What types of activities can Mrs. Nash use to increase her students’ reading skills?
Page 5: Paragraph Shrinking
- Monitor their own comprehension and focus on the main idea of each paragraph
- Pay attention to important details
- Elaborate on the content
Paragraph Shrinking consists of the four main steps outlined in the box below.
| Paragraph Shrinking (10 minutes) |
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Step 1. The higher-performing student reads for five minutes, beginning where the second reader left off in Partner Reading and stopping at the end of each paragraph. Step 2. At the end of each paragraph, the higher-performing reader identifies the main character (i.e., the who or what) and summarizes the main idea in 10 words or fewer. Step 3. After switching roles, the lower-performing student picks up where the higher-performing reader left off in the text, reading for five minutes and stopping at the end of each paragraph. Step 4. At the end of each paragraph, the lower-performing reader identifies the main character (i.e., the who or what) and summarizes the main idea in 10 words or fewer.   View Description of Question Card This cue card enumerates the directions that the Coach will need to facilitate the Paragraph Shrinking activity. 1st Reader reads. Coach says:
2nd Reader reads. Coach says:
Note: All cards available on Resource Page 8.
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  View Description of Coaching Tips Card The second activity in any PALS session is Paragraph Shrinking. This helpful cue card features tips that the Coach can use to facilitate the process.
Note: All cards available on Resource Page 8.
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Note: Unlike in the Partner Reading phase, in Paragraph Shrinking the partners will read from different parts of the same text.
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Corrective Feedback
As the Reader reads, the Coach monitors and offers corrective feedback when his or her partner commits one of these errors:
- Incorrectly summarizing the paragraph
- Summarizing using more than 10 words
Having completed his or her section of the text, the Reader identifies the main character (i.e., the who or what) in the paragraph and summarizes the main idea. The Coach should be aware of the two types of errors that can occur during this process and how to respond to them.
Incorrectly summarizing the paragraph
- The Coach says, “Check it!”
- If the Reader is still incorrect, the coach gives either a hint or the correct answer.
Summarizing using more than 10 words
- The Coach replies, “Shrink it.”
- If the answer is still not the best, the coach helps the partner to give a better one.
PALS in Action
View the movie to watch as two students participate in a Paragraph Shrinking activity (time: 0:59).
Transcript: Paragraph Shrinking
First Student: “A long time ago, people lived mostly out of doors. They were close connected. They noticed that plants, animals, insects, and birds could tell when bad weather was on its way sooner than people could.”
Second Student: Name the who or what.
First Student: Weather.
Second Student: Check it.
First Student: People.
Second Student: Good. Tell me the most important thing about the who or what.
First Student: That insects and animals could tell what the climate was going to be like.
Second Student: Okay. Say the main idea and in ten words or less.
First Student: People could tell what the weather was going to be from insects and animals.
Second Student: Shrink it.
First Student: People would tell what the weather was like by insects.
Second Student: Okay. Good. Three points.
