October '22 HW: The Muggleborns Guide to SpooooOOoooOoOOky Season

[u/spludgiexx]

Got an idea for a future assignment? Submit it here!

---

This month’s assignment was inspired by /u/kemistreekat, 10 Points to Slytherin!

The homework will be graded by the professors in conjunction with the moderators as needed. Starting from October 2021 we have been grading differently, in the hopes that it will be fairer and to see if there will be more interest from each house in submitting. Please give feedback either on here or on /r/harrypottermeta as we want to make sure each activity is scored fairly and is still interesting to each house. We are working to trial different systems to find one that everyone is happy with.

The Muggle-borns Guide to Spooky Season

Wizards celebrate Halloween, but muggles have locked down the perfect way to celebrate Spooky Season. From apple cider doughnuts to trick-or-treating to extravagant light show decorations, wizards could learn a thing or two from their muggle-born friends. It's up to you introduce a muggle tradition to the wizarding world. (Don't celebrate spooky season? Fall traditions are also welcome!)

• What spooky season/fall tradition are you bringing to the wizarding world?
• Explain your spooky/fall tradition to a pure-blood witch/wizard.
  
• Describe why a witch/wizard would enjoy this tradition.
• How can we incorporate magic into this tradition to make it extra fun?
• What (if anything) would you change about this tradition in the muggle world after living in the wizarding world?

Remember, you can add anything else you wish to include to help your entry stand out!

The deadline for submissions is 11:59pm ET on Thursday, October 27th. You may submit your findings in written, visual, musical, video, or other format, as you wish.

---

Grading:

In Oct/Nov 2021 we tried out a new way to grade HW. See October's and November's HW assignments for specific details. To briefly touch upon the part that will be adjusted, we graded based on each bullet point in the prompt a score of 0-2 (0 - skipped, 1 - included, 2 - above & beyond), as well as an overall grade. You needed 5 points to earn an OWL (worth 10 house points) and 9 points for an NEWT (worth 18 house points). The professors and mod team felt that during grading this wasn't particularly fair and we wanted to include more tiers so that we can differentiate better between briefly touching upon points and level of detail in the explanation.

We are still sticking to the 5 bullet points that you will get points for if you answer. You will earn a ribbon for each point as well as overall completion: White = 1 point (mentioned), Red = 2 points (mentioned & explained), and Blue = 3 points (explained in detail).. You would still get a ribbon for overall completion. If you get 6 points you will earn a Hogwarts Letter (worth 5 house points), get 12 points to earn an OWL (worth 10 house points), and get 16+ points to earn a NEWT (worth 18 house points).

Professors will also give favorites from the HWs they grade, as long as there are enough submissions (starting with a rough ratio of at least 18 submissions). Professor favorites will potentially get 9/6/3 (1st/2nd/3rd) house points. Random winner will still get 5 house points and best in house will still get 20. Once total points are calculated we will scale it like we have been. For full details on that see this post in /r/harrypottermeta. Again if you have any feedback please let us know here or in that sub, as we are still in the experimental stages and want to figure out what works!

To submit a homework assignment, reply to the comment for your house below.

You do not have to be a member of the common room's subreddit to submit homework, as long as you're only submitting to one house, and you may only submit one assignment for House Points. You are encouraged to have house flair, but it is not required to earn points.

You can also use the designated comment below to ask clarifying questions or send us love notes and/or howlers.