I really do mean it when I say I want to do everything I can. I love teaching, you know that, but whatever administrative skills I have that are at all useful, you have only to ask. (And I am very glad I managed to find the pu-erh I meant to give you last Christmas.) To follow up on other points we meant to come back to (sorry, this rather got away from me but I hope it makes it easier later.)
I am working up notes on curriculum, people I've come across who might be decent staff, and some of the discipline issues we touched on. We can talk more in a day or two? Or sooner, if you've need.
Staff: I do think Laura McGivern would be excellent if we can persuade her. She's Muggleborn, for one, and I can vouch for her teaching ability, her way with students, especially younger ones, and she's entirely pleasant to work with. She'd be an exceptional role-model in a number of ways. As I said, she's taught a number of the magical subects, and I seem to remember being told she was in Slytherin, though I might have that wrong. On my list to check.
Hufflepuff: Of course, if Mina wants to continue as Head, she has my full support. If she'd rather not, no one could ever replace Pomona, but I could at least give Mina more time with her Creatures, and I do know the surviving students.
The Astronomy spaces and equipment are in good order, but would it be a help if I tackled cleaning out the Defence classroom? Having done it twice now, I have some idea what needs special care and what belongs to the school.
Curriculum: Still thinking about how to put practical applications earlier, plus those bits of History and Muggle Studies we touched on. I keep wondering if Hogwarts could at least assist in a refresher for Muggleborn who wish, as they are able to get suitable wands. During term is obviously complicated, but maybe over the holidays?
The parts we didn't get to, and really, they're a much larger conversation.
Bullying: I know I'm a badger, but I truly don't mean everyone must be friends. Rather how the staff can help students find the people who will be their friends, and reduce the incidence and severity of bullying and ostracism as best we can. I'm particularly concerned about the re-integration of muggleborn students into the school, when we can do that, but certainly not only that. Even when I was at school, we were not good at keeping people with private resources for magical education from taking it out on those without.
More than that, we've also - as more than one person has pointed out to me - often treated problems as if magic will solve them all. I think it's clear that that's not true. A thing that would be dangerous without magic is still dangerous with magic, and the reverse: that we can sometimes avoid utter tragedy is a gift, not something to rely on. Of all the things I think we need to do better, it's that: understand magic for what it is, and what it isn't, and remember that knowledge, inclusion, and standing up for what's right matter just as much (if not more.)
Discipline: The essential problem of school discipline with students who are either used to the worst violence, or alternately to inconsistency based on blood and family. I keep thinking the only way forward is to be utterly transparent, and to make any discipline for more than the most trivial things something that more people have input into than a single teacher or Head of House. Time consuming, but entirely different. Sending some thoughts around on that too.
Giving students their best chances: I think of the pressure on Dean Thomas, or how our structure does not support those who are exceedingly specialised, like your Thomas Capper. We have students who are not academically adept, but who deserve a chance to find what they are good at - there are so many names here. And I wonder how we can encourage creative, entrepeneurial minds, like Fred and George Weasley (ideally without being deluged by pranks) because we need those too.
Cordelia didn't get enough support with the choir, but perhaps someone could pick that up. Tosha tried Language classes were a good idea, maybe even touching on languages students speak at home? Handcrafts - I was reminded visiting my brother how soothing they are. (He's a woodworker, and would be glad to consult, and there's always knitting and spinning and such. Practical, too.) Cooking lessons, if we can persuade the elves. The school play did get people working together well, and perhaps an apolitical classic would serve. Maybe not immediately. It will be a constant reminder of Daph Perhaps Miss Bones would be willing to help with some sort of literary publication? Not all of them at once, but thinking about more things than we have.
And finally, harder, there's those who come from homes where family pressure, expectation, assumption and worse have warped things beyond all soundness - Teddy Nott has been much on my mind, recently. We have so many students who have suffered so much, and who might be particularly vulnerable in the coming years to influences, good and bad. And I keep thinking how much I've failed them. That the school has failed them.
(I don't think I ever told you, but last summer, when we thought Draco was dead, I drank a shot of alcohol for every student who'd died that I'd taught. That I knew of, anyway. I couldn't do it now, it'd take me weeks, though the numbers keep haunting me. You too, I'm sure.)
Most of all, I keep thinking about the next few years. Whenever we have first years at Hogwarts again, they will attend school without seeing the places where their friends and housemates and teachers died. And yet, for older students, they will see those places all the time. We, as surviving teachers, will see the missing faces, but new staff will not. (And will likely not understand what it was like to live here under other rules.) There is so much hope, in that, but a lot of pain to live through, first.
I don't have answers for any of this, Septima, except that it needs doing, somehow, however daunting. As I said, I am wholly at your disposal, and Hogwarts and her students have long had my first loyalty.
Private message to Septima
I am working up notes on curriculum, people I've come across who might be decent staff, and some of the discipline issues we touched on. We can talk more in a day or two? Or sooner, if you've need.
Staff: I do think Laura McGivern would be excellent if we can persuade her. She's Muggleborn, for one, and I can vouch for her teaching ability, her way with students, especially younger ones, and she's entirely pleasant to work with. She'd be an exceptional role-model in a number of ways. As I said, she's taught a number of the magical subects, and I seem to remember being told she was in Slytherin, though I might have that wrong. On my list to check.
Hufflepuff: Of course, if Mina wants to continue as Head, she has my full support. If she'd rather not, no one could ever replace Pomona, but I could at least give Mina more time with her Creatures, and I do know the
survivingstudents.The Astronomy spaces and equipment are in good order, but would it be a help if I tackled cleaning out the Defence classroom? Having done it twice now, I have some idea what needs special care and what belongs to the school.
Curriculum: Still thinking about how to put practical applications earlier, plus those bits of History and Muggle Studies we touched on. I keep wondering if Hogwarts could at least assist in a refresher for Muggleborn who wish, as they are able to get suitable wands. During term is obviously complicated, but maybe over the holidays?
The parts we didn't get to, and really, they're a much larger conversation.
Bullying: I know I'm a badger, but I truly don't mean everyone must be friends. Rather how the staff can help students find the people who will be their friends, and reduce the incidence and severity of bullying and ostracism as best we can. I'm particularly concerned about the re-integration of muggleborn students into the school, when we can do that, but certainly not only that. Even when I was at school, we were not good at keeping people with private resources for magical education from taking it out on those without.
More than that, we've also - as more than one person has pointed out to me - often treated problems as if magic will solve them all. I think it's clear that that's not true. A thing that would be dangerous without magic is still dangerous with magic, and the reverse: that we can sometimes avoid utter tragedy is a gift, not something to rely on. Of all the things I think we need to do better, it's that: understand magic for what it is, and what it isn't, and remember that knowledge, inclusion, and standing up for what's right matter just as much (if not more.)
Discipline: The essential problem of school discipline with students who are either used to the worst violence, or alternately to inconsistency based on blood and family. I keep thinking the only way forward is to be utterly transparent, and to make any discipline for more than the most trivial things something that more people have input into than a single teacher or Head of House. Time consuming, but entirely different. Sending some thoughts around on that too.
Giving students their best chances: I think of the pressure on Dean Thomas, or how our structure does not support those who are exceedingly specialised, like your Thomas Capper. We have students who are not academically adept, but who deserve a chance to find what they are good at - there are so many names here. And I wonder how we can encourage creative, entrepeneurial minds, like Fred and George Weasley (ideally without being deluged by pranks) because we need those too.
Cordelia didn't get enough support with the choir, but perhaps someone could pick that up.
Tosha triedLanguage classes were a good idea, maybe even touching on languages students speak at home? Handcrafts - I was reminded visiting my brother how soothing they are. (He's a woodworker, and would be glad to consult, and there's always knitting and spinning and such. Practical, too.) Cooking lessons, if we can persuade the elves. The school play did get people working together well, and perhaps an apolitical classic would serve. Maybe not immediately.It will be a constant reminder of DaphPerhaps Miss Bones would be willing to help with some sort of literary publication? Not all of them at once, but thinking about more things than we have.And finally, harder, there's those who come from homes where family pressure, expectation, assumption and worse have warped things beyond all soundness - Teddy Nott has been much on my mind, recently. We have so many students who have suffered so much, and who might be particularly vulnerable in the coming years to influences, good and bad. And I keep thinking how much I've failed them. That the school has failed them.
(I don't think I ever told you, but last summer, when we thought Draco was dead, I drank a shot of alcohol for every student who'd died that I'd taught. That I knew of, anyway. I couldn't do it now, it'd take me weeks, though the numbers keep haunting me. You too, I'm sure.)Most of all, I keep thinking about the next few years. Whenever we have first years at Hogwarts again, they will attend school without seeing the places where their friends and housemates and teachers died. And yet, for older students, they will see those places all the time. We, as surviving teachers, will see the missing faces, but new staff will not. (And will likely not understand what it was like to live here under other rules.) There is so much hope, in that, but a lot of pain to live through, first.
I don't have answers for any of this, Septima, except that it needs doing, somehow, however daunting. As I said, I am wholly at your disposal, and Hogwarts and her students have long had my first loyalty.