Here’s to Albus Dumbledore — The Educator We’d Like to Be

Albus Dumbledore is one of the greatest teachers in all of literature. He embodies what so many great teachers and guides aspire to be: compassionate, knowledgeable, funny, commanding but not overpowering — the list could go on. Even more, Dumbledore is a master of empathy. Which means that Dumbledore knows how to compose a lesson.

If you want a fantastic lesson on the art of teaching, re-read book six of the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. If you remember, in book six Dumbledore decides to tutor Harry to help him in his quest to take down You-Know-Who.

Dumbledore’s patience in revealing information is remarkable. A lesser teacher would’ve sat Harry down on day one of Harry’s sixth year and said, “Look, Harry. I think Voldemort has made these things called Horcruxes. Yeah, they’re as bad as that name sounds. You’re gonna wanna find and destroy those.”

Dumbledore’s smarter than that though.

With a map of Harry’s mental and emotional state, he carefully reveals information piece by piece. Harry doesn’t walk away with a fact sheet about the task ahead. Instead, Dumbledore gives Harry a chance to understand for himself. By solving problems with Dumbledore, Harry learns to solve problems as Dumbledore might but without losing his own sense of self. Dumbledore draws on Harry’s own motivation and skill, crafting them into what they need to be to complete the task ahead.

We can teach in this same way. We can build narrative arcs that excite and inspire our learners. And when they learn in this way, they have a better chance of making new connections — in the world and inside themselves. When we teach this way, we’ll present the next right fact or skill they need. Our learners will never feel more overwhelmed than they should; instead, they’ll be intrigued to keep pushing forward.

So how might we describe Dumbledore’s teaching style? We might call it empathy-driven design. Empathy doesn’t change Dumbledore’s mission in Harry’s education. Rather, empathy shapes how Dumbledore presents information and when he shares it. It bridges the relational, mental, and emotional gaps. Empathy (like some kind of magic trick) turns plain facts into something more.

So here’s to the Dumbledores — the teachers who compassionately meet us where we are and carefully guide us to where we’d like to go.

At Pathwright, we’ve been inspired by the real life Dumbledores out there. So much so that we decided to put together a course on how they design courses. If you’d like tools to help you design empathy-driven learning experiences, you might like this course. You can take the fully guided version free with an active Pathwright subscription.