(Imaginary) Kingdom Building in the UK

This summer, Danielle Woodard and Emma Sneed (Chattanooga, TN), embarked on a literary tour across Scotland and England, visiting sites students read about in various fictional works, to promote book to world connections and cultivate young writers who understand how imagination is shaped by place and experience. Upon their return, they shared some of their experience with us:

“We are so incredibly thankful for the opportunity you and Fund for Teachers gave us to go on this fellowship together. Our trip was highly enjoyable and we learned and saw many things to take back to the classroom. Scotland was filled with magic, inspiring us through scenery and history, and England was full of exemplars for how to engage audiences with stories. Our understanding of how narratives are created, developed, and sustained over time has truly been expanded through this experience, and we are so grateful. 

In Edinburgh, Scotland, one of our favorite moments was taking a Harry Potter Walking Tour led by an experienced and engaging guide named Caroline. She brought the city to life by telling stories of Edinburgh’s streets and buildings inspiring those who have come into the city, including J.K. Rowling, author of Harry Potter. We traced Rowling’s steps, seeing the school that inspired Hogwarts, the gravestones that inspired character names, and the shops where she sat to write each novel. Caroline described the creation of this series with new details unknown to either of us Fellows, including a description of Rowling first having the idea for Harry Potter while on a train ride and then using multiple different places she traveled to mold the rest of her world-building including Portugal, England, and Edinburgh. She gave information like this throughout the tour, but also engaged us with a house sorting ceremony, spells to reveal different parts of the city, and impressions of characters from the films. She also shared how love for the themes in the series about love, friendship, and hope keep her doing the job despite concerns over the inclusivity of the novels. This tour and information have inspired us to teach interactively and find new experiences for our students to give them ideas they can create and shape themselves. 

Our trip to the Writer’s Museum in Edinburgh also inspired us by seeing modern artistic creations still being made in response to classic pieces of literature. A miniature diorama was made out of a book of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of one of the scenes and left anonymously for the museum to display. This gave us many ideas for student-led projects that could be created in response to pieces of literature we read in class next year. As we learned, often creativity creates creativity.

Outside of Edinburgh, in a town called Stirling, Danielle also got to see the exact place where her ancestors used to live! Through research, she was able to find their old address and we traveled to the buildings together for an emotional experience of personal significance. 

Our trip into the highlands of Scotland brought some of our favorite stories to life as we drove through mountainous landscapes that often appear as the setting behind the most fantastical of stories. The immersion did not stop there! In a small city on the border of Scotland and England called Alnwick, we participated in a broomstick training session on the exact same castle grounds where the first Harry Potter film conducted their own flying lessons. By practicing our childlike wonder and touring the castle grounds, we were able to see how setting truly impacts tone and emotional depth. We even had a little bit of fun recreating and recording a scene from the movie together in our Hogwarts robes, displaying a passion for the storytelling that we hope our students will come to emulate themselves. 

In Oxford, England, surrounded by centuries of stories, we toured the famous Bodleian Library. Our tour guide regaled us with history about the original library collection that only consisted of 20 manuscripts kept inside of a trunk in the university. Today, the library consists of over 14 million books, all thanks to one man’s belief in the power of the perseveration of stories and the city’s commitment to supporting that dream. Oxford also led us to many places where famous authors met to discuss and collaborate on their own works throughout the years, including C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien. Our experience in the city led us to a deeper understanding of how important community and support can really be in the creation and life of a written work, which is something we hope to bring back to our students. 

London was our final stop, and it brought us amazing examples of adaptation and attention to detail in narratives. The world-building of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series was enhanced ten-fold through our experiences touring the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio and attending the theatre production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. We learned specific descriptions of the setting and characters from both the novel and films that will help guide our questions to the students as they create their own worlds. We studied how adaptations keep and change different elements as culture and time shifts as well. This will guide us to specific activities students can participate in while they reflect on stories in our classroom. 

Overall, this experience was the opportunity of a lifetime for us. Our love for stories and Harry Potter has only grown from our travels, and we are so excited to use our new insights and ideas in the classroom together to help students feel the same passion. Thank you so much for this fellowship and believing in us as educators. We are looking forward to sharing many more photos and stories!” 

Danielle and Emma’s grant was made possible through our partnership with The Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation.