Imagine being able to feel like you are living in a Harry Potter world every day, the magical feeling of being able to fly wherever you want or believe in whatever you want. Being a part of a family every day.

Danielle Ratliff, the show choir director at Tupelo High School, wanted to create a fun and encouraging environment for her students, so she decided to have a harry potter themed classroom. 

“First of all, I think that atmosphere is everything. It can either encourage or discourage productivity” Ratliff said.

Ratliff wanted to create a healthy environment for her students and a class that they looked forward to coming to.

“I hope that the environment creates a fun place to learn. Students learn about magic at Hogwarts and I feel like music is magic” Ratliff said. 

She had recently started reading the Harry Potter series and thought that this would be a fun theme for her classroom.

“This last September I picked back up with the movies and found the entire story arc to have such deep meaning. I immediately ordered all of the books and started reading (I’m still not finished). It seemed like a fairly reasonable jump in my head to make my room at school as much of a replica of the school Hogwarts as possible” Ratliff said.

The fun environment in her classroom made her students feel happier and it brought a lot of joy to them. She wanted a way to make her class different from other teachers. 

“The purpose of the room having a theme is to provide a fun learning atmosphere- who doesn’t love a fake fireplace?” Ratliff said.  

The environment of her room is very uplifting and joyful. She and her students feel like they are in the Harry Potter books. Ratliff wanted not only a room fun for her students but a class enjoyable for herself. She wanted to be able to come to her classroom and not dread it but feel happy in it. 

“I am incredibly connected to my surroundings. I am in this room for more waking hours of the day than my house most times, so it needs to be my home away from home.” Ratliff said.

Her classroom is a place that most people would love to visit and would be encouraged in and brings a lot of joy to people.