Astronomy: Lesson One

Elizabeth looked around the classroom at all of the "smiling and eager" faces that had so very kindly graced her classroom with their presence. She saw a few students walking in like really bad ninjas, trying to go unnoticed because they were late.

"Hey!" She waved a hand. "Hola! Bonjour! привет! Come come! Sit down and listen up. I'm Elizabeth Mae, but you may me Miss Mae," She laughed a small giggle of pleasure. She usually hated being called something as formal as miss, but "Miss Mae" seemed more like a fun bit of alliteration than something that made her feel old. "I am the Bravura counselor and your astronomy teacher. I tend to not be bis, but every now and then you may see me cheering on a fellow Bravura, because that is what house pride is all about."

She faced the class, making sure to keep her eyes locked on the late comers.
"I teach astronomy because I have always found comfort in the stars. Stars are constant and beautiful. Even when you can't see any stars, you know they're still there. There are so many amazing things you can learn about the stars and I hope that our times together are positive for all of you. I would like to start with asking you all what you already know, because that way I can plan lessons accordingly."

She saw as one of the late-comers raised their hand. She was very close to kicking them out of the class, but that was not how she wanted to be remembered on the first day.
"There will be no hand raising in this class," She announced. "If you have something to say, say it. What do you know?"

Elsie looked around the classroom, and save for the late arrivals, it was filled with lesson subjects to come that covered, well, a whole universe of things. Memories from primary school poppies up in her brain like motivations when she recognized something. She knew a thing or two about a thing or two. She found herself smiling, optimistic and officially awaiting a class where she could use a telescope. Drawing herself down from the clouds and back to Aniva, she considered the question posed to her- with a topic so broad, there was nowhere to start. Anywhere from horizon to horizon would do, but no fact seemed large or small enough.

"Hm," she hummed, and the fellow student beside her looked at her expectantly. It was her way of hand-raising, because she felt rude or overbearing without some notice. "There's three confirmed types of planets in our solar system- terrestrial, gas, and ice- but they're always finding new things or exceptions. Are we going to keep up with the current events?" -Then realizing she'd rambled off a question, she couldn't stop herself- "Will we talk about Mars? Or cover some closely-related astrology?"

///OOC: My iPad froze and made me rewrite this three times, Ana. I hope you know i love this class. ///

Elizabeth smiled warmly. She hadn't expected questions so soon, but she was delighted to see eagerness in her students.

"All in good time," She responded. "I was thinking maybe I would use our fancy blackboard and write down some of the week's current events for anyone who wanted to to glance at and maybe discuss it with the class if there's any time at the end of classes." Elizabeth pointed a hand towards a black chalkboard that rested on the wall behind her.

"We will definitely take the time at some point to discuss and learn about planets such as Mars and we will also explore many other topics."

Masha glanced around the room. What an odd teacher. How open and excited she was, as if she were one as the same with the students.

"I know astrology, so simple mapping and constellations," Masha announced. "Will we go over that?"

"We will go over some simple mapping and the basic constellations, yes. I may try to get in some more advanced stuff, but we probably will not get around to it," Elizabeth nodded.

Annora sat towards the back of the classroom, her face bright red. She had gotten a bit lost on her way to astronomy class and had shown up just a little late. No big deal, right? WRONG! Apparently being even the slightest bit late was very severely frowned upon by this teacher.

And to make things worse, Annora had tried to be proper and raise her hand. Raising hands was also frowned upon apparently, because Miss Mae had done nothing all class but pick on her and a select group of other late students.

She decided it would be best to just stay silent and say absolutely nothing for the rest of class.

Elsie nodded passionately in agreement whilst her friend Masha spoke. Astrology! Eloise took it seriously. Chelsea taught her how to read some things before school through the horoscopes in the newspaper. Lisette couldn't remember her own sign, but was interested in where they all originated. Or more so, if she could look at the constellations in the sky through a fancy telescope.

Sensing a general vibe of indifference in the class, she didn't mind piggybacking on Masha's question, "And the theories of civilizations through the years, too, maybe? Like how they based a lot of beliefs on the stars and suns and their role in the actual science laws?"

The way wondrous fiction could influence the discovery of truth was the star theme of this class, she decided.

Ronja was glad that she hadn't been late to class, but she felt then that it would prove to be rather difficult for her to get so used to the people around her. For quite some time, she knew only what her family had taught her, and what she could read at the local muggle libraries. She did love to pick up books on the solar system, and mankind's theories about space, and the number of possibilities of other intelligent forms of life that may very well dwell on planets other than Earth. Yet - she didn't really know how she felt about being around so many people that were her age. Her childhood was rather sheltered, it seemed. Sure, she had Lukas to socialize with, but that wasn't much.

Careful not to raise her hand (though she was itching to), she cleared her throat, "Ursäkta, will we be learning of the lifespans of stars?" She felt a bit odd asking this, but she wanted to at least ask one question. She was always taught that if you did not question, you were not learning. Besides, she did know a fair amount about stars; as much as the next person, anyway, and she wanted to know what she was getting into.

Elizabeth was positively shocked at how interested the students seemed in the class. She had never expected a group of students to seem so intrigued by the astronomy.

"We will go over how what we know about the solar system effects inventions and theories," She informed the blonde student who had asked a question somewhere along those lines.
"And we most likely will go over the life cycle of a star, mainly focusing on the sun, because that is the star that everyone is definitely familiar with."

"I would also love to do some things with astrology," She added. "It's not exactly astronomy, but maybe if we ever have a free class we can spend some time on horoscopes and how you know wht your star sign is."

August jolted up from his chair, hearing the word "horoscopes" and immediately becoming interested. "I have a horoscope app!" He blurted, not even thinking the rushed statement through. It didn't occur to him that half the class might not know what an app is.

Elizabeth held back her laughter as a boy mentioned having an "app." Many students now seemed slightly confused and it amused her highly. Being a muggle born who spent most of her time rejecting her life as a wizard, she knew about all of the muggle technology and it amused her greatly when someone mentioned a muggle device to a group of mostly wizards who grew up as wizards.

"As do I!" She responded to the boy, pulling out her Iphone. "By the way, to those of you who believe that we are now talking gibberish, an app is a program on this hear cellphone that can allow you to do anything from play a game to take a picture. Phones make calls and send text messages, which most of you probably already know."

She looked down at the picture on her lockscreen. There was a young girl with brown hair and beautiful blue eyes who she missed with all of her heart. But how could she even miss someone who had never met her?

(((OOC: All right, Mae. I am interested in your story now. Like, really.)))

Anastasiya walked into astronomy class what she assumed was very late. There already seemed to be a conversation going on about what the class would discuss in upcoming lessons. The teacher seemed very lively and energetic, almost like she herself were one of them.

"I am sorry for being late," She told the pale skinned, dark brown haired woman. "I had a really hard time finding the classroom and I asked like four different people for directions, but they were all wrong. I eventually ended up just sort of finding the room!" she laughed, nervously taking a seat in the back of the classroom.