle between his teeth {yes, he’s made sure to Scourgify that, professor!} and holding it in one of his hands. He found that he got better with each trip despite dropping the remaining eggs a few times. It was a laborious and lengthy activity but it took up so much of his focus that he really didn’t notice.

Another challenge happened to be actually recalling where each piece of the egg-puzzle fit. There were so many times when Jude just found himself hovering there, wondering if this piece went here or that piece went there. But everything must come to an end, right? Because eventually Jude managed to complete his puzzle.

Success!

[Deezerz]

They were getting the hang of it. Kennedy flew here and there, surveying the students’ progress. After explaining the situation with the eggs, some of them seemed to pick up their pace. Of course, it wasn’t just about speed, but strategy and memory.

Kennedy noted Maria’s effort and perseverance. All those attempts were helping her improve each time. Maxine was another that seemed to be mix-and-matching strategies--slow and then a little faster. That was smart. Desiree was another one of his students learning as she went. Unfortunately her egg fell on the way, but her focus seemed to be expanding. They could also take a page from Jude’s book. It was an interesting idea; flexible creativity.

His gaze moving along, Kennedy observed Hope’s strategy. For a moment there he thought she’d lose balance off her broom, but she regained it right back. Not that he worried she’d injure herself--the practice pitch was charmed for a soft landing.

After some time, Kennedy smiled when Brandon finished his puzzle. The kid had been so nervous and unsure and look at him now! That’s the kind of perseverance Kennedy liked to see.

“Congratulations, Mister Fox,” Kennedy grinned. He had memorized every shape and color of the puzzle pieces that it took a glance over to confirm the younger wizard had gotten it right. Soon after, Jude finished his as well. He hadn’t expected any less. “You as well, Mister Anders. Now, you both have options. You could either help your classmates complete their puzzle or you may retrieve your prize and head out.”

As for the rest of the students, they were doing amazing. “I see great strategies out there. Keep at it. We have a few minutes left.”

[Nordic Witch]

Maria took a slight pause by the egg nest to watch the others, and to see if anyone had a better strategy then her. She had by this point 3 egg pieces left to place on her board. Jude's strategy of keeping the spoon between his teeth seemed icky, and more complicated than holding it like she had with one hand. Desirees strategy seemed good to try though since all the wiggling the recent eggs had done had left her a little irritated to be honest and not to mention sweaty.

Maria watched how Desiree did it before she picked up her next egg, placed it on the spoon, and flew off on her broom towards the other side of the pitch. After depositing the egg in the right spot on her board, she had to admit that Desiree's startegy actually worked. Maria would have to thank Desiree for the idea later.

After two more rounds back and forth across the pitch with her last two egg pieces Maria was so glad to be done that she high fived herself. Dismounting from her broom she took a seat by her puzzle board, and just sat and watched the others still working with their puzzles to see if anyone needed help because she was tired.

[Kimothy]

It certainly took a while before Yukie felt confident enough to balance on her broom while also balancing an egg on a spoon. Once she was ready to go, she gave one look at the pattern of the puzzle pieces, noting where to put her current green star egg, and then leaned forward on the broom so it would start flying forward. Whenever the egg wiggled on the spoon, Yukie slowed down with her speed and continued to do so until she reached the other end of the pitch.

Slow progress, but still progress. Yukie was positive things would be easier after the first try!

Now face-to-face with the empty board, the Hufflepuff placed her egg where it should be and then let out a little sigh. Honestly, she didn't even have to finish the entire board. She was here to be assured that she was riding the broom properly. Oh, and the entire memory exercise too, but Yukie was pretty confident in her memorisation already. She then flew back to the other end of the pitch to repeat the entire process. So far, so good!

The next few attempts were pretty smooth, save for the one time she accidentally dropped her egg, but at least she wasn't too far away from the original puzzle board and the egg nest to make an entire lap. Yukie did eventually adapted Desiree's strategy by snuggling holding her egg closer to her for support. Look at her smart and beautiful dormie!

[FearlessLeader19]

OH!

Brandon had finished too? Jude shot a glance over at his fellow Hufflepuff, flashing him a thumbs up at the same time. Way to go, Brandon! Then his attention was turning towards Escalante. “Er…” Jude was torn between wanting to take a break to cheer his friends on and actually helping them. In the end, it was Maria that helped him arrive at his decision.

“Can I follow Maria’s lead? I sort of want to watch everyone’s progress.” Then he grinned. “With my prize, of course,’’ Jude added humorously. What goodie did the professor get the students?!

[Deezerz]

Little by little, students began to demonstrate great improvement, and soon some were finishing off their puzzles. Kennedy flew around, making sure the puzzle pieces in each respective board were correct. He wasn’t going to be too picky about it. The students went above and beyond, listening to themselves and creating strategies that worked for them. He hoped they would be able to use those skills outside of flying lessons and into real life scenarios.

In response to Jude’s decision, Kennedy nodded. “That’s perfectly fine.”

He was entertained but all too soon his watch went off, alerting him that time was up. Flying to the front of the pitch, Kennedy blew the whistle. “Amazing work, everyone. Unfortunately, our time is over for now. I saw great strategies out there. I could tell you all were listening to your personal learning styles and followed through.” That actually brought a smile to his face. “Please dismount your broom and bring it back to the front before you leave.” They didn’t need to worry about helping put things away. They must be exhausted.

As for Jude and Brandon. “Mister Anders and Mister Fox, come collect your free homework ticket.” And use it wisely. That will excuse only one of their homework assignments.

“Everyone else, have a great day.”

OOC: I appreciate you all for joining me in this activity. It was super fun reading the progression of each character. Hope you all had fun as well! I’ll be leaving this thread open for a few hours before closing it.

[MadAlice]

In the end, Hope had only managed to complete about 3/4 of her puzzle, but she wasn't sad about it. Today had been a wonderful lesson, flying about like a bird in the fresh air! That was worth more than any grade.

"Goodbye, Professor, I'll do better next time!" she called out cheerfully as she dropped off her broom.