Reciprocal Teaching: PALS
Overview
When students explain to others, they deepen their understanding and gain confidence in their learning. Through Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS), learners alternate in reading and sharing their thoughts with a partner by taking on the roles of a coach and player. Students provide feedback and receive immediate feedback from their peers, which can increase their Verbal Reasoning and comprehension of a text.
Example: Use This Strategy in the Classroom
Watch two upper elementary school students practice part of a prediction relay. By stopping halfway through the page, students have the opportunity to make predictions, check the accuracy of their predictions, and switch roles. Using this structure requires both students to maintain their Attention and practice Inhibition & Self-regulation while listening.
Design It into Your Product
Additional Resources
Additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.
Factors Supported by this Strategy
More Cooperative Learning Strategies
Students practice making and finding meaning in their reading through a book club model.
When peers are able to work together to plan, draft, edit, and revise their compositions, their writing quality improves.
Flexible grouping is a classroom practice that temporarily places students together in given groups to work together, with the purpose of achieving a given learning goal or activity.
As students walk through stations working in small groups, the social and physical nature of the learning supports deeper understanding.
As students work with and process information by discussing, organizing, and sharing it together, they deepen their understanding.
Respectful redirection, or error correction, outlines a clear and concise way that educators can provide feedback on behaviors that need immediate correction, in a positive manner.
Bringing students' every day literacy practice of texting into the classroom provides regular, low-stakes practice communicating with authentic audiences.
Students develop literacy skills by listening to and speaking with others in informal ways.
Writing conferences allow students to share, reflect on, and receive feedback about their writing, which promotes Motivation for revising.
