This document summarizes a student survey about studying poems in literary circles. The survey found that most students enjoyed working in groups, felt they understood the poems, and found MyPortfolio a useful learning tool. Some students struggled with MyPortfolio or had off-topic discussions. The teacher recognized the need for more instruction on facilitating the literary circles. Overall, most students reported gaining understanding of the poems from group work and independent study.

1. LITERARY CIRCLES
STUDENT VOICE SURVEY
Working in groups &
working on MyPortfolio
CLASS: 1002
DATE: TERM ONE 2012

2. ENJOYMENT STUDYING
POEM
yes no mostly

3. UNDERSTANDING
LANGUAGE FEATURES
yes no mostly

4. UNDERSTANDING
GAINED OF STRUCTURE
yes no mostly

5. U N D E R S TA N D I N G G A I N E D
F RO M WO R K I N G I N G RO U P S
Do you feel you have gained a good understanding of the poem by working in a group with others?
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
Yes, the group the group discussions do nothelpfulhaveI gained an understanding of the …
Yes, discussions supported were feel I were gained moreI from … more from poem from the …
No, the group discussions but not helpful, gained
I my understanding

6. A B L E T O M A K E I M P O R TA N T
CONTRIBUTIONS TO
GROUP DISCUSSIONS
Yes, because I like sharing my ideas
Yes, I felt very included.
with other people and this helps me to yes i did, just theres heaps of people in
develop my ideas much better than just the class
writing it out." Yes i think i did make some important
contribution to the group discussions.
Sort of. But only with the stuff I
When the discussions were on task that's
properly understood" when i thought when we did the most
Yes, i recorded and helped with the work."
Yes i was able to present questions and
ideas for questions."
help others gain some understanding."
Yes. I was able to do some work in the Yes"
group page"

7. Sort of, since i didn't understand some Yes. I always made sure to keep the
things. group on task and make sure that
every body has
yes i was able to contribute cnough yes i have contributed to the group
I was able to make contributions to yes i was able to get involved with
group discussion
the group, however there were a lot of yes
off topic discussion that may have yes.
distracted us from focusing on the
poem."

8. USEFULNESS OF
MYPORTFOLIO
Did you find MyPortfolio a useful learning space for any or all of the following reasons?
18
16
14
12
10 No
8
Yes
6
4
2
0
It was great for sharing It was great for putting up I had difficulties using I did not find much use for
ideas with the group my own ideas online in MyPortfolio but would like MyPortfolio and prefer to
my own portfolio to keep learning how to work using a folder.
use it

9. ENJOYMENT WORKING IN
70.0% GROUPS
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
yes
30.0% no
mostly
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
yes no mostly

10. ENJOYMENT USING
MYPORTFOLIO
yes no mostly

11. SUMMARY
 The students were mostly positive about both their learning and
engagement (measured by ‘enjoyment’ questions).
 The students were also mostly positive about using MyPortfolio although
there were some who found it confusing
 None of the students said they did not enjoy working in a group.
 There were some comments requesting more class instruction and this was
a need that I recognised as well. The organisation of the Literary Circles
meant that I did not have as much time facilitating the learning that was
taking place as I had hoped.
 In spite of not being able to facilitate as closely as I would have liked the
class presentations affirmed the results of the survey – they managed to
gain a good understanding of the poems through the group work and
independent study.