Year 12 ETA English Extension 1 Study Day

On Sunday 17th May the Year 12 English Extension class and I were to attend the 2020 Extension Study Day. Originally this day was going to be held in Sydney at a cost of $49.00 per student. As it started at 10am it meant another early start, late finish and long drive and train ride for the four of us.

However, in the era of COVID-19, the English Teachers Association changed their planning for this day and offered the sessions via Zoom and Adobe Connect at no cost to students. However, Energy Australia decided that this was the day that they were cutting of power to Molong from 9:00am to 4:00pm!

After some significant reorganisation Lily, Katelan and Henrietta were able to access the sessions from Henrietta’s house. Thankfully Henrietta lives sufficiently far from town and was not affected by the power blackout. I sat at home relying on battery power and powerbanks.

This day offered the usual high standard of information with the added bonus of hearing feedback from a senior marker of last year’s HSC. The perspectives of two highly successful students who sat this exam was also shared. Due to some technical glitches – all of us are learning new technology – this session was repeated later in the week, as we missed the first half hour.

Overall we viewed four sessions – Feedback from the HSC; the common module – Literary Worlds and; two sessions on our elective Re imagined Worlds. 

This was an excellent day made all the better by being freed from not having to travel to Sydney. My thanks to the students for giving up their Sunday to attend the sessions.