Peer Assisted Learning Strategies PALS By Heather Porter

Peer Assisted Learning Strategies PALS By Heather Porter and Carole Boucher

Agenda History of PALS What is PALS? Cooperative Learning Highly Structured Interaction Focus on Grade-Level Skills Reinforcement of Academic Behaviours How to Implement PALS? PALS Math Advantages Concerns PALS Research Your Turn References

History of PALS Developed by Doug Fuchs, Ph. D. , and Lynn Fuchs, Ph. D. , professors of special education and Vanderbilt Kennedy Center. Studied at Vanderbilt for over 15 years. Originally developed for grades 2 through 6, but has now been extended to Kindergarten, grade 1 and high school. Research shows that high-achieving, average-achieving, and low-achieving students, and students with learning disabilities make greater progress in PALS classrooms. PALS Reading and PALS Math have been approved by the U. S. Department of Education’s Program Effectiveness Panel as an effective educational practice.

What is PALS? Is a class-wide peer tutoring program. Combines proven instructional principles and practices and peer mediation so that research-based reading and math activities are effective, feasible, and enjoyable. Has several key elements. Ø Cooperative learning Ø Highly structured interaction Ø Focus on key grade-level skills Ø Reinforcement of academic behaviours Designed to complement, not replace, existing reading and math curriculum. 25 to 35 minute activity implemented 2 to 4 times a week. Peer Assisted Learning Strategies

Cooperative Learning Students work in pairs Ø Higher and lower performing students work together Ø Peers both perform roles of ‘coach’ and ‘reader’ Differentiated instruction Ø Individualized help from peers Ø Pairs read ability-specific texts

Highly Structured Interactions PALS is a routine. Students have clear responsibilities. Training lessons. Correction procedures to follow. Many benefits. Ø Increased learning time. Ø Promotes social interaction. Ø Permits teacher to circulate and offer support.

Focus on Grade-Level Skills

How Often Should a Teacher Use PALS? Kindergarten : 20 – 30 minutes 3 times a week First Grade : 35 – 45 minutes 3 – 4 times a week Grades 2 – 6 and High School : 35 – 40 minutes 3 times a week

Reinforcement of Academic Behaviours The ‘points system’ Ø Pairs earn points for completing activities. Ø Pairs accumulate points toward a reward. Rewards Ø Kindergarten: Pairs get teacher recognition for completing points sheet. Ø First Grade, Grade 2 – 6: Pair points go toward a team total; the winning team gets class recognition. Ø High School: Pair points provide ‘dollars’ in a token economy; dollars go toward prizes.

Training Students for PALS Session 1 Ø What is PALS? Session 2 Ø Role of coach q How to lead activity and provide feedback q How to earn points Session 3 Ø Finishing coaching q How to correct and narrate work Session 4 Ø How to complete practice sheets Session 5 Ø First time pairs do a full PALS lesson together

Grades 2 – 6 and High School There are four PALS activities that promote reading fluency and reading comprehension: 1. Partner reading 2. Re-telling 3. Paragraph shrinking 4. Prediction relay

How to Implement PALS? 1. Partner reading Designed to improve reading fluency and accuracy Each student within a dyad reads aloud for 5 minutes, with the higher-performing student reading first and the lower-reading student rereading the passage. ‘Coach’ points out errors. 2. Retell Designed to improve reading comprehension and to aid students in discerning what is important and what is not. Lower-performing reader retells the passage at the end of the activity. 3. Paragraph shrinking Designed to develop comprehension through summarization and main idea identification. Reader identifies main idea of each paragraph. Coach guides idea identification through established questions. Reader then summarizes main idea in 10 words or less. 4. Prediction relay Designed to develop and automate students’ abilities to formulate and (dis)confirm predictions. Reader predicts story content, reads aloud, and confirms or disconfirms hypothesis. Coach judges whether prediction was reasonable and if not, asks for another prediction.

Other Considerations Students ranked on reading performance and then split the ranking in half. Top ranked student in the stronger half was paired with the strongest reader in the weaker half. Pairs remain together for 4 weeks. Student pairs read from text at the instructional level of the weaker reader. Socially compatible. If not, change pairing. Reciprocal.

Breakdown of Time PALS Reading

Grades 2 – 6 Activities Each reader takes turns reading a paragraph and then shrinking it. Stronger reads the passage, then weaker reader repeats. Each reader takes turns predicting and then reading half a page and confirming or disconfirming his/her prediction. Once weaker reader has read the passage that the stronger read first, he/she retells what he/she read. http: //kc. vanderbilt. edu/pals/products. html

Other Considerations Students are trained as tutors to correct word recognition errors. Ø Wrong word Ø Leaving out a word Ø Adding a word Ø Pausing longer than 4 seconds Teachers use whatever reading materials they believe are appropriate. Ø Library books, short novels, weekly readers, content area texts, etc. Score cards Cue cards Peer mediated example

Cue Cards

PALS Math q PALS Math is listed among best evidence-supported math programs on the John Hopkins University website. q Zaption 5 Steps 1. Coaching 2. Self-talk 3. Change roles 4. Practice 5. Grading and points

PALS Math Coaching : 15 – 20 minutes Ø Each of the partners work on math problems in a specific area Ø The coach questions the player in order to guide the activity Ø Coach has been trained on how to provide feedback Practice : 5 – 10 minutes Ø Students do independent practice worksheet with mix of difficult and less challenging problems Ø Students exchange papers and score them Ø Students earn points based on cooperation, explanations and accuracy

Advantages Affordable and easily implemented. Permits differentiation. Positive and productive peer interaction. Immediate corrective feedback. Can be integrated in any subject area. Enables teachers to address individual student needs. The major benefits for exceptional students are improved self-esteem, a safe learning environment, and better classroom success rates. Many teachers find that the gains in motivation, reasoning, and self-directedness more than compensate for the time required to teach students to work collaboratively. Developmentally appropriate and effective strategy for middle school students.

Concerns Risk of students not providing proper feedback. Some coaches might provide the answers instead of coaching the players/readers. 10% of students did not respond to their most successful peer-mediated instruction, suggesting the need for more intensive, individualized interventions for a small number of students. (Hutchinson, 2014)

PALS Research Across programs, PALS students had greater gains on academic measures. More classroom time for peer-mediated instruction and for one-to-one instruction (and less time for independent seat work). Greater amount of reading time for PALS students accepted their peers with disabilities more.

Your Turn… Each reader takes turns reading a paragraph and then shrinking it. Stronger reads the passage, then weaker reader repeats. Once weaker reader has read the passage that the stronger read first, he/she retells what he/she read. http: //kc. vanderbilt. edu/pals/products. html Each reader takes turns predicting and then reading half a page and confirming or disconfirming his/her prediction.

References Fuchs, D. , Fuchs, L. , Mathes, P. , & Simmons, D. (1997). Peer-assisted learning strategies: Making classrooms more responsive to diversity. American Educational Research Journal, 34, 174 -206. Hutchinson, N. L. (2014). Inclusion of exceptional learners in Canadian schools (4 th ed. ). Toronto, ON : Pearson. Ramsey, M. L. , Jolivette, K. , & Patton, B. (2007). Peer-assisted learning strategies (PALS) for reading in the EBD classroom. Beyond Behavior, 1 -6. http: //archives. doe. k 12. ga. us/_documents/ci_exceptional/Leadership%20 Meeting%202011/Intro%20 to% 20 PALS/Intro_PALS_Reading_and_Math_ppt. pdf http: //kc. vanderbilt. edu/pals/index. html http: //oregonreadingfirst. uoregon. edu/downloads/brown_bag_3_19_10_pals. pdf