PALS : Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies

Looking for an interesting reading strategy for use in grades two through six?  You might be interested in trying PALS.  This acronym stands for Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies.  It is used in addition to, as opposed to in place of, the regular reading program that is implemented within your classroom.  This three-part strategy takes a little over a half hour each session and may be used two to four times each week.

The first thing a teacher needs to do is assess his/her students’ reading abilities and list them in order, from highest to lowest.  The list is then divided into two parts:  the top half of the class and the bottom half of the class.  Students are then paired by matching the first person from the top half with the first person from the bottom half, the second with the second, and so forth.  If the class should have an odd number of students, there can be one group of three.  These pairs work together for three or four weeks, at which time the students are reassessed and new pairs are made.

The pairs work together on three different strategies.  The first is called Partner Reading with Retell and should take about 12 minutes.  The better reader begins by reading an assigned passage.  Then the lower reader reads the same passage, benefiting from hearing it read by his peer.  Once they have both read, the lower reader summarizes the passage with help from his partner, if needed.  Reading fluency and summarization are the two skills covered during this first strategy. 

Next, they move on to Paragraph Shrinking.  This part should take about ten minutes.  Here the better reader reads as much of an assigned passage as possible in five minutes.  He then identifies the main character and summarizes what was read in ten words or less.  Then the lower reader picks up where his partner left off, following the same procedure.  The comprehension skills targeted here are identifying the main character and the main ideas and summarizing. 

Finally, the students play Prediction Relay.  In this ten minute strategy, which targets the skills of making predictions, identifying the main ideas, and summarizing, the better reader predicts what will happen, reads the next half page, and assesses whether the prediction was a good one.  Then his partner does the same.

The PALS strategy is successful because it works for students of all academic abilities.  It is also cost effective and is easy to implement.  Most important, children enjoy it, because they are working together and having fun.