Harry Potter

I finished reading Harry Potter for the first time and I have to say that I enjoyed it. I remember all of my friends being so excited about it in school, but I didn't see what the big deal was about it. However, I guess now I can see why kids are so excited about these books. They bring a new world to these students that they otherwise wouldn't get to experience. When I was reading the books, I felt like I was right there with the characters. It introduced me into a world that I have never been to before, so I can see why students enjoy these novels. It helps them to get away from the daily life they live and explore new adventures.
I definately don't have an objection to teaching to novel in the classroom, however, I don't know that it would be my first choice in teaching something to students. We had this discussion last week on Twilight about letting students read their novels for pure enjoyment. If we would bring something they read for fun into the class and make them learn about it, it may take that away. However, they could feel that because they do know more about the novel, they may be able to find certain things. It could help encourage them, because sometimes it is a low easier to do something when your more comfortable with the subject.
One thing to keep in mind, though, is that not all students have read this novel, so as teachers, we can't assume that everyone is going to be prepared for it.
As I said, I am sort of immpartial to teaching this in my class. I guess if it were dealing with the right subject of my lesson, it would fit accordingly. Maybe I could do something with a creative writing lesson. Obviously there is a lot of creativity in this novel, and we could analyze how creative writing is used in the text.
I thought the article brought up some interesting points. As teachers, we have to understand that there are many "world views" out there. Unfortunately we will not be able to cover them all in the course of a year, and we will have to be prepared for those parents who, no matter what you do, will not be happy with what we are teaching.
He makes a good point when he asks whether or not Harry Potter presents a strong case for one particular world view and if the book singles out a specific world view for attack. In his opinion, the book does neither. Although I would say that the book does focus on the ides of witchcraft, it is not in a way that is saying people should follow witchcraft. This novel was just written by a creative person who wanted to share their ideas with the rest of the world. As I said before, it seems like it is a novel that is meant for people to escape from this world and live in a world of fantasy. What is the harm in that?
I also liked that Glazner pointed out that we need to go beyond gender, class, and race when dealing with diversity. As I said before, we are not going to be able to cover every issue, but I think it is important to do the best that we can at exposing our students to many different types of diversity.