Professor Skies
June 08, 2013 2:00 PM
Beginners - Learning from your mistakes by Professor Skies
“Good morning,” Professor Skies greeted the class once they were assembled. As they were now a couple of weeks into the term, she hoped there wouldn't be any late comers. After this class, she would have to start getting strict with anyone who was. Or offering them maps, one of the two.In their first few lessons, she had introduced them to the basic theory of her subject, as well as Transfiguration Tables. These were templates on which they compared their source and target object on a range of features, such as size, weight and colour, looking for similarities and differences in order to help with the visualisation process that was key to Transfiguration. They had also undertaken practical work on small objects.
“Today, we will be learning how to undo errors in your work, or how to take partially transfigured objects back to their original form. I decided to cover this a few lessons in so that you would have the skills to make some alterations to objects, which you could then work on putting back to normal.
“The spell is one of repair. Therefore it will work on Transfigurations which have only been partially completed, or which have gone wrong in some other way, such as becoming distorted or not having taken on the characteristics you intended. It does not restore items back to their original state if they have been completely Transfigured, as they are no longer regarded as broken or damaged. Part of your homework assignment will be to find out what spell you would need for this.
“I hope this spell will be useful to you in class, for correcting work that has gone wrong, or if you wish to challenge yourself, i.e. returning objects to their starting state before making each attempt. However, if you still wish to do your Transfigurations by stages, I will find that perfectly acceptable, even once you have mastered this spell.
“We are going to be working on making drinking glasses today. You may choose to start with either a plastic beaker or a small vase,” as always, there were two options to account for the split level of the class, though people from either year group were welcome to choose either task. She handed a box containing both to the person on the end of the front row so that they could take one and pass it on. “Aim for the one which will stretch you and thus result in a partial Transfiguration, then you can practise the repairing spell too.
“The spell for the glass is Krustallos. You will need a short upward flick – remember, decisive wand movements are best in Transfiguration. She demonstrated, holding up the beautifully etched crystal glass that she had just formed. She waved her wand over it silently (she wasn't about to give away the answer to their homework) returning it to its original state.
“If I only manage to partially achieve my result...” This, for her, was much harder. She consciously held back, allowed other thoughts to intrude and muttered the spell half-heartedly. She held up a vase which had patches of glass around the top. “I can put it back to normal with Reparifarge,” she did this, turning the vase so that everyone could see it was back to normal, “Do a sideways slash with your wand – as if striking something out on a blackboard.
“If you need any help, ask your peers or call on me. You may begin,”
OOC – as you can see, this lesson is set a few weeks into the term, so your character would have already had a few classes working on simple Transfigurations. You are free to fill in the gaps on what these were, so long as it is realistic – look back at previous classes for this level if you are in any doubt.
By posting in class, you will earn points for your house as posts are graded 1-5. The usual site rules of a minimum 200 words apply. However, if you write an average post, you will get an average mark. If you write a good post, you will get a good mark. The marking is based on how well you write, not how well your character does at the lesson. Relevance, believability, length and creativity are the key to a good mark.
If you are unsure what is expected of you please:
- Check the FAQ
- Check the 'dos and don'ts for class threads' post
- Ask on the OOC board
Remember that a teacher is present and would stop any situation before it got out of hand, so end posts at a point that gives me a chance to react if your character is getting into difficulty or misbehaving. If you want Selina's help, put her name in the subject line to tag her.
Subthreads: A vase to a glass...and back again. by Keme RunningBear, Aladren with Charlie B-F-R, Teppenpaw, Keme
I've done plenty of that by Francesca Wolseithcrafte with Dimitri Porter, Teppenpaw
Always a good thing to learn. by Irina Volkov, Aladren with Adam Spencer, Pecari, Irina
Dreaming... by Eleanor Vandenberg - Crotalus
Fixing by Willow Collins,Teppenpaw
Mistakes? (TAG- Rory) by Analea Thornton with Rory Royale (Aladren), Analea
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Professor Skies
Beginners - Learning from your mistakes
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Professor Skies
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Analea Thornton
July 12, 2013 5:33 PM
Mistakes? (TAG- Rory) by Analea Thornton
Analea felt weird this year. Sure, Rory would be in her classes, and so would her twin cousins, but Annette wasn’t there. She’d found it much easier to talk to either Rory or Annette other than her own family and now only one of the two would be there. She was almost sure that Dimitri wouldn’t want to work with her, and as much as she loved Darina, she was too chatty, always expecting answers and Ana hated speaking out loud. The now second year glanced around the Transfiguration classroom and hunted for Rory in the hopes of sitting next to her best friend. Spotting her, she grinned and made her way to the empty seat next to her.“Hey!” she said, only loud enough for Rory to hear. Rory was used to the lisp Ana hated so much from the year before. She’d even spent time with Rory’s family over the summer when they got back from England. Rory’s family was awesome and Ana loved them like her own (shoot, what was she kitting, she loved Rory’s father and stepfather MUCH more than she loved her own!) and treated them as such. She’d even decided on special presents for each of Rory’s siblings and parents for Christmas and was super excited to give it to them (hopefully she’d see them in person, if not, she’d send them!). For all her siblings, she was working on crocheting scarves in different colors. Each one in their two favorite colors. For Al and Anne or Ari and Kris, she hadn’t decided just yet, but the scarves were started already. In fact, Ana was almost done with little Kris’ already. His was in a bright shade of both red and yellow and Ana looked at it almost wishing she’d had sunglasses to see it! But Rory didn’t know all that, she was hiding it when she did it (and most of the time she hid it under her blankets using a light charm under them in the middle of the night.
If Rory had time to respond to her ‘Hey’, she didn’t hear her. Professor Skies started to speak and Analea’s attention was placed there. She figured she’d have plenty of time to talk to her best friend later on though so it wasn’t as big a deal. Being a second year now, and a role model to a whole new set of first years including her twin cousins, Analea felt the need to lead as best as she could (as long as she could be quiet doing it). They had learned a lot already in the first few lessons. Some of which Ana remembered from last year, some she didn’t. Either way, it was nice to start off easy.
The professor started to speak about what they were going to be doing in class that day and Analea hoped beyond all hope that this spell wouldn’t have anything to do with the letter ‘s’ but had a guess that it would. Most words did, and that didn’t help her positive outlook on it. They would be fixing errors in their work. Interesting… she thought as she took her notes on the class information.
Her frown got bigger as the spell was announced to make the glass. She looked at Rory, pitifully. Rory knew about Ana’s lisp and trouble with anything with the letter ‘s’ so Ana hoped that Ror would have something to say to her once the explanation was finished. The box made its way down the row and Ana picked up one of the beakers. At least its plastic… she thought to herself, so if I drop it I won’t break it… as she finished writing the notes to include what the spell was and how to do the wand movements. The professor showed them and then turned it back to its original shape. Then she showed them again while only doing it halfway then showing them how to put it back to rights again.
They were told to start and if they needed help to ask her or another student. Ana looked at Rory and whispered, “Krustallos?” with her lisp very eminent and a groan.
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Analea Thornton
Mistakes? (TAG- Rory)
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Analea Thornton
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Rory Royale (Aladren)
July 17, 2013 4:12 AM
We'll fix them. by Rory Royale (Aladren)
Rory had hurried to Transfiguration out of habit. She liked being one of the first people into the classroom. That way, she was certain that she would find whatever seat she liked and get settled before class started. She dropped into a seat in the second row, close enough that she wouldn’t be easily distracted and far enough away to put a comfortable distance between her and the professor. She set her bag in the seat directly to her right, saving it for her best friend. She wasn’t going to sit without her if she had the option.She caught her friend’s eye as the other girl was searching the room for her. She pulled her bag from the seat and swung it around to hang on the back of her chair. She waved her over happily. She smiled in response to Ana’s gentle greeting. Rory had always been considered as a fairly quiet kid, but Ana still managed to be the quieter of the two. She liked it though. She prefered their comfortable and quiet companionship over the chaos that she was used to at both of her homes.
Not that she didn’t love her family. In fact, she adored them. It was just that the constant noise around her sometimes became a little too much. Alec liked to talk her ear off, which was nice when she wanted to speak to her little sister and not so nice when she wanted alone time. Adam was always banging on the piano. While he was getting good at it, hearing the same little song over and over again quickly became a nuisance. Abby was constantly making messes and getting into trouble. Trey was always up to general little boy antics, and Emlen cried a lot. Rory understood that she was just a baby, but that didn’t make it any less frustrating.
She turned her attention to the front of the class, glad that the professor was beginning the lesson. She had found out early on that wandwork frustrated her and was eager to learn more about it. The more she learned that faster that she improved. She hated not being great at anything academic. She listened carefully to the instructions, repeating the spells over in her head several times and scrawling them down in her notes.
She had carefully glanced over to Ana when she heard the incantations, knowing exactly what was running through the girl’s mind. She would have to be okay though. Rory really loved her best friend and felt bad that she wasn’t comfortable with her lisp, but she had no way to fix it. She offered her a reassuring smile before finishing up her notes.
She swapped her quill for her wand and the beaker that she had chosen. She looked back over at Ana, and gave her another smile. “Yeah, I know, but you’ll be okay. Just don’t think about it.”
Deciding that it was best to jump in head first instead of worry about failing, she flicked her wand upward and repeated the spell. The beaker took the form of a plain drinking glass, but remained plastic. Biting back one of the swear words that she had learned from Al (accidently), she quickly fixed it before anyone else could see her mess up. Fortunately, it returned to it’s original shape properly. She grinned at the small victory.
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Rory Royale (Aladren)
We'll fix them.
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Rory Royale (Aladren)
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Analea
July 25, 2013 8:04 PM
I dunno... by Analea
Analea had spotted Rory and sat next to where her best friend had pulled her bag from the empty chair beside her. The second year was glad that Rory had beat her there and had saved her a seat. It seemed to her that Rory was one of the only people in the area who even understood her a little bit. She and Rory could just be sitting together, not saying a word, but it would still speak volumes to the noises in both of their houses.Ana herself, being one of 16 children knew that her house wouldn’t ever be quiet. Rory, having two houses with two separate families, both with little siblings, also understood (as far as Ana knew) that it would be hard-pressed to get any quiet there either.
Rory, like Ana, turned her attention back to the Professor. Both listened carefully (as always) and when Ana both heard and repeated the word ‘Krustallos’, Rory looked at her with a reassuring smile. Analea was glad Rory was there, that was for sure. She just wished that her lisp wasn’t!
Rory put down her quill and picked up her wand in its place as well as the beaker and told Ana that she’d be okay and not to think about it. “I’m not sure its gonna be that easy…” Ana whispered to Rory just before she flicked her wand and repeated the spell. The beaker in front of Rory had turned into a drinking glass! Ana glanced towards Rory and saw the look. She knew just what Rory was thinking…
“Don’t worry… It looks like a glass! Maybe it isn’t actually glass, but it can be drank out of…” she whispered to her roommate and best friend in the hopes that she would help her feel better. Ana herself wasn’t sure she would get so lucky. In fact, she was sure that she wouldn’t.
There were two dratted ‘s letters in that word and there was no way it was going to come out right… What Ana feared most with this is her lisp could change the meaning of a word and do something that could be seriously harmful to someone. The last thing she wanted was to hurt someone else!
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Analea
I dunno...
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Analea
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