Pete Seeger in my Classroom: Abiyoyo

Iconic American folk singer Pete Seeger passed away this week, on Monday, January 27.  In 2006, one of my first grade students introduced me to Pete Seeger's retelling of the South African folk story and lullaby, Abiyoyo.  

Abiyoyo originally appeared on Seeger's 1958 album for children, Sleep-Time: Songs and Stories, and most recently on the Songs and Stories for Little Children CD.

I'm not sure how I missed this classic during my childhood and that of my children, but I did. Anyway, from 2006 on, I used this story every year in my classroom. I introduced it during the first week of school and we replayed it often throughout the school year. We would just listen to the  story 5 or 6 times, then I would introduce the book and read it aloud a few times, we would choral read it together, and sometimes we would listen to the CD and follow along by turn the pages of the book. I had multiple copies of the book available for independent reading and a listening center. My students loved this story--it is both terrifying and calming.

My students loved comparing and contrasting the language in the print version and the oral language on the CD. We had discussions about the characters, what word "ostracized" meant, and the meaning of the story. And, the CD version was the perfect thing to put on during the last 10 minutes of the day--especially after a stressful day; my students would lay back on the carpet and just listen. The repetitious lullaby chorus is so soothing!

abiyoyo, abiyoyo, abiyoyo, abiyoyo,

abiyoyo, ya yoyo, ya yoyo

abiyoyo, ya yoyo, ya yoyo

A few years ago, I found this episode from Reading Rainbow, with Pete playing his banjo and telling the story and added this video into the mix.

Rest in peace, Pete Seeger, your legacy lives on!

The activities mentioned above are compatible with many of the Common Core English Language Arts Standards for 1st Grade (and possibly other grade levels as well):

Speaking & Listening: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.1.2

Reading: Literature: Any number of the standards here

Does Grade Retention Work?

The Michigan legislature is considering HB 5111, which mandates retention for 3rd graders who do not pass the state reading test, even if they are proficient in all other subjects, and HB 5144, which requires support for struggling readers and provides for alternative reading proficiency assessments, although it is contingent upon passage of HB 5111.

While at first consideration, holding kids back might seem like a good idea, this is one of those counter-intuitive issues. A vast body of research exists that shows that retention at best, has little to no lasting effect, and at worst, is a disaster for the lives of children who have been retained. Unfortunately, this policy will largely impact children who are living in poverty.

Regardless of which side of this debate you find yourself, relying on intuition isn't enough. Make sure you are well informed. If you are aware of any additional resources, please feel free to post them in the comments below.

I've compiled a number of resources on the subject of grade retention below:

Larry Ferlazzo's extensive list of resources for information on grade retention

Nancy Flanagan's most recent blog post: "The Third-Grade Crackdown Club"

My updated blog post with additional links: Keeping 3rd Graders Behind

Oakland Schools Blog includes video with Dr. Joan Firestone: Intervention Beats Retention

UPDATE: 3-26-14: John Hattie's Visible Learning: A Synthesis of over 800 Meta-analyses Relating to Acheivement, page 97, effect size of retention: -1.5 (yes, that's negative 1.5)

Keeping 3rd Graders Behind

(SEE UPDATES BELOW) In his Mlive article, Should third-grade students with reading trouble be held back? Take our poll, Brian Smith describes a proposal introduced on October 29, 2013 by Rep. Amanda Price, (R-District 89). The bill is now being considered by the education committee of the Michigan House of Representatives. House Bill 5111, creates a law that would prevent any student from enrolling in 4th grade who has not achieved a score of "proficient" on the 3rd grade Michigan reading assessment. This applies both to students currently enrolled in a public school or public school academy (charter school) as well as students new to that school. No exceptions.

This is an equity and social justice issue. Below, is the comment I posted in response:

Brian Smith--you've cited one study, I hope you will continue your research into this incredibly important issue. There are hundreds of studies that have been conducted on retention. Overall, they have found that retention is not an adequate solution, for example see this article in ASCD's, Education Leadership (March 2008) that analyzes the research literature on the subject of retention up to that date:

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar08/vol65/num06/Grade-Retention.aspx

Not only do short-term gains quickly disappear, students who have been retained continue to struggle, have higher special education placements, are much more likely to drop out, and more than twice as likely to be minorities. The statistics show that "Black students are more than twice as likely to be held back as white students, and boys twice as likely as girls (National Center for Education Statistics, 2006)." The author concludes that "Although individual studies can be cited to support any conclusion, overall the preponderance of evidence argues that students who repeat a grade are no better off, and are sometimes worse off, than if they had been promoted with their classmates."

Other than for symbolic, political reasons, why would we do this to children when we know it doesn't adequately solve the problem? It seems to me that tax dollars that would be required to educate retained students for an additional year (that is, if they don't drop out first) would be much better spent on early interventions in Preschool to 3rd grade, where research has demonstrated it makes a real difference.

Research on early interventions/preschool:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/us/language-gap-study-bolsters-a-push-for-pre-k.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0  (Hat tip to @Kyle_Mayer1 Assistant Superintendent, Instructional Services, OAISD)

HighScope Perry Preschool longitudinal study

UPDATE 11-23-13: John Hattie's meta-analysis indicates a negative 'effect size' for retention of -0.16. Check out this graphic of 138 effect sizes that impact learning and student achievement, adapted from Hattie's (2009) Visible Learning: A Synthesis of over 800 Meta-analyses Relating to Achievement
Also, check out Hattie's 2012 book, Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning

UPDATE 12-4-13: Nancy Flanagan's blog post "The Third-Grade Crackdown Club".

UPDATE 1-20-14: Michigan lawmakers and educators continue to work on bill that would flunk 3rd graders via @MichiganRadio http://bit.ly/1e8Dclu

UPDATE 2-21-14: Oakland Schools blog post includes video with Dr. Joan Firestone: Intervention Beats Retention

Read at the Beach!

Read at the Beach is an annual March is Reading Month tradition for 1st graders at my school. Of course the end of March is usually too cold to really go to the beach, so we turn our cafeteria into the beach with a little imagination, some beachy props, and great calypso music by our own technology director, Jeff Grossenbacher. (Also of Two Dudes in Flip Flops and Island Breeze fame!) Jeff gets us started with a reading of The Jolly Mon by Jimmy Buffett and his daughter, Savannah Jane.

Then, the kids are off to "read at the beach"!

 

Competing with the Carnival

The teacher, when she begins work in our school, must have a kind of faith that the child will reveal himself through work. ~Maria Montessori

How do we keep 1st graders engaged in learning despite the arrival of the dreaded (but much loved by children) Fruitport Old Fashioned Days Memorial Day carnival? That's the dilemma we face at the end of every school year. Not only does the carnival set up in the center of town, nearly every bus going to or from our school drives by it twice a day!

This year I decided to do something a bit different. We built
our own "Roxaboxen" in our classroom. First, we read Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran. Then we discussed what materials we would need. Students brought in some cardboard boxes--one even brought in a huge appliance box! Measurement and telling time were math concepts specifically incorporated into the project. However, it has become truly integrated across the curriculum--and a project that evolved in an amazing way! As we were planning what shops or buildings to include, I realized mapping skills and expanded vocabulary could be included. The students incorporated money and economic concepts naturally. We googled 'Roxaboxen' and found that there is a park in Yuma, Arizona dedicated to the original Roxaboxen and we took a "trip" to Yuma, Arizona via Google Earth.

Codi's Pet Shop--Open 24 hours!

Jamie's Train Station

Brody & Brady's 'Hunting Shack'

The room was quite loud, but everyone was completely engaged, from Ryan the banker who was "making money" and using existing student mailboxes for "accounts", to others who were busy measuring and cutting white paper to make "stones" to be used to delineate boundaries. As I looked around, I saw 6 and 7 year old students collaborating as they were creating Jamie's train station, Madyson's Beauty Salon, Brody's Hunting Shack, the Martin & Evans vehicle race track, Codi's Pet Shop, Miss Ead's School of Dance, Miss Louetta's Coffee Shop, Allen's Sporting Goods Store, and Timothy's Weather Station. The Day Care closed before it even opened "because there weren't enough kids" and Amy's Artist Studio took its place. Hand written signs were everywhere: 'Open' and 'Closed', store names, and direction signs complete with directional arrows.

Miss Ead's Dance School

Banker's Hours??

One of the best moments? When the banker realized that other kids were making their own money, he commented, "Hey, that's not fair! Only the money made by this bank can be spent in our Roxaboxen!" Which then led to a lively discussion about counterfeit money and the FBI.

It was clear this project was loosing its power to engage students when "For Rent" signs went up on Wednesday. So, yesterday was "Demolition Day." I'm confident my students were fully engaged and learned so much more than I'll ever know---or could ever be measured on a standardized test.

Supposing I said there was a planet without schools or teachers, where study was unknown, and yet the inhabitants—doing nothing but living and walking about—came to know all things, to carry in their minds the whole of learning; would you not think I was romancing? Well, just this, which seems so fanciful as to be nothing but the invention of a fertile imagination, is a reality. It is the child's way of learning. This is the path he follows. He learns everything without knowing he is learning it, and in doing so he passes little by little from the unconscious to the conscious, treading always in the paths of joy and love. ~Dr. Maria Montessori, MD