Hogwarts class schedules
Oct. 12th, 2004 09:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingI was digging through some of my older files and found this... um, it's not an essay, really. Basically it's a long attempt to work out some sort of plausible class schedule for Hogwarts, which I needed in order to write "Secrets." JKR seems to put classes any old time, but I like to be a little more consistent than that.
There are, of course, numerous problems: not enough teachers, not enough time, how often do the classes repeat, etc. I started with the basic assumption that Hogwarts uses a block schedule, and that the canon teachers don't have assistants or co-teachers who handle half their class load. This is what follows
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School subjects are scheduled on a two week basis -- Week One follows schedule X, Week Two follows schedule Y, and Week Three is a repeat of Week One. Etc. This is a block schedule, so classes are different each day.
Let's see. I believe first and second years have relatively light schedules, since there's time for elective classes in third year. Hermione takes Arithmancy, Muggle Studies, Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, and Ancient Runes -- which is so much she needs a Time Turner. The more usual course is to take 2 or 3 electives.
Anyway, there's probably time for two or three classes before lunch, and two or three after lunch, depending on whether or not they're double classes. And Astronomy is at odd hours, so it probably has corresponding free time during the day.
Thus far, I've given Ginny DADA Friday morning, then lunch, and then Double Herbology (with Hufflepuff). Wednesday morning is Charms, and Wednesday night is Astronomy (with Ravenclaw). Transfiguration (single) and History of Magic (single) are therefore on Thursday.
Week 2 has Double Potions Monday morning (with Slytherin), then lunch, and then History of Magic (single). Presumably each week has one Double lesson for the subjects that have doubles, and two single lessons for the single subjects. That means each week needs one lesson each in Potions, Astronomy, and Herbology, and two lessons in Transfiguration, Charms, DADA, and History of Magic.
Right, I think I can work out a reasonable schedule from that. It comes out to 11 lessons per week, or four 2-lesson days and one 3-lesson day. The 3-lesson day has no Double lessons (with the possible exception of Astronomy). And you know, I don't care if this doesn't work out in terms of teacher time -- I just want to know what class Ginny has what day.
Hmm. There could also be Saturday morning classes, but I think those would be electives. Yeah, so that's irrelevant. And I know JKR has things set up so there have to be classes on Sundays sometimes, but we know she's bad with numbers and dates. So I will subtly ignore that, and put Valentine's Day on a Monday. Hey, it's perfectly plausible that Lockhart moved the celebration! Yeah...
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I was just running mental calculations about how the professors would teach all these lessons. Assuming there are 28 classes (7 years, 4 houses), at 2 lessons per week, that would be 56 lessons total, or 11.2 lessons per day. This is impossible. To make that work, there would have to be twice as many professors at Hogwarts, or each professor would need a Time Turner, neither of which seems likely based on canon evidence.
Therefore, suppose all subjects become elective after fifth year and can therefore be combined. That leaves 20 regular classes, at 40 lessons per week, and 2 to 4 advanced classes (depending on size) at a maximum of 8 lessons per week, for a total of 48 lessons per week, or 9.6 lessons per day. This is still impossible.
But then I thought, why can't there be classes on Saturday mornings? If we assume 8 lessons per day during the week (which is doable) that takes care of 40 lessons, leaving only 8 left over. If we then institute a special ninth lesson period in the very late afternoon; that handles another 5 lessons, leaving only 3 lessons on Saturdays, which works.
Now the question is whether these lessons will interfere with each other -- I suppose that's why there are 4 Saturday morning lesson slots and 5 ninth period lesson slots, which gives each subject one more lesson period than necessary, and schedules are adjusted accordingly.
You know, I think this might actually work. It's a hell of a lot of work for the professors, but it's physically possible, particularly if they can have four-house classes in 6th and 7th year, instead of only two-house classes. That cuts them down to 44 lessons per week instead of 48.
Morning lessons start on the hour every hour, and last either 45 or 50 minutes, leaving a 10-15 minute period to get to the next lesson. The lessons are at 8, 9, 10, and 11am. Lunch is served from 11am to 1pm, and afternoon lessons are at 12:30, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30, and 4:30pm. This doesn't leave a lot of time for lunch, if people have lessons right before and after, but given that there are 9 potential lesson periods, many people have time for a more leisurely lunch.
It is therefore not quite so surprising that Ginny found food left on the tables on her way to History of Magic -- most people finish lunch by 12:30, but food is still out until 1pm.
Woohoo! I have a functional schedule! Granted, it makes the teachers work from 8am to 5:30pm, plus time for grading and office hours. Office hours are generally in the early evening, just after dinner -- a lot of grading happens during them, as Hogwarts students are notoriously reluctant to approach many of the professors.
Most professors use the fifteen minute lesson breaks to use the toilet, grade essays, or prepare for the next class. Snape is often forced to spend them cleaning his room, since Potions can be extremely messy. Other professors have to clean up peculiar magical catastrophes on occasion, but not as often as Snape. (McGonagall runs second, and Sprout and Flitwick generally tie for third. Hagrid... it depends on what animal he's using. And he's not teaching during "Secrets" anyway, so we'll ignore Care of Magical Creatures. DADA might be dangerous, but under Lockhart, it's a joke.) Madam Pomfrey is very busy; there are so many ways for students to get injured with magic around!
Double lessons are supposed to have a 15 minute break in the middle, to let students stretch their legs and so forth. Sprout allows this, but Snape almost never does -- he has a certain amount of justification, since potions need careful tending. Sinistra allows breaks in theoretical lessons, but actual sky-watching usually continues without interruption.
Professors teaching electives have, at most, 20 classes per week, for a total of 40 lessons. However, many electives are small enough that they have combined-house classes, leaving them teaching 10-30 lessons per week. Some electives -- such as Care of Magical Creatures -- are Doubles simply because they take too much time for one lesson period; they are always combined-house classes. Professors of electives do not earn as much money as professors of core subjects. They tend not to be quite as attached to Hogwarts as the core professors -- and are not as active in the administration, despite having more time. How McGonagall manages to be Deputy Headmistress and perform all her administrative tasks as Head of Gryffindor, I haven't the foggiest.
She's one tough lady.
(And don't ask me how the professors are always wandering around the castle at fortuitous moments: as previously mentioned, JKR is notoriously bad at anything that involves numbers, and class schedules certainly qualify!)
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The end.
There are, of course, numerous problems: not enough teachers, not enough time, how often do the classes repeat, etc. I started with the basic assumption that Hogwarts uses a block schedule, and that the canon teachers don't have assistants or co-teachers who handle half their class load. This is what follows
---------------------------------
School subjects are scheduled on a two week basis -- Week One follows schedule X, Week Two follows schedule Y, and Week Three is a repeat of Week One. Etc. This is a block schedule, so classes are different each day.
Let's see. I believe first and second years have relatively light schedules, since there's time for elective classes in third year. Hermione takes Arithmancy, Muggle Studies, Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, and Ancient Runes -- which is so much she needs a Time Turner. The more usual course is to take 2 or 3 electives.
Anyway, there's probably time for two or three classes before lunch, and two or three after lunch, depending on whether or not they're double classes. And Astronomy is at odd hours, so it probably has corresponding free time during the day.
Thus far, I've given Ginny DADA Friday morning, then lunch, and then Double Herbology (with Hufflepuff). Wednesday morning is Charms, and Wednesday night is Astronomy (with Ravenclaw). Transfiguration (single) and History of Magic (single) are therefore on Thursday.
Week 2 has Double Potions Monday morning (with Slytherin), then lunch, and then History of Magic (single). Presumably each week has one Double lesson for the subjects that have doubles, and two single lessons for the single subjects. That means each week needs one lesson each in Potions, Astronomy, and Herbology, and two lessons in Transfiguration, Charms, DADA, and History of Magic.
Right, I think I can work out a reasonable schedule from that. It comes out to 11 lessons per week, or four 2-lesson days and one 3-lesson day. The 3-lesson day has no Double lessons (with the possible exception of Astronomy). And you know, I don't care if this doesn't work out in terms of teacher time -- I just want to know what class Ginny has what day.
Hmm. There could also be Saturday morning classes, but I think those would be electives. Yeah, so that's irrelevant. And I know JKR has things set up so there have to be classes on Sundays sometimes, but we know she's bad with numbers and dates. So I will subtly ignore that, and put Valentine's Day on a Monday. Hey, it's perfectly plausible that Lockhart moved the celebration! Yeah...
-----------------------------------
I was just running mental calculations about how the professors would teach all these lessons. Assuming there are 28 classes (7 years, 4 houses), at 2 lessons per week, that would be 56 lessons total, or 11.2 lessons per day. This is impossible. To make that work, there would have to be twice as many professors at Hogwarts, or each professor would need a Time Turner, neither of which seems likely based on canon evidence.
Therefore, suppose all subjects become elective after fifth year and can therefore be combined. That leaves 20 regular classes, at 40 lessons per week, and 2 to 4 advanced classes (depending on size) at a maximum of 8 lessons per week, for a total of 48 lessons per week, or 9.6 lessons per day. This is still impossible.
But then I thought, why can't there be classes on Saturday mornings? If we assume 8 lessons per day during the week (which is doable) that takes care of 40 lessons, leaving only 8 left over. If we then institute a special ninth lesson period in the very late afternoon; that handles another 5 lessons, leaving only 3 lessons on Saturdays, which works.
Now the question is whether these lessons will interfere with each other -- I suppose that's why there are 4 Saturday morning lesson slots and 5 ninth period lesson slots, which gives each subject one more lesson period than necessary, and schedules are adjusted accordingly.
You know, I think this might actually work. It's a hell of a lot of work for the professors, but it's physically possible, particularly if they can have four-house classes in 6th and 7th year, instead of only two-house classes. That cuts them down to 44 lessons per week instead of 48.
Morning lessons start on the hour every hour, and last either 45 or 50 minutes, leaving a 10-15 minute period to get to the next lesson. The lessons are at 8, 9, 10, and 11am. Lunch is served from 11am to 1pm, and afternoon lessons are at 12:30, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30, and 4:30pm. This doesn't leave a lot of time for lunch, if people have lessons right before and after, but given that there are 9 potential lesson periods, many people have time for a more leisurely lunch.
It is therefore not quite so surprising that Ginny found food left on the tables on her way to History of Magic -- most people finish lunch by 12:30, but food is still out until 1pm.
Woohoo! I have a functional schedule! Granted, it makes the teachers work from 8am to 5:30pm, plus time for grading and office hours. Office hours are generally in the early evening, just after dinner -- a lot of grading happens during them, as Hogwarts students are notoriously reluctant to approach many of the professors.
Most professors use the fifteen minute lesson breaks to use the toilet, grade essays, or prepare for the next class. Snape is often forced to spend them cleaning his room, since Potions can be extremely messy. Other professors have to clean up peculiar magical catastrophes on occasion, but not as often as Snape. (McGonagall runs second, and Sprout and Flitwick generally tie for third. Hagrid... it depends on what animal he's using. And he's not teaching during "Secrets" anyway, so we'll ignore Care of Magical Creatures. DADA might be dangerous, but under Lockhart, it's a joke.) Madam Pomfrey is very busy; there are so many ways for students to get injured with magic around!
Double lessons are supposed to have a 15 minute break in the middle, to let students stretch their legs and so forth. Sprout allows this, but Snape almost never does -- he has a certain amount of justification, since potions need careful tending. Sinistra allows breaks in theoretical lessons, but actual sky-watching usually continues without interruption.
Professors teaching electives have, at most, 20 classes per week, for a total of 40 lessons. However, many electives are small enough that they have combined-house classes, leaving them teaching 10-30 lessons per week. Some electives -- such as Care of Magical Creatures -- are Doubles simply because they take too much time for one lesson period; they are always combined-house classes. Professors of electives do not earn as much money as professors of core subjects. They tend not to be quite as attached to Hogwarts as the core professors -- and are not as active in the administration, despite having more time. How McGonagall manages to be Deputy Headmistress and perform all her administrative tasks as Head of Gryffindor, I haven't the foggiest.
She's one tough lady.
(And don't ask me how the professors are always wandering around the castle at fortuitous moments: as previously mentioned, JKR is notoriously bad at anything that involves numbers, and class schedules certainly qualify!)
--------------------------------------
The end.
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Date: 2004-10-13 04:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-13 11:21 pm (UTC)