You Have To See This ‘Harry Potter’-Themed Classroom

An Oklahoma teacher took getting ready for the new school year to another level when she decorated her classroom in a Harry Potter theme. Stephanie Stephens teaches elective math and reading classes for sixth through eighth grade students at James L. Capps Middle School in Oklahoma City.

The Harry Potter-loving teacher told the Huffington Post, “One of the toughest things as a reading teacher is instilling a love of reading in students that do no like reading.”

Stephens explained that her love and obsession for the Harry Potter series prompt some of her adult friends to give the series a try, and the outcome was good.

“It got me thinking that if I can get adults to be excited about reading using Harry Potter, I can get my students excited about reading as well!”

After having the initial idea to decorate her class room in a Harry Potter theme, Stephens spent a week planning and ordering decorations that were related to the first Harry Potter book titled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. After gathering her decorations — it took the Oklahoma teacher four days to pull it all together — she even asked her sister, who is an artist, to help paint the board in her classroom to reflect her love for Harry Potter.

“I though of all the magical things Harry saw and experienced and put myself in his shoes and picked the things that I could pull off in a classroom.”

According to E!, Stephens decided to include some memorable Harry Potter treasures inside of her classroom, such as her door being decorated to resemble Platform 9 3/4 which was a magical hidden platform in London’s King’s Cross station where wizards and witches would use to take the Hogwarts Express train to school.

Stephens did have to spend roughly $400-$500 of her own money to make the Harry Potter-themed classroom come to life though. Stephens said that when the first day of school arrived, some of her students were confused since they never had an opportunity to read Harry Potter but others were excited.

“My goal is to help students find at least one book or genre that they can find exciting and be as enthusiastic about as I am regarding Harry Potter. Most were excited and were immediately drawn into the class and the fun activities that are planned for the year!”

Stephens’ husband shared photos of her Harry Potter-themed classroom on Reddit and her post has received over 22,000 views.

“My hope is to bring magic back into people’s hearts. The Harry Potter generation is growing up, and sometimes, returning to our younger selves can inspire us to pick up a book or share a piece of our past with others around us.”