Librarian to host “Harry Potter” workshop in Washington, DC

In 2014, classes about Harry Potter are nothing new—we’ve seen everything from college courses to summer camps to fitness classes—but one librarian from George Washington University has yet another creative take on teaching the boy wizard.

Tolonda Henderson has presented three academic papers on Harry Potter at various conferences but ultimately would like to teach a class on the topic. While she hasn’t been able to do that, yet, Henderson is going ahead with another exciting Potter-themed learning opportunity—an event series, Mr. Potter Goes to Washington, where she leads students around the capital reading excerpts from the book that apply to particular landmarks.

Henderson gives a few examples:

There are scenes in the seventh book where Harry Potter goes back to Godric’s Hollow, and there are memorials to him and his family there, and as a free event to go to the National Mall, go and see the Lincoln Memorial, go and see the MLK Memorial, go see Thomas Jefferson, and then sit and talk about what does it mean to erect an edifice to somebody […] let’s go to the Spy Museum and talk about Snape.

The series will be open to the public, so keep an eye on local meetup groups if you live in the area. Mr. Potter Goes to Washington will take place both in the fall and in the spring, and Tolonda will be keeping up her Potter scholarship in the meantime. She’s busy teaching GWU students how they can apply Harry Potter to their research in other classes and will present a paper at the Harry Potter conference in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, this October. MuggleNet’s own Academia podcast will host a live show at this same conference, so keep an eye out for more details to come!

You can read the original article here. Have you taken any exciting Potter-themed classes?