READING
P-Peer
A-Assisted
L-Learning
S-Strategies
Overview by Gail Gilmartin
What is PALS?
• A class-wide peer tutoring program
• Students work in pairs or triads to
practice and strengthen reading fluency
and comprehension.
Why Use Peer Tutoring?
• Increasing diversity in classrooms
• Broad range of achievement levels within
classrooms
• Increasing need to address variety of
individual needs through differentiation
Important Features of PALS
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Reciprocal roles (Coaches and Readers)
Structured Activities
Individualized
More time engaged on task
Includes ALL students
Opportunities for success for all students
Encourages positive peer interactions
Practical AND effective
Opportunities to monitor student progress
PALS Research
• Statistically significant differences
between students who participated in
PALS vs Control group
• Received ‘Best Practices’ status from
Department of Education
PALS 2-6 Experimental Results
Improvement in Reading Comprehension: Number Questions Answered Correctly
ROLES: Coaches and Readers
• Coaches
– Provides prompts and helps ‘Reader’
• Readers
– Reads and accepts help from ‘Coach’
• Partnerships rotate every 3-4 weeks
• PALS is conducted 3 times a week for
35 minutes
PALS Timeline
• Week 1
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Student Training
• Weeks 2-4
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Partner Reading with Retell
Paragraph Shrinking
• Weeks 5-17
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Partner Reading with Retell
Paragraph Shrinking
Prediction Relay
Required Materials for PALS
• Teacher Materials
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Timer
PALS Rules
Student Assignment Chart
Scripts
Command Card
PALS Video of lessons for students to
watch (to model what PALS LOOKS and
SOUNDS like)
Required Materials for PALS
• Student Materials
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Book
Question Card
Point Sheet
Pencil
Coach & Reader Folders
Teacher’s PALS Duties
• Assign Pairs and Teams
• Select Text of Appropriate Difficulty
• Monitor Student’s Reading and PALS
Behavior
• Assist ‘Coaches’ as needed
Absent Students and Uneven Pairs
• If two students are absent, their
partners may be paired for the day. If
the two students are in different books,
the pair should use the weaker reader’s
book.
• Allow a ‘high-performing student’ to
read independently.
• Form a triad
Reading Triads
• Assign each of the students to be the
coach during one of the three reading
activities.
• If a permanent triad is necessary
because you have an uneven number of
students, designate one as a ‘floater.’
• Never place learning disabled or
extremely low readers in a triad for
more than one day, if at all possible.
Selecting Text of Appropriate Difficulty
• Each pair may read from different
texts.
• Text should be at weaker reader’s levelno more than 10 errors per 100 words.
• Determine page numbers or stories to
be read ahead of time.
Monitoring Student’s Reading
• Provide positive feedback
• Ensure correct PALS implementation
• Ensure students are using proper correction
procedures
• Ensure cooperation between partnerships
• Award BONUS points
• Listen to EACH student
• Listen for FLUENCY
• Listen for quality of main idea statements
PALS RULES
• Talk to only your partner (or Mrs. G) and
only about PALS
• Keep your voice low
• Cooperate with your partner
• Try your best
Partner Reading
• Conducted for 11-12 minutes
• Stronger reader reads aloud for 5 minutes
• Weaker reader reads the same text for next 5
minutes
• Weaker reader retells the story for 1-2 minutes
• Readers should read quickly, accurately, and with
expression
• Coaches listen, correct mistakes, and mark points
(earn 1 point for every sentence read correctly and 10
points for correct retell)
Correcting Errors
• There are four types of mistakes to
listen for:
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Saying the word wrong
Leaving out a word
Adding a word
Waiting longer than 4 seconds
• Use Correction Card to help with
correction procedures
Demonstration and Practice
• Coach and Reader read and mark points
• Coach makes corrections, if needed
• Reader retells story using Question
Card
• Both Coach and Reader are engaged at
all times!
Paragraph Shrinking
• Conducted for 10 minutes
• Stronger reader reads new text aloud for 5
minutes, summarizing each paragraph as they
read
• Weaker reader reads new text aloud for 5
minutes, summarizing each paragraph
• Coach listens, corrects mistakes and marks
points
Paragraph Shrinking
• After each paragraph, using the Question
Card, the Reader :
– Identifies the most important ‘Who’ or ‘What’
(1 point)
– Identifies the most important thing about the
‘Who’ or ‘What’ (1 point)
– States the main idea of the paragraph in 10 words
or less (1 point)
• Training includes identifying paragraphs and
the main idea
Prediction Relay
• First 5 minutes- using the Question Card, the Stronger Reader:
– Make a logical prediction (1 point)
– Reads half of a page (1 point)
– Checks the prediction (1 point)
– Makes a new prediction
– Continues to read
• Second 5 minutes- using the Question Card, the Weaker Reader:
– Make a logical prediction ( 1 point)
– Reads half of a page (1 point)
– Checks the prediction (1 point)
– Makes a new prediction
– Continues to read