Professor Skies
September 06, 2012 7:39 PM
Beginners Lesson I by Professor Skies
It felt good to be back in a proper school. Not so good that she wouldn't go home most nights but she definitely preferred it to private tutoring. Most tutees were from rich families who thought of her as a governess – an image she loathed for the matronly Victorian air of the word, as much as the implied inferiority. There were bound to be a few pupils of that type here but here she was in charge. If they backchatted or put down any of the other bloodtypes, she could do her best to bring them into line. That was less of an option when said little brat's parents paid your wages directly. Now that both of her daughters were away at boarding school, it made sense for her to come back to working a proper job. It had been advertised as subbing but there was a chance of taking it permanently, assuming that both she and the school liked each other well enough.“Good morning,” she greeted the assembled first and second years. “I am Professor Skies and I will be taking you for Transfiguration this term. We will be focussing on non-animate to non-animate Transfigurations– that is objects into other objects as this is the simplest branch of Transfiguration. That said, it can still be very difficult, and you must not get disheartened if you do not get big results immediately,” she felt that it was easy for her subject to slip down students' lists as they enjoyed the big flashy results of beginner Charms. Even making mistakes in other subjects tended to have dramatic consequences, whereas in Tranfiguration you just tended to not fully achieve what you had wanted. “Today will be pebbles into buttons,” she informed them, “Take one and pass it on,” she instructed, handing a box of pebbles to the student on the end of the front row, Each was smooth and shiny and relatively flat, although they varied a little in size and colour.
“I also have a handout for you. It is a template for a Transfiguration Table. I would like all of the first years to take one. Second years, I would prefer you to try to do your table from scratch but if you are unfamiliar with this teaching method, please help yourself to a handout, although there are plenty of notes to help you in the textbook,” the sheet that was being passed around was a simple table of common object characteristics, such as size, shape and function with an empty box next to each one. “The table is designed to help you focus on the similarities and differences between your current object and the target object. This is a process that you will learn to internalise as you become more experienced but it is helpful to actively work through it when the subject is new to you. Every two objects, however different they seem, have something in common. Even if it's the tiniest little thing it is useful for you. Changing everything about an object is a monumental task and usually one that it's difficult to wrap your head around. By focussing only on those things which you need to change, you can channel your energy more effectively, and hopefully make bigger changes where they are needed.
“When you are ready to move onto the spell, the incantation is Pangolus and you will want to make a single circle with your wand,” the chalk behind her scribbled key pieces of information onto the board as she spoke, “For those of you who are righthanded, the circle should be clockwise. For those of you who are left handed, a counter-clockwise circle also works on this spell. It is generally less effective but it is likely to be more effective if it feels more comfortable or natural for you.
“If you are stuck, chapter 2 of the textbook has a section on writing Transfiguration Tables, whilst chapter 3 introduces inanimate transfigurations. You may also discuss your problems quietly with your neighbours, or call on me if you require any assistance. You may begin.” Selina hoped to enjoy at least a good few minutes of nothing more than quills scratching on parchment before the casting began. Transfiguration was usually a safe profession. It was very difficult to produce results and therefore definitely difficult to overdo things. Of course, that didn't prevent utterly unrelated catastrophes but she definitely felt she sent students to the hospital wing less often than her Charms colleagues, and far, far less often than those in Defence.
OOC - you know the rules. Long (min. 200 words), interesting but realistic posts. No blowing up my classroom or each other. Tag me in the subject line and please state your house in the author line of your first post.
Subthreads: Let's be partners! by Wendy Canterbury - Pecari with Alexandra D'Alesandro, Wendy, Alex, Crotalus
Pebbles, Buttons; What's the Difference? by Rupert Princeton, Pecari with Lucian D'Alesandro, Aladren, Rupert
Some are more beginner than others... by Effie Arbon with Alan Raines, Teppenpaw
My first frown (if only for a moment) by Marcus Crosby, Teppenpaw with Lucrezia Renaldi, Crotalus
The easy button by Liam Ammon, Pecari with Melanie Lennox, Teppenpaw
Without effort. (Wotw) by Amity Brockert, Aladren with Annette Pierce, Pecari
I didn't think pebbles could do that! by Carter Browning, Teppenpaw with Carrie O'Malley, Crotalus, Carter
You wanted buttons, right? by Clara Abernathy, Pecari with Annabelle Pierce, Pecari
This will work, this will work, this will work.... by Henry Carey, Crotalus
Starting off a little cleaner by McKinley Andrews, Crotalus
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Professor Skies
Beginners Lesson I
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Professor Skies
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Wendy Canterbury - Pecari
September 06, 2012 11:43 PM
Let's be partners! by Wendy Canterbury - Pecari
Wendy had heard a lot about transfiguration from Waverly and wasn’t sure if she would do as well as her older sister. Her sister’s favorite teacher was the Transfiguration professor, or at least had been. Apparently the Transfig. professor was new which meant this was uncharted territory for both girls. But Wendy was going to be in the beginner’s class by herself while Waverly was in the intermediate. That part was kind of scary.She sat down in the second row, wanting to get a good feel of what was going on. It was weird being new to all of this, but kind of nice at the same time. In a way, she was living in the fairy tales she had always dreamed of. In her imagination, she lived with magic. When her sister had turned out to be magical first, that had only shaped Wendy’s imaginary world more. And now she was living in it. Though she had been looking forward to most of her classes, the one she was really looking forward to was COMC.
Transfiguration would be good too, though. Hopefully, even if it was hard. The professor talked about turning pebbles into buttons, and Wendy was already entranced. Turning an object into something else like that? Doing that would so come in handy! Wendy could already imagine turning chairs into pianos, desks into fishbowls, umbrellas into castles…
But apparently it didn’t work that way. She took the Transfiguration Table curiously and examined it carefully. The things they were transfiguring had to be similar in some ways in order to successfully turn it into something else. Well, that was kind of disappointing.
Wendy sighed and put her chin into her hand, leaning her elbow against the desk. Still she rubbed the pebble in her hand like a worry stone. One thing she had learned to do a couple summers ago was skip rocks in the lake. She wasn’t that good at it, but she could skip it at least twice. This would be a great pebble to skip because it was flat. She sighed again. They would be turning it into a button instead. She thought about slipping it into her pocket and asking for another one, but then she realized that there was no lake nearby. Poop.
There wasn’t much else to do except look at the textbook and start filling out the Transfiguration Table. She read the textbook, found it a little confusing, and then started filling hers out anyway. Finding similarities between a pebble and a button shouldn’t be too hard. A few seconds later, she had “round; flat; hard” on her Table. She tapped her temple with her pen, trying to think of something else, but she was out of answers.
Wendy turned to her desk partner and said quietly, “Hey, can I ask you something? What else did you put for similarities between the button and the pebble? All I got was round, flat, and hard.” The teacher had said they could talk to their neighbors. It was very convenient that the desks weren’t all separated like they had been in her fifth grade class.
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Wendy Canterbury - Pecari
Let's be partners!
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Wendy Canterbury - Pecari
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Alexandra D'Alesandro
September 07, 2012 1:09 AM
If you insist. by Alexandra D'Alesandro
Alexandra did not have the most pleasant experiences in her classes thus far, and was looking forward to the relative calmness of her Transfiguration class. Even though she had a rough first day in each class, she did seem to make some new friends, which she figured couldn’t be too bad of a thing at all. She still couldn’t get the grass stains out of her pink dress after her new friend Honey ran into her during her flying lesson, but she wasn’t letting herself get too bent out of shape about it.She made her way into class and took a seat next to a girl she didn’t know. Alex carefully listened to the instructions and scanned the Transfiguration Table she was to fill out. Turning a pebble into a button seemed to be the calm work that she needed. She was working on filling out the table when the girl next to her spoke, and asked what Alex wrote to describe the similarities between the button and the pebble. “Hmm…shiny? Light?” Alex began, “I tend to notice the differences more quickly than I do the similarities, so this is a bit hard.” She had been taught to look at things from a snooty perspective, which often meant finding what is different about someone or something, and finding reasons as to why they were not worthy, became a second nature. Alex, while still upholding most of her pureblood etiquette, decided she didn’t want to be as seemingly anti-social as her brother. This led her to keep her nose out of the air for the most part and treat others as human beings.
“What is your favorite class so far?” Alex asked the girl, “Mine will probably be Care of Magical Creatures."
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Alexandra D'Alesandro
If you insist.
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Alexandra D'Alesandro
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Wendy
September 07, 2012 5:33 PM
I do insist. And then we can be best friends! by Wendy
Wendy's desk partner's comment was definitely true for her too. "It's always easier to tell the differences than similarities," she agreed. Especially because they were comparing a pebble and a button. Wendy's clothes didn't have any buttons on them this time, and there were so many different kinds of buttons too like there were so many different kinds of pebbles. Maybe. It was hard to think of a standard button and compare a pebble to that."I think a pebble could be a button too if it really wanted to. I don't know how someone would sew it on and it would probably be really heavy..." She giggled, imagining a really heavy button-up with the buttons made of pebbles. "Never mind."
Wendy didn't even have to think twice about what her favorite class would be. "Mine too!" she exclaimed. "I love animals and meeting magical creatures will be really fun. My mom won't let me even get a cat because she runs a bakery and doesn't want animal hairs getting into the cakes and stuff." Wendy really hoped that they would meet a unicorn or something. What she really wanted to do was keep a magical creature, but that wasn't very probable.
"I think I'll really like Charms too," she added as an afterthought. "It's really fun." Transfiguration was so far slow-going and not exactly Wendy's favorite. She thought for a moment about other similarities between a pebble and a button. "I guess a button is also hard like a pebble." She shrugged and wrote it down. "That's all I can think of. You can look at my paper if you can't think of anything more. I want to get started on the spell!" Wendy couldn't wait to start using her brand new wand. It was so exciting that she could actually do magic with it. It wasn't like using a twig or a branch, pretending to be magical. This was real.
Her hazel eyes were bright when she thought about doing magic. "Okay, here goes. Pangolus!" She pressed the tip of her wand against the pebble as she said it, and instead of her pebble turning into a nice, round button, a loud "bang!" happened and a puff of white smoke blew into her face. She coughed and waved the smoke away. "Ugh, that didn't work. Sorry if that scared you." She looked down at her pebble hopefully, but it looked exactly the same.
It was a little embarrassing to mess up, but she knew why. In her excitement, she hadn't even looked at the chapter. She turned to the page and read all about the things she should have done. There was even a picture of the pebble turning into a button. "Sorry," Wendy apologized again. "I was just really excited to try it." It was hard to keep in her excitement to do real magic for the first time. Wendy decided to read a little bit more before trying it again, this time going through the chapter carefully.
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Wendy
I do insist. And then we can be best friends!
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Wendy
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Alex, Crotalus
September 08, 2012 12:47 AM
As long as you don't turn me into a button by accident :) by Alex, Crotalus
Alex listened to the girl ramble on about clothing with buttons that were actually pebbles and wondered how she kept meeting these people who got excited and amused about such simple things. She just smiled as the girl talked. At least they were nice to her. Alex had thought about her predicament of who she should be associated with and came to the conclusion that she would be different and stand on a line between both extremes. She would still be a proper pureblood, but she would also have various types of friends that were different from her. Deep down Alex wanted to be liked and popular, and having various friends meant that she would know someone everywhere she went.She would never admit to it, but she often became lonely at home because she did not have time for friends. Her mother was always scheduling her for some sort of lesson and didn’t allow her to mingle with the half-bloods or muggles that lived nearby. Alex also felt a strange urge to protect the innocent. That was part of the reason she connected with animals so easily. They were innocent beings and needed someone to stand up for them. She viewed many of her new non-pureblood friends in the same manner. It wasn’t their fault they weren’t purebloods. Alex also decided she wasn’t afraid of any of the purebloods or anyone for that matter, even though some of them seemed intimidating.
When they started talking about their favorite class Alex added, “I couldn’t imagine not having a pet. I have a cat at home named Penelope. She is a white, fluffy ball of fur.” Alex smiled. “She acts like a little princess. She even has a little pink bed that looks like a throne.” In a way she regretted not bringing her cat to school with her, but Penelope was a bit skiddish around people she did not know well. Perhaps next year Alex would try introducing her to life at school.
Alex was just about to suggest reading the book to find out how to perform the spell correctly, when the girl attempted to change the pebble into a button. A long bang occurred and white smoke went into the girls face. Alex tried to contain her amusement, but she ended up laughing a bit. “No worries”, she said afterwards, “I am used to loud noises. I have an older brother who plays drums.” She then realized she hadn’t gotten the girls name yet. “Perhaps you weren’t concentrating hard enough?...Oh, and I am Alex D’Alesandro by the way. I am from Boston. Nice to meet you.”
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Alex, Crotalus
As long as you don't turn me into a button by accident :)
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Alex, Crotalus
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Wendy
September 08, 2012 9:23 PM
I'll try my best! It would be awkward having a button-friend by Wendy
When Wendy's partner mentioned her cat, her voice went up a couple octaves. "Aww! That's so cute! Penelope sounds like a royal name. Eee, I love cats! They're just so cute and cuddly." Wendy's enthusiasm for cats would have been pretty much the same for any animal. They were all just so cute even if they weren't the friendliest creatures. "Horses are my favorite," Wendy told her, "but there's no way my parents would ever get me a horse. I've ridden them, though, a bunch of times." She smiled just thinking about it.It was a relief that Wendy's embarrassing mishap didn't shock Alex too much. She wasn't sure if drums and random "bangs" were the same thing, but she took it as it was. The girls in her immediate family sang and played the piano, so there was nothing really shocking about that especially since no one sang opera.
So far Wendy had found the introductions of some people kind of odd. She knew there were things called "purebloods" and that she was technically a "muggle-born", but she had no idea how important that was in the magical community. Waverly didn't seem to have too much of a problem with it, so Wendy didn't think anyone really had a problem with it. Her older sister had just warned her that it would be something she'd have to get used to.
When Wendy had first heard the introduction, she thought it was a joke. But now, as she heard it more and more often, she realized that these people were serious. It was a good way to get the "where are you from" question out of the way, apparently. Back in elementary school, kids always just introduced themselves by first name only. It didn't really matter what your last name was. But Wendy had to constantly remind herself that this wasn't elementary school anymore.
"It's nice to meet you too! I'm Wendy Canterbury. I live in here in Arizona." It was amazing how many people came from different states. Wendy couldn't imagine going out of state for school. She was only eleven! It was far enough away from home that it made her a tiny bit homesick, but it helped that Waverly was here. She couldn't imagine how Waverly must've felt coming here all by herself. The best part was that they were in the same house!
Wendy, now satisfied with the knowledge she had obtained from her textbook, turned to her pebble with new vigor. "Okay, let's try this again." She thought really hard of a button, trying to imagine it in her mind like the textbook said and think of all the details she would be changing. She pointed her wand at the pebble as she thought about it and turned her wand clockwise as she said, "Pangolus."
Sadly, the pebble didn't change a lot, but it did round out and four teeny tiny shades of circles appeared on one side of the pebble. She smiled brightly. "I got somewhere! Yay!" She turned to Alex, still smiling. "That's good, right? Okay, do you want to try?"
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Wendy
I'll try my best! It would be awkward having a button-friend
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Wendy
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Alex
September 19, 2012 12:56 AM
And probably quite boring. by Alex
Alex watched as Wendy practically squealed at the mention of a cat, and smiled at the mention of horses. “Really?” Alex began, “I used to ride horses all the time. When we lived in France I would spend a lot of time at my family’s Equestrian center. They ran it, so I could basically do whatever I wanted to.” She thought for a moment, realizing that riding horses is probably what she missed the most in the states. She could probably go riding somewhere here, but it just wouldn’t be the same.“Have you lived in Arizona your whole life?” Alex asked with curiosity. Her family was always moving around somewhere; so she found it hard to imagine what it would be like to spend her whole life in one place. There were so many things to see and do. Alex also gathered from the introduction that Wendy was probably not a pureblood. She scanned the room to see if any of the pureblood girls were looking her way, and seeing that most of them were trying to perfect the lesson, she turned back to Wendy as she tried to change her pebble into a button once more.
“That is better.” Alex said, “My turn!” She wasn’t exactly the most patient person in the world, and she wanted to prove that she could do this. Having her brother in most of her classes was annoying, because if she messed up her would be there to see it and taunt her about it endlessly. However, it also served as motivation to do well, for then she could show him up. Alex concentrated hard and closed her green eyes for a second as though she was meditating. “Pangolus!” she finally said after opening them and watched as absolutely nothing happened to her pebble. “Well, that wasn’t very exciting was it?”
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Alex
And probably quite boring.
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Alex
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Wendy
September 27, 2012 7:32 PM
Can you imagine games with a button? by Wendy
"That's so cool!" was the first thing out of Wendy's mouth when she heard that Alex had lived in France and had ridden horses a lot. "I wish I could own a horse ranch or something," she sighed dreamily. "And being in France would be cool too." Wendy wasn't sure what France was like at all, having not traveled much except to Southern California. Her mom's business mostly kept them vacationless, but Wendy didn't really mind. Their vacations consisted of doing outdoor things which was a lot of fun.To answer Alex's question, she nodded. "Yeah. I love Arizona a lot, and my parents do too. My mom has a bakery, so she can't move around all that much since she's the owner and the main worker. My dad works all the time too, so it's hard to find enough time to actually go to another country or something. But I've gone to California. I think...that's probably the farthest I've gone. I've only been out of the state once, then." She shrugged. "But I don't really think anything of it. I like the desert and hiking and moutain biking and stuff. There are fun things to do in Arizona." She smiled. She was glad that she was able to go to school close to home too.
Wendy watched as Alex took her turn, wondering how her older sister had fared with this class her first year. Wendy wasn't doing too horribly, but she wasn't sure how fast her spells were supposed improve. Waverly seemed pretty good and she was in her third year. Hopefully Wendy would get that good when she was in her third year too.
Alex didn't do much with her pebble which was disappointing. "I bet you'll do better if you try it again," she said. "Let me see if I can do it." Her pebble that looked like it wanted to be a pebble stared back at her as she stared at it. Wendy had a vivid imagination, so it wasn't hard for her to imagine the entire thing transforming in front of her eyes. She could almost see it in her mind's eye, turning from a pebble into a button. It was like watching a movie in her head, and with this "movie" going on, she said, "Pangolus!" And the pebble became magical.
The scene in front of her almost went exactly as the one in her head, and the pebble took shape of a button. The only thing was that the holes were only indents and it still had the texture of a pebble instead of a plastic button. But still, it was the same color and shape of a button, and Wendy almost jumped out of her seat with excitement. "I did it! Well, kind of." She beamed at Alex. "Okay, it's kind of hard, but you can totally do it. I don't really know how to explain it, but all you have to do is imagine it." She smiled encouragingly at Alex, hoping that her partner would get it even though Wendy was eager to try again and see if she could do it all the way.
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Wendy
Can you imagine games with a button?
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Wendy
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