Reflection:

On the of 29th of October I attended the English Teachers Association (ETA) seminar which
allowed me to gain an insight into the HSC common module: ‘Texts and Human
Experiences’. My understanding of this module was vague until the first seminar where
Eddie Woo highlighted the importance of text.

The seminar began with Mr Woo addressing a few questions regarding the importance of
text itself and a particular question caught my attention; “Why do humans create text”? The
extensive question, leaving several students puzzled raised a fair point. From past to present
humans have studied and created text but the deeper motive was far from pertinent.
Proceeding onto our discussion, we collectively came up with two distinct reasons as to why
humans created text; to transcend barriers of culture, time and place and to share individual
and collective human experiences. Although these weren’t all the reasons, they were the
ones that had the most relevance to the common module. Further elaborating on these
ideas, Woo stated that these different texts “called on us to resolve cognitive dissonance by
challenging our assumptions and preconceived notions.”

As the seminar progressed, Mr Woo invited us into his own individual human experience,
which allowed us as responders to empathise and connect with Mr Woo on a personal level.
Mr Woo shared a text that he had been the subject of; “Australian Story: Meet Eddie Woo,
the maths teacher you wish you’d had in high school which showcased the collective human
experiences of his family and his own individual experience. By responding to the text I
gained a deeper understanding of the value and importance of the human experience on
both a collective and individual sense.

Overall, I found the ETA seminar to be quite useful as it deeply enriched my understanding
of the common module and more importantly the value of the human experience.
Throughout my studies I will continue to refer to the points brought up during the seminar
which will guide me through to the HSC.