Tarquin Fox-Reynolds
April 02, 2023 7:34 PM
Advanced Study Hall - Explain Yourselves by Tarquin Fox-Reynolds
The advanced study hall group gathered in the library. Tarquin nodded to them one by one as they entered. For the most part, they were a fairly self-sufficient group, knowing what they needed to do and having enough inherent motivation to just get on with it. Most of the time. They were still sixteen to eighteen year olds, and skills like time management and study habits were not things that were naturally wired into the brain, no matter what they thought. That also meant they were teachable, and especially with the sixth years being new to their grade level (though not to the school or the idea of study hall) he thought it might be best to give a little structure. Especially given who some of those newish sixth years were."Welcome to study hall," he greeted. "As you know, this is mostly a period for you to do self-directed study, or practise more risky spells with an adult on hand. However, today we are going to start the block with something a little more structured. It will only take the first half, after that, you'll be free to do the usual.
"Most of you will either have just finished a unit or be close to wrapping one up in each of your classes. You may think that means it's time to forget it all until you need to revise, but I would not recommend that," he said, using much the same tone that one would use to advise against hugging a venomous tentacular - one that lightly implied very painful consequences. "Today, we're going to look at wrapping up a unit right, so that you have less work to do when it comes to revision time.
"Part one is a checklist to help you make sure your notes are complete and organised." It was very general so that it could apply to any subject, listing questions like 'Do I have a spell/species list from this unit?' and 'Do I have written notes for every theory lesson?' "I would like you to spend ten to fifteen minutes working through the list with a partner, preferably one who shares the subject, though you can compare across subjects, and helping each other fill in any gaps.
"After that, you can continue to work on your notes for that subject if you find a lot of gaps, or you can find a partner who doesn't share the class and try to explain the core concepts to them. We've talked before in study skills about active revision. Tests will not check if you can read and recognise explanations - they will ask if you can give them. Therefore practising explaining things is a core part of a revision strategy.
"I'll be coming round to check in. Off you go."
Subthreads: It may take awhile by Valentine Duell with Lavender Brockert
It's a long and complex theory by Bertie Jackson
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Tarquin Fox-Reynolds
Advanced Study Hall - Explain Yourselves
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Bertie Jackson
May 06, 2023 10:42 PM
It's a long and complex theory by Bertie Jackson
Bertie usually liked study hall. It was an opportunity to work on the independent research project he was conducting for Charms. It was provisionally titled 'Are spell words as important as you all make out, or are you just being classist, ableist buttholes?' He was aware that he would likely have to modify that title when he was seeking publication but as a working title, it did everything he wanted.It was a deeply complex question, and it was likely he would be researching something similar into his PhD years, but that was why it was good to start now. Maybe if he got a head start he could graduate early, or fully solve the problem by the time he was into the antiquity of his mid-twenties. That was quite old, and he intended to have several notable achievements by then. It had already spiralled somewhat out of control, in that the areas he had assumed he would look into as his background study had been woefully under-researched—namely the variation that was possible within spell pronunciation before things blew up. People's accents differed, and whilst many people did smooth and standardise them when spellcasting, there was bound to be variation, especially in vowels where most of an accent was carried - a British person and an American person saying the word 'dog' would pronounce it completely differently, whilst both saying the same word and saying it correctly. If the universe was listening for the word, it should recognise both variations as valid. Logically, the same range of tolerance existed within spellcasting.
And yet, that wasn't what they were told. They were told there was a One and Only Pronunciation, and woe and fire betide the ones who messed it up. The point was reinforced with snide little stories where the punchline was someone like him, who stuttered. Even though non verbal spellcasting existed. Even though some cultures relied entirely on nonverbal, non-wand based magic or used improvisation as a key part of magic.
The rigid insistence and power given to these flimsy, single words and the way they were enforced was classist, ableist, and racist. And Bertie was determined to prove it all.
Except today, he had to check his already orderly notes and check up on someone else because apparently some people made it to advanced classes without learning basic study skills. And the librarian thought he would need at least ten minutes to work through the list when he could tick it all off without even looking.
He took one of the lists, and took out his Transfiguration folder. Most of the people who took Transfiguration were acceptable company—it was a course where the less academically minded tended to fall by the wayside. Finding someone who shared his course, he gave a sigh.
“Shall we just get this over with? I have all these,” he said gesturing to the list. “I’m not sure why anyone wouldn’t.”
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Bertie Jackson
It's a long and complex theory
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