Jory liked the sound of that homework that was just assigned to them. Little creatures for the biome! "Should be fun!'' he thought as he packed his stuff back into his bag and then picked up his wand. "Scourgify!''

After his work station was all cleaned he returned the bucket he had used to the pile. The Puffer grabbed his jar. "Bye, Professor,'' he called. "Great lesson.''

She sat with her small jar sitting in front of her on the desk and listened to the rest of their instructions. Oh good, there will be a workshop. Maybe I can ask how to make sure my desert biome gets enough sunlight once it's opened. She'll pop in to help out every now and then won't she? I'm sure she'll want to make sure we're not massacring plants by accident. She picked up her jar and cleaned her work area with a quick Scourgify, then returned the partially empty container of sand she'd gotten from the classroom buckets.

And we DO get to have little animals? That's fun! I guess that means I'll really have to pay close attention...I don't want my little critter to die. But how long will a lizard live? Cause I don't know if I really want to own one for real...that could be a long time, right? I'll have to ask. Maybe a conjured lizard is still a better choice. After all, I can't be hoping to get a kneazle when I'm old enough and have to worry about it eating my pet lizard! She stood up with her things, mind buzzing with thoughts, and gave a slightly distracted parting with her professor. "See you later, Professor. I hope the workshop is open soon!" Because she had questions. Always with the questions.

Sierra blinked. Merlin, this was going to be one long project. ...and she had to go and locate the creatures that would live inside? Eww. She had creatures. She should have just chosen some sort of house biome and made Hissy Fit live inside of it. That would have been a lot easier.

Go hunt for bugs...

Yippy Skippy. She began the process of cleaning up her work area, and when she was done, she collected everything that belonged to her then headed out the door. "Bye, Professor," she said.

Hmph, the lesson was over?!

Dylan sighed, glancing at his already cleaned station. The things he'd taken care of while waiting for the next steps. Less for him to do now, of course. With a smirk in place, he went about packing up his ink, quill, and notebook...and replacing them into his bag. Wand was tucked back in place...Yes, yes. Everything looked to be in order.

Making sure to pick his jar up with kid gloves, the Slytherin headed towards the door. "Thanks for an exciting lesson, Professor." Seriously...

Awesome. Bugs. West was down with that. Temperature stuff would be interesting too. He tidied up and then grabbed all his things. He actually HAD bugs on hand.

... for reasons.

--------------

Now that the lesson was over, Althea hoped to ask Seren a few questions, so she waited quietly for the students to leave.

Seren nodded, smiled and said her goodbyes as the students cleaned up and departed... such a lovely group they were.
But alas, business was not yet over, though, she couldn't help but smile as she turned her attention to the BoG Candidate lesson reviewers... Althea's familiar face was certainly a pleasant surprise. It had been strange seeing new faces around the school, but her former colleagues just, belonged here.

"Althea, I hope I didn't bore you."
Because truthfully, watching would have been rather drab indeed... nowhere near as fun as participating.

"Of course not." Althea answered laughing quietly. "I was as surprised as the students seemed to be to not have any theory lead up though, so I assume you covered that in a previous lesson?" Althea sort of waggled her notebook at Seren apologetically, not showing what was written there but indicating that she was asking the question for a reason. Part of the review and such. She understood, right?

"Would you mind outlining the course so far and what you hope the students will be able to achieve by completing it?" She was genuinely interested. Althea glanced over at the jars the students had left behind, absently bit the nib of her quill as if out of habit, and then waited poised with said quill ready to jot down notes.

Lips parting in a genuine smile, Seren nodded as Althea launched into a question, not that she was worried... why would she be? Nobody died, students learnt a great deal, theoretically and practically despite it being a practical focused lesson. "Of course, naturally... we started with a purely theoretical lesson highlighting the importance of ecosystems in the study of herbology..." There wouldn't have been much point in the practical without a foundation to base it on. And ecosystems made up the primary foundations for anything herbology.

"The course is designed to increase student awareness of the way in which our environment functions, thus enabling them to consider the components which support vegetation growth, looking at both biotic and abiotic factors." Pulling off her gloves and tucking some loose strands of hair behind her ear, she continued. "At the conclusion of the course students should be able to identify and understand the role of environmental interrelationships in relation to aiding vegetation growth... as well as possessing the knowledge and skills to consider care requirements and perform spells and charms to implement care requirements." So all in all, it was fairly straight forward. No? Needless to say, it was clear that most of them could achieve those expectations, whereas some... well some just wouldn't.

Oddly enough, even though she knew she was being evaluated, it felt more like chatting with a friend.. it was collegial and comfortable.

Thea jotted that down, shorthand and quickly, smiling pleasantly and shooting a look over at Ivy, wondering what she made of it considering her own Herbology expertise.

"The students appeared to enjoy it, and prior to the lesson they certainly seemed to be looking forward to class." She commented casually. "I particularly like the cross-disciplinary focus myself." What with the spellwork element. But really, the best part of it all was how engaged the students clearly were, even some of those that Althea knew to be... troublesome at times.

"Well, I think I have enough for evaluation purposes, thanks Seren." Really, it had been a pleasure, not a chore.

Aaawww shuckleberries. It thrilled her to hear Althea's observations of the class. Because really, as much as she believed in herself, it was always nice to have a third party's perspective of student engagement. From up at the front of the room it was easy to get distracted and not see everything there was to see. But if there were no pressing issues, then she ought not to worry about it.
"Good, I'm pleased... they're a strong cohort, so I got a bit lucky in that respect. I'll be surprised if anybody has any real difficulty getting through OWL's and NEWT's." Good thing for her too, but ultimately, the good grades weren't for her benefit, it was for the future leaders, healers and herbologists... and Merlin knew what else.
"Fantastic.. if you need anything else, don't hesitate to ask." She offered Althea a friendly wink before turning her attention to the other BoG lady... did she have any questions? Or could she get started on her daily tasks and more lesson prep?

As soon as the students cleared out, Ivy stood up from her chair and began walking around the greenhouse, inspecting the plants, the supplies, taking in every detail as she slowly walked the perimeter. She had to admit, she was impressed. It wasn't mind-blowing-amazing, but this woman certainly knew what she was doing.

Ivy had been listening to Bentley and Althea conversing as she looked at a few more plants before walking over to the two women. "Yes, you do seem to have a good group of students here, excited to learn," she added to their conversation.

"I'm curious, do you happen to know your students' average OWL and NEWT scores for your Herbology course?" If not off the top of her head, Ivy could just come by later. "Also... where did you study, if you don't mind my asking?"

This woman had nice hair... like nice nice hair, Seren thought, as she observed the natural shine. She came to the conclusion that the woman probably rinsed her hair with chamomile tea or something of the sort... must be. Yep.

Seren nodded as this... Ivy was it?... raised an interesting question, certainly not one she expected from a BoG candidate. "These students are quite capable... I'd say approximately twenty percent of them will achieve an O and the rest are likely to achieve an E... there's probably only about five percent or less that will achieve an A or a P." And they were always going to happen, but on the whole, strong students which made teaching them such a pleasure.
"Well..." Where to start? ... "I first started with my herbology internship through expeditions around the world... worked under a number of mentors for five years before deciding to publish my findings... that's when I started studying teaching at Cambridge University of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Now that was an intense year.
"But because I'd completed my five year internship I was able to secure my accreditation for my herbology major which left only my education courses... so I opted to overload my studies and completed them in a year." It was rushed yes, but that by no means mirrored her efforts or her achievements. She still did well, and certainly well enough to secure this position straight out of Uni.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hera

This woman had nice hair... like nice nice hair, Seren thought, as she observed the natural shine. She came to the conclusion that the woman probably rinsed her hair with chamomile tea or something of the sort... must be. Yep.

Seren nodded as this... Ivy was it?... raised an interesting question, certainly not one she expected from a BoG candidate. "These students are quite capable... I'd say approximately twenty percent of them will achieve an O and the rest are likely to achieve an E... there's probably only about five percent or less that will achieve an A or a P." And they were always going to happen, but on the whole, strong students which made teaching them such a pleasure.
"Well..." Where to start? ... "I first started with my herbology internship through expeditions around the world... worked under a number of mentors for five years before deciding to publish my findings... that's when I started studying teaching at Cambridge University of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Now that was an intense year.
"But because I'd completed my five year internship I was able to secure my accreditation for my herbology major which left only my education courses... so I opted to overload my studies and completed them in a year." It was rushed yes, but that by no means mirrored her efforts or her achievements. She still did well, and certainly well enough to secure this position straight out of Uni.

Ivy didn't ask what her students were 'likely' to achieve... but she supposed this woman knew her students and their capabilities in Herbology better than anyone else, so it would do. And if she wasn't saying that to impress her, it was indeed rather impressive. "Very good,' she commented quietly before the professor went on.

Expeditions around the world, publishing findings, Cambridge... Ivy nodded as she listened, raising her eyebrows when she said she finished all her other education courses in only a year. "Wow. Very impressive. I don't think I could have done that." She had to admit. Ivy liked to take her time and... pick things apart.

"Well," Ivy looked around one last time. She didn't have any more questions at the moment, since she heard Althea questioning her before. The only thing she had really been worried about was the theory part of the lesson, but that had been covered before. "I enjoyed your lesson quite a lot. It was nice to be able to attend a herbology lesson again, rather than teach one." Ivy smiled at the woman and held her hand out for the woman to shake if she wanted. She was just about done here.

Spot the Ravenclaws in the room, anyone?

Althea smiled to herself. "Now that's done, I think its time for tea. If either of you want to join me I'd welcome it." Dash had marking to do so she wasn't going to go interrupt that, or he'd try to trick her into doing it for him again. Or bribe her. Same difference, and she was usually quite inclined toward his brand of bribery.

She did expect that Seren had much to do still. She herself didn't need to be back at work until the next day, but was just a Patronus away if anything needed her attention. Oh and she needed to take Kyroh to the ice cream store, to name his flavour. Perhaps on the weekend.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tegz

Spot the Ravenclaws in the room, anyone?

Althea smiled to herself. "Now that's done, I think its time for tea. If either of you want to join me I'd welcome it." Dash had marking to do so she wasn't going to go interrupt that, or he'd try to trick her into doing it for him again. Or bribe her. Same difference, and she was usually quite inclined toward his brand of bribery.

She did expect that Seren had much to do still. She herself didn't need to be back at work until the next day, but was just a Patronus away if anything needed her attention. Oh and she needed to take Kyroh to the ice cream store, to name his flavour. Perhaps on the weekend.

Ivy's head turned towards Althea at the mention of tea. That did sound like a good idea. "I would be happy to join you," Ivy replied with a small smile. It had been too long since she and Althea had tea together. She turned again to Professor Bentley, waiting for a response. Ivy wouldn't mind if she came a long. It would be nice to get to know her.