Metacognition
Harry Potter definitely isn’t the brightest wizard of the age, but he did grow exponentially throughout the series through school and, more importantly, his many adventures and experiences. One example that we see this growth is during his third year, when Harry must face his fear with the dementors.
Dementors are creatures that are associated with cold, melancholy, and depressing circumstances. Whenever they are near, people feel as though they will never be happy again; and occasionally, dementors will perform a “kiss”, where they will suck out a person’s soul into nonexistence. Everyone is affected by their presence, but not as much as Harry; because of Harry’s dark, confusing, and traumatized past, dementors affect him more harshly than other people. Therefore, Harry saw it only fitting if he were to figure out how to protect himself and others from these awful creatures.
Throughout his third term, Harry takes lessons with his professor to learn the Patronus charm, an incredibly difficult spell to conjure and maintain for any trained witch or wizard. With practice, Harry becomes quite proficient, but not mastered. There is one instance of a possible dementor attack during a quidditch match where Harry produces the charm, but at the expense of classmates trying to play a joke. He realizes, however, that this “attack” was different than the others; he didn’t have the cold and depressed feeling, but because he saw a dementor, he acted as he thought he should have. By the end of the term, when there is, of course, havoc induced, Harry sees someone producing a Patronus charm that saves his life. Later on, Harry undergoes time travel and realizes that it is himself producing the Patronus to protect his past self.
Now what does all of this mean? We see here Harry making a metacognitive journey through his third term:
- Harry practicing the Patronus charm = Harry’s skills improved through instruction
- The experience at the quidditch game = Realized that it wasn’t real, but acted as though it was
- Harry producing the Patronus charm at the end of the term to save the day = He knew he could perform it, because he realized that it was himself previously.
Critical thinking was the main concept that was practiced during this educational journey. Harry proved himself accurate by being able to produce a full Patronus in the midst of danger from his many months of practice, as well as credible because he already had seen himself perform the spell. The worth of the spell was great for it defeated the dementors when it was most needed, and Harry understood why he was able to perform the spell so perfectly because, again, he had already seen himself perform under pressure.
The biggest concept in this setting takes place at the end of the book when Harry produces the real Patronus charm to save the day. When he was first being saved, he saw the Patronus being cast across the lake. When he went back in time and arrived at the side of the lake where he previously saw the Patronus. It hits him that he was the one who produced the original Patronus, and he is confident that he will produce it:
“I knew I could do it all this time,” said Harry, “Because I'd already done it... does that make sense?”
(Harry Potter and the prisoner of azkaban, p. 412)
"'You happen to have many qualities Salazar Slytherin prized in his hand-picked students. His own very rare gift, Parseltongue ... resourcefulness ... determination ... a certain disregard for rules...yet the Sorting Hat placed you in Gryffindor. You know why that was. Think.’
‘It only put me in Gryffindor,’ said Harry in a defeated voice, ‘because I asked not to go in Slytherin ...’ ‘Exactly,’ said Dumbledore, beaming once more. ‘Which makes you very different from Tom Riddle. It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.’" (Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets, 1999) |