Hints for running classes

1. Decide what you want from yourself and from the students

I have two main goals with my classes, for everyone to have fun, and for everyone to interact. My number one rule is that nobody should ever have to look something up on another site. Creativity is more important than being "right" and it also prevents plagiarism.

2. Write a Class Rule Book or Guide

Spell out what you expect from the people playing students.
Explain how your classes are run. If your class has strange rules or is run in a different way to others, tell your students that.
Explain how you allocate marks and house points.

For example, I don't count posts of entering the classroom as attendance. This is explained in my class guide.

3. Get organized

Make a spreadsheet for your NEWT class and your Basic Class. Keep it stored on your computer and update it at the end of each class. If you don't have excel, you can make one in googledocs.

On mine, I record attendance, marks, and house points. It's super easy and when it comes time to fill in that non-attendance roster, you just refer to your spreadsheet.


1. Your First Post

This is more important than you think. It's what lures people to actually post in your classroom. Take into account what your character is like. Are they kind, mean, strict but fair, eccentric?

Damon is strict with his NEWT students, because they're older and should be more disciplined, but is much more lenient on his Basic students.

So take that into account and make sure your first post is something people can react to. Don't just post that your character waited for the students to enter. MAKE them enter! Perhaps your character is impatient, so why not take them out into the hall to find out where the hell their class has got to? Or just start the class without waiting for the students to get there. If they're late, it's their learning that will suffer, after all.

2. Nobody will answer something they don't know is there.

Even after you've made your first post, nobody will reply if they aren't aware it exists. You have the ability to mass PM your classes, so do it. Drop everyone a line letting them know the new lesson is up. Put in a link if you like.

3. Keep it just right

A classroom thread that goes too fast, nobody will be able to keep up with. One that goes too slow, people will get bored with. Try to keep it just right.

I like to test the waters by leaving a week after my first post before posting again. It's okay if more people join, but I don't reply to every late post, because it just derails the thread and I'd spend forever on the lesson if I did that.

After my second reply, I try to keep the flow steady depending on how many people continue with the thread. It's a sad fact that many people reply once to a classroom post and then don't continue with the thread.

4. Be interactive

I can't stress this enough. Unless you are blessed with some truly great RPers, you are the one in charge of steering the thread. You need to keep them interested.

The best way to do that is by your character being willing to interact with their students. Walk around the classroom. Correct Johnny's wand movement. Those girls at the back of the classroom think The Harry Potter Experience is good? If they came by your office you could show them your old Weird Sisters vinyls and then they'd know what good music really is but for now, back to the lesson...

Taking house points and giving detentions is not the only way your character can interact with the students.

5. Finishing Up

Eventually, you'll either finish the thread, or people will stop replying. NEVER let the thread just sit there. If people are not replying, close it and start a new one. It's better to have an incomplete lesson than a dead one.


1. House Points

Now's the time to add up house points if you've given them out in the thread and put them up in the Great Hall.

PRO TIP: I give out between five and ten house points for interesting posts, especially ones where the character doesn't succeed on their first try.

2. Attendance

Next get out your spreadsheet and fill in who attended and so on. Since so many people aren't attending classes, my advice is to make your lowest mark a P, so that T is reserved for people who are never there.

Then, go to the attendance thread and copy the names of all the people who didn't attend into that thread. It helps if you have a code set up at the beginning of the thread, so all you have to do is fill in names (although, now I think about it, perhaps it would be better to post the class list and then take out names, considering our appalling attendance record).