| Wrackspurt
Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Toronto
Posts: 237,094
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Madison Valentine
Fifth Year  x12  x9
|  ♥s her SS family l Wifey is MINE | Naughty Niffler l Whittysaur l #awkwardturtle<#
SPOILER!!: Azura :) Quote:
Originally Posted by FwooperOnYourLeft  Azura was quiet as she listened about Dumbledore, he was one of her favorite people in History, Harry Poter and the Weaeys were her others.. She always wondered what it would have been like to have such a large magical family, so many brothers and sisters all in the same house.
The fourteen year old snapped from her thoughts as she heard the questions and she decided to answer the second one. Dumbledore had Fwoopers knew how many accomplishments and there was no way she could pick just one.
Azura raised her hand and spoke.
"I agree with his decision to keep things from Harry, I feel like he was trying to protect him, not to mention wait until he was old enough to handle all of the information he knew. Parents try to protect us in different ways, I feel that was what Dumbledore was doing. Even if it was a bit selfish. "
Her mind flew to her own mom, but she pushed that thought away for now.
As Azura spoke, Rosalyn listened carefully and nodded along. She loved to hear all the different perspectives that her students had on matters. That was why she asked these kinds of questions in the first place! "Very insightful! Dumbledore DID indeed see Harry as a part of his family so that very much clouded his judgement. It was selfish but understandable." Who among us didn't do everything that they could to protect someone they loved? Even if it wasn't always 'right', it was understandable.
SPOILER!!: Tenacius :) Quote:
Originally Posted by Steelsheen Yep thats a mighty impressive list of accomplishments right there, which made this young Lion cub mighty proud and also a tad bit overwhelmed for his fellow Gryffindor. So which among those had the greatest impact for generations to come?
His bright blue-green peepers strayed on the 3rd point. The only guy Voldemort feared. But there wouldnt even be a Voldemort if not for Dumbledore isnt it? A sad realization dawned on him. So the Curly Top raised a tentative hand, not really thrilled to have to point this out "Professor, I think Headmaster Dumbledore's most impactful contribution to the Wizarding World is actually discovering Voldemort. I mean... if he didnt find him in that orphanage, paving the way for Tom Riddle to study in Hogwarts... maybe we wouldnt even have had a Voldemort..... And Harry Potter would still have his parents and wouldnt have to live with those cruel Dursleys."
Which now he realizes why Dumbledore valued Harry as such-- he was trying to correct his own mistakes.... by using the life of another. Sheesh suddenly the ol Headmaster wasnt as heroic as he thought he was a few minutes ago. So given the Professor's next question-- "Uhm well.... he was trying to take down the monster he helped create, so I guess I can see why he didnt say anything to Harry, because hey if my hero said he needs help and that it would likely cost me my life-- even I would have second thoughts.... " and Tenacius was as Gryffindor as they come. "So Dumbledore keeping his cards close to his vest makes a lot of sense strategically in the war with Voldemort."
But wait he's not done yet "Ethically though-- that was a dastardly move by Dumbledore to keep Harry in the dark. I mean sure they really REALLY need to end Voldemort once and for all, but yeah... that was just nasty and I dont like it."
Well, that was a different perspective! Rosalyn liked it though; she liked hearing new perspectives on things. Plus Tenacius was a good student. Not that she ever played favourites or anything.
"Interesting. I can definitely see where you are coming from there. So you feel that it would have been better if Dumbledore prevented Tom Riddle from attending Hogwarts?" Would not attending Hogwarts have prevented it though? She had to wonder... This would probably remain something that they could never answer for sure though she DID see his point. Very good answer!
And as to the rest... "Yes, I think that played a part in it as well." On top of wanting to protect Harry that was. Human beings were complicated things and they could have conflicting motives and feelings.
SPOILER!!: Nat :) Quote:
Originally Posted by Bazinga Natalia had been listening, she had, but she hadn't been talking. This topic wasn't one she was fully up to date on. She knew who Dumbledore was, she knew what he was about. She had read all the books, even in Australia they touched on him in the greatest wizards of all times, but still she didn't have much to say on the topic since the more local students seemed to be experts on it.
Instead she listened and she doodled on her parchment. Glancing around the room and listening as students talked about his huge accomplishments and how great he was she wished she could go back in time to meet the man. See what hew as truly like. Sometimes history had a way of changing when written down. Depending on the persons view who was writing it. Was anything ever truly unbiased?
When the class was asked though if he was in the wrong Nat did have an opinion on that, "Professor, I think it was horribly wrong. You should never keep people in the dark and almost lie to them. I get it was to save so many other people, but to lie to someone isn't right. If he knew more information maybe he could have been more helpful or trained better." She didn't know the real answer to how it could have been better or worse, but one of her biggest pet peeves was lying and hiding things even is she herself had done it before.
And here they were getting to the heart of the matter as to why protecting people wasn't always right even if it was understandable! "That is very true. No matter how much you want to protect someone, it isn't right to lie to them. Dumbledore's mistake was seeing Harry Potter as a son." Rosalyn couldn't have put it better herself so she had nothing else to add. She was very pleased with her students though.
SPOILER!!: Oliver :) Quote:
Originally Posted by littledhampir His most impactful accomplishment? How could anyone even begin to rank them? Albus Dumbledore had done a lot of things. Olly carefully read over the list, some of which he'd already known but some of it was completely new to him. His defeat of Grindewald had definitely had a great impact on the wizarding world, otherwise who knows what else the dark wizard could have done? But was it the greatest thing Dumbledore had ever done? Finally Olly settled on something and raised his hand. "I think one of the most important things he did was create the Order of the Phoenix. Without them Voldemort would probably have been even more powerful and done more damage and even been in power longer. But we can't say for sure someone else wouldn't have founded it if Dumbledore hadn't."
It was nice to see someone mention The Order of the Phoenix since Rosalyn was quite fascinated by that group! They had played a big part in dealing with Lord Voldemort! "Indeed though I like to think that if Dumbledore hadn't have ended up dying when he did and Voldemort had stayed in power, that he and Harry Potter would have founded a group together." Just was something that she liked to imagine! Of course it would only have worked if Dumbledore was more open about things...
SPOILER!!: Ollie :) Quote:
Originally Posted by Gissel Once Oliver was done speaking, he reached over and tapped Juno on the shoulder lightly and waved at her with a big smile on his face. Though they didn't hang out much, he really enjoyed being Juno's friend. She was great.
Then Oliver wrote down notes on what everyone was saying and made a list similar to the one the professor had on the board. Everything people were saying was much better than his lame ol' fact, but oh well. He would just have to do better next time. Although maybe next time wouldn't be for the next questions being asked because they weren't the simplest to answer. He looked over the list and tried to decide which one of those things was the best one but...how could anyone do that? This was Dumbledore they were talking about.
Moving on to the question about Harry Potter, Ollie figured he could figure out his answer by talking through it. He raised his hand and said, "Well, regarding his work with Harry Potter, I think.....well....I guess Dumbledore's reasons for not telling Harry anything was probably...a good thing? Though I know if I was Harry I'd be very upset." He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts in a way that made sense. "Anyway, so, it's probably a good thing Dumbledore didn't say anything because if he had told Harry everything, Harry could have, I don't know, done something or everything differently and that could have led to Voldemort winning and ruining everything forever............does that make sense?"
Another interesting perspective! Rosalyn listened patiently as she waited for Oliver to gather all of his thoughts together. It seemed that he wasn't TOTALLY sure of what he was saying but that was totally fine! She did get the point of things. "So you feel like if Harry Potter knew that he was going to die in the end that he wouldn't have looked for all those Horcruxes?" Just an attempt to generate more thought on the matter!
SPOILER!!: Jacob :) Quote:
Originally Posted by awakemysoul Jacob listened as others in the class answered the two questions at hand. He agreed with some of them, others less so. He thought for a moment and then raised his hand. "I agree with you," he said, gesturing to a Slytherin boy who'd just spoken. He didn't know anyone's names yet. "The Order of the Phoenix was probably one of Dumbledore's greatest contributions. He organized people to band together secretly, as well as organizing a double agent who was so effective that he even fooled Voldemort," he continued, thinking of Severus Snape. "Not just anyone could do that, I think."
Another one for The Order and Rosalyn was pleased to see Severus Snape mentioned as well. "Very good! I am glad that someone mentioned Snape. Yes, his playing double agent for Dumbledore had a huge impact on things even if in the end it cost Snape his life. If he hadn't been working for Voldemort, Voldemort never would killed him for the Elder Wand... which Snape hadn't even possessed." Another fascinating historical figure even if he had been a terrible teacher! She had to admit that it took a lot of bravery to do what the man had done and that was something that he could be admired for even if he had been terrible to Harry Potter.
SPOILER!!: Skylar :) Quote:
Originally Posted by PhoenixRising Skylar was totally awake and listening.... while this lesson wasn't related to the history of quidditch, and she didn't know a whole lot about Albus Dumbledore, the second year was determined to try to pay attention. Besides it seemed like her classmates knew about the late headmaster, which was about the only tidbit of insight she could have offered. Mentally taking in the notes on the board, because she would have grown distracted if she tried writing them in her notebook and thus listening was the best form of learning for her, Sky tried to consider which might have been his greatest accomplishment. Though some up on the board didn't seem very much like achievements....
Raising her hand, Sky offered her own opinion, "I think that Dumbledores greatest achievement might have been when he was killed by Severus Snape under his own orders in 1997. It just went to show how truly wise he was to know that he needed to sacrifice his own life in order to help defeat Voldemort. Not to mention how much his trust in Snape showed in Snape not revealing the truths ...."
As far as not telling Harry the truths, well she was sorted into Slytherin. She knew all about being sneaky for the benefit of others.... and for oneself. Well she didn't know all about it but she was learning. "I don't think it was illogical for Dumbledore to keep secrets from Harry. The man was wise beyond measure and it's not as if he did it to deliberately harm Harry, but because he wanted Harry to discover the secrets for himself. If he had just handed Harry the pile of information, Harry would never learn. But by forcing Harry to discover for himself, that is where true learning took place." and probably why her teachers and family stressed on her to learn from her failures .... and mistakes weren't bad
Oh! Another answer that she liked.
Rosalyn nodded. "The sacrifice that Dumbledore made and desire to keep Draco Malfoy from committing murder was a big one, I agree." It had saved that boy from going down a path that he never had TRUELY wanted to. "I think his trust in people was one of Dumbledore's best attributes." Trusting people was a GOOD thing though of course it was good not to go overboard with it because there were times when people SHOULDN'T be trusted!
"Yes, discovering things on your own learning from experience DOES help a lot." That went for everyone really. "Could there have been a way for him to tell Harry more without giving everything to him?" Just wondering! It was okay if Skylar didn't have more opinions on the matter.
SPOILER!!: Cassandra :) Quote:
Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline Now Albus Dumbledore had to be one of the most well-known people of Hogwarts history besides the Founders themselves and the likes of Harry Potter and Tom Riddle. Cass simply listened to what all her classmates said about the man, wizard and headmaster, jotting down into her notes any that hadn’t readily come to her own mind, the list Professor Newton was writing herself on the board helping anything she wasn’t hearing for any reason.
As for the further questions posed before the class, Cassie supposed she should give some kind of answer herself. The Ravenclaw thinking the topics over as she listened to what others had to say. “I believe his greatest accomplishment, in a way, is simply becoming staff here at Hogwarts,” she started with after raising her hand. “From there he not only taught hundreds of students in transfiguration, but interacted with Voldemort when he was developing himself. And his role as professor led to his role as headmaster where his thoughts and decisions impacted even more generations of students both good and bad…” Especially Harry Potter and that particular class of students.
“Further creating a name for himself in the history of Hogwarts and the Wizarding world.”
Rosalyn couldn't help but smile at this answer because Professors DID have an impact on things. As one herself, she liked to think that she helped her students learn more about where they came from even if they didn't love the subject. "Very well said, Miss McNally!" She couldn't have stated the importance of it any better.
Glancing at her watch once again, she saw that it was time for them to start on the activity portion. This was something that some would love and some would hate. Maybe. She wasn't sure yet. At any rate she wanted to see some creativity from them and this was a new way for her to do it! Something that she hoped they enjoyed...
"Lovely job so far, guys! There is A LOT of information on Albus Dumbledore out there but we managed to get to the heart of things that he is well known for." Even if they hadn't gone way into depth they still had covered quite a bit! "For the activity I would like you to write a song about Dumbledore. There is no required length for it, it just needs to be about him! Could relate to his defeat of Grindelwald, his death, his relationship to Harry Potter... his life in general! Anything you choose just as long as it's related to Dumbledore." If they needed help with this, she could clarify further! "You CAN work with a partner for this. You are also allowed to rewrite an already existing song. If you choose to, please make sure to note the song you are using so that I know."
She headed back over to her desk and took a seat. "If you have any questions or need any help, just let me know and I will do my best to assist you."
OOC: So this is the main activity, guys! There is NO required post count and you can work with a partner if you choose to! All that is needed is a song about Dumbledore be it original or a rewrite! You have until 6:00 pm EST on November 30th.  |