Dahlia Campoli, Sofia Gonzalez, Nayani Sellar, Alexia Falgiani, Alexia Vacca & Rosie

Tarquinio
March 22nd, 2021
7 Aspects of Story Structure: Harry Potter

Beginnings (Alexia F.): Spoke about the Dursleys and their “secret”

Setting (Alexia F.): Grey Tuesday, Privet Drive, Dursley home

Characters (Sofia):
Dursley son: Dudley
Mr. Dursley
Mrs. Dursley
→ Live a “normal life”
→ They don’t like the Potters
→ Dudley is their pride and joy = spoiled, over protected
→ Pretend that Mrs. Dursleys sister (Mrs.Potter) does not exist and is snappy when asked
about it by Mr. Dursley.
→ Mr. Dursley finds the day suspicious/mysterious (cloaks, owls out, the cat staring). He is
on edge throughout the excerpt.

Point of View (Rosie): Third Person - omniscient

Plot (Nayani): Mr. Dursley and his family live a boring normal life. One morning, on the way to
work, Mr. Dursley does not think his day will be an abnormal day, especially for a muggle like
him. He sees a weird cat, people of all ages in cloaks and even hears about owls and shooting
stars all around Britain. The weirdest thing is that he hears these people wearing cloaks about
Harry, the Potters and You-Know-Who. Worried that people might be speaking of his
sister-in-law’s family, he goes home to see the strange cat again. When mentioning the Potters to
his wife, Mrs. Dursley has no idea how strange of a day it has been. That night, Mr. Dursley goes
to sleep thinking about the strange events that occurred that day. He then goes to sleep peacefully
believing that even if the Potters were involved in the situations that happened, there is no way
they will get his family involved.

Conflicts (Dahlia): Mr. Dursley was on edge throughout the entire excerpt because he was
worried that everyone would find out about their secret, that they’re related to the Potters. He
overheard someone mention the name “Potter” and debated if he should tell his wife, Mrs.
Dursley, who hates the mention of her sister, Mrs. Potter.

Theme (Alexia V): Mystery - Harry Potter and his family do not fit into the “normal world”.
Descriptive language: Tawny, Chortled, Tabby, craning, tyke, huddle, rattled, emerald-green,
violet cloak, muggle

Discuss: Teaching Harry Potter

If you were to teach Harry Potter, what creative kinds of lessons might you plan, aspects you
might incorporate into your teaching or classroom that can extend the story world/experience for
your students? What are the aspects that most resonated with you?

- Decorating the classroom around the Harry Potter Theme (sensory items).
- Creating a word wall with descriptive language.
- Character exploration after reading every chapter.
- Assigning students different roles to read (drama, skit, etc.)
- Showing a movie at the end to provide a visual.
- Story box for each book that students study (ex: a Harry Potter storybox)
- Looking into imaginary/fantasy side of book: spells, languages/vocabulary (ex: snake
language, Muggles) and creatures of their world
- Discussion on family dynamics