Harry Potter: Engaging in Social Class Learning Segment

Below is a three day learning segment for my Harry Potter unit which gives you an insight on what we will be learning. Please email me if you have any questions! hilla@bpcschools.org

For the purpose of this class, I directed my learning segment towards Juniors so we could dive into a deeper conversation about issues of social class. It is my goal for the students to compare the issues of social class in Harry Potter to a movie, book, or research of their own choosing.

Themes I want to go over throughout the unit:

Relationships

Love

Friendships

Good Vs. Evil

Power

Social Class

Gender Issues

Below is a more detailed look at Lesson Plans.

Lesson Plan Day One: What is Social Class and what is it like in the United Kingdom

Grade Level- 11th grade

Objective: To analyze Social Justice and to come up with an overall conslclussion on the difference between social class as we know it (As US Citizens) compared to those of outside cultures. This will give students a thorough knowledge on social class throughout the last couply centurys of the UK. For example, The Monarchies compared to the commoners and this idea of control and how social class plays a role in control.

Activities: I will ask the students how much they know about the history of the UK. Then we will discuss the Kings and Queens of our pass and I will show them pictures from my time at the Scottish and London Museums. We will discuss how their clothes differ from each other and what a typical day was like for a commoner. We will than go over the definition of Social class and I will hand them a worksheet asking them to identify different ways social class interacts with the UK. The pictures I will show them are under the pictures residing on this website.

Assessment: The worksheet and discussion

Teacher Resources: The Worksheets, the Projector, Laptop, Pictures

Student Resources: Worksheet, pencil

Lesson Plan Day Two: Social Class in the Chamber of Secrets

Grade Level-11 grade

Objective: Students will begin Analyzing/Reading Harry Potter

Activities: Students will Analyze Harry Potter and the relationship between different social classes. We will discuss Ron Weasleys family and Draco Malfoys family. We will compare them both and how their social classes fit within the wizarding world. We will also compare it to what we know about Social Class today. Another person we will mention is Hermione Granger and her situation as a "Mudblood" and how that fits within the world of Harry Potter.

Assessment:

Teacher Resources:

Student Resources:

Lesson Plan Day Three: Social Class throughout the Uk’s history

Grade Level-11th grade

Objective:

Activities: Students will discuss how social class within Harry Potter also compares to that of the History of the UK. We will briefly discuss the tudor period as an example. I will pull up the pictures from my trip that I have loaded on to this website. The pictures contain some images of evidence of social class in the UK's history.