IRIS CASE STUDY: PALS STRATEGY EDLC 651
IRIS Case Study – PALS Strategy
Adrienne Isaacs
School of Education, Liberty University
Author Note
Adrienne Isaacs, LUID: L31540624
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose. Correspondence concerning this article
should be addressed to Adrienne Isaacs, Email:
IRIS CASE STUDY: PALS STRATEGY EDLC 651
IRIS CASE STUDY: PALS STRATEGY
What is PALS? PALS stands for Peer-Assisted Learning Strategy. PALS Reading is a peer-
mediated reading strategy that supports Kindergarten and first grade students’
reading development.
List 3 Benefits. The first benefit of PALS is that it is cost effective and easy for teachers to
implement. Secondly, PALS encourages students to participate and remain on-
task. Thirdly, PALS provides students with more opportunities to read.
Describe two
kindergarten PAL
activities.
One Kindergarten PALS activity is the Guess My Word game. In this activity the
coach points to the boxes on the lesson sheet and says each sound for the target
word. The reader then copies the steps—points to the boxes and makes the sounds
—then pronounces the word. Corrective feedback is given by pointing to the
boxes near the picture representing the target word.
A second Kindergarten PALS activity is What Word? In this activity the coach
points to a word and says “What word?” The reader reads the word. Corrective
feedback in this activity is provided when the reader makes a mistake. The coach
will then say “Stop. That word is… (and then state the word). What word?” The
reader then repeats the word. The coach then says “Good. Now read that line
again.”
Describe two first
grade PALS
activities.
Two first grade PALS activities are Sounding Out and Speed Game. In Sounding
Out, the coach prompts the reader to “sound it out”. Then after the reader does so,
the coach says, “Read it fast” and the reader reads the word. The coach corrects
the reader when needed by sounding out the word correctly, reading the word,
then having the reader copy and repeat the coach’s actions.
In the activity Speed Game, the reader has 30 seconds to read either sight words
(at the beginning of the year) or a story (from mid-year through the end of year).
The goal is to read as many words as possible in 30 seconds. The reader reads
each list of sight words or story three times. The goal is to increase the number of
words read each time. If the reader makes a mistake at any time, then the coach
waits three seconds, then corrects the pronunciation. The reader repeats the
correct pronunciation and then keeps reading until the 30 seconds are complete.
How do you pair
students?
In PALS Reading, the students are paired by rank. The teacher must rank students
by reading ability. In this strategy, the teacher uses RLN (rapid letter naming) to
assess reading ability.
In Kindergarten, the highest ranked student is matched with the lowest ranked
student, then next highest with next lowest and so on. In first grade, the ranking
groups are split in two: high performers and lower performers. The top in the high
performing group is matched with the top in the lower performing group, then the
second in the high group is matched with the second in the low group and so on.
Students remain in their pairs for four weeks unless there are incompatibility
issues or behavior issues.
What is the role of The role of the coach in PALS is to provide the prompts for the activity and to
IRIS CASE STUDY: PALS STRATEGY EDLC 651
a “coach” in
PALS?
provide corrective feedback whenever the reader makes a mistake. The coach is
the higher performing reader in the pair.
What is the role of
a “reader” in
PALS?
The role of the reader in PALS is to complete the reading activity. The reader
must also follow the prompts that the coach gives and repeat the corrections that
the coach provides. The reader is the lower performing reader in the pair or triad.
What is a floater in
PALS?
The floater role in PALS is utilized when there is an odd number of students in the
class. That student should have high to average reading abilities and social skills.
The student can be assigned to a reading triad, but also fill in whenever a student
is absent in one of the class pairs.
How would you
prepare the
materials?
Materials are prepared based on the lower performing reader in the pair. Books
that are selected should be relatively short so that the pair has the opportunity to
read through the book more than once. The class will also need folders for each
student, timers, the PALS rules, scoresheets, and pairs assignment charts. The
teacher should also supply a Speed Game incentive bag and calculators to tally
team points.
What is the
difference between
kindergarten and
first grade training
and
implementation?
In Kindergarten training, the teacher does four Sound Play lessons and eight
introductory training lessons in whole group instruction. Each student gets the
chance to be a coach in whole group to learn the role. Then the students are paired
and the teacher monitors and corrects as they work together.
For first grade training, the teacher trains four times per week for two weeks.
Partnered Reading is introduced after eight weeks.
How do you
ensure the students
implement the
PALS strategy
correctly and stay
motivated?
PALS Reading includes prompts to praise the reader (there are stars in
kindergarten and smiley faces in first grade). There are also points and
scoreboards for teams of pairs to keep students motivated and engaged. Teachers
can also award bonus points for prosocial behaviors like remaining on task, using
corrective feedback properly, etc. The teacher should walk around and frequently
monitor each pair to make sure that procedures are being implemented correctly.
Teachers can also create their own special modifications to keep their students
motivated. For example, Ms. Johnson, a Kindergarten teacher in Minnesota,
created a K-PALS Super Star Wall on which she puts pictures of students whose
teams reach 100 points.
