By Liza Garonzik
I built R.E.A.L.® Discussion because I believe kids growing up in today’s world need to be explicitly taught the deeply human skill of engaging in real, live conversation.
It can feel hard, awkward, even scary. But learning to ask a thoughtful question, listen closely, explain an idea, or work through disagreement prepares students for school, life, work, and democracy. In an AI world, I’m more certain than ever that these skills will be a “human edge”—and that schools have an essential role in teaching them.
Today, I’m excited to share a new chapter in that work: R.E.A.L.® Discussion will serve as TALK Studios’ K–12 partner and the home for its work with schools.
Built with real teachers, real schools, and real students
Over the last twelve years, I’ve worked on a question that grew out of my own experience as an educator: How do we make discussion a skill students can learn, practice, and measure?
Answering that question has meant learning across disciplines and designing alongside real teachers, real schools, and real students. Together, we’ve built curriculum, professional learning, assessment, and a community of educators, with work reaching more than 100 schools and over 17,000 students.
Our framework—Relate, Excerpt, Ask, Listen—gives teachers and students a shared language for discussion. With explicit instruction, regular practice, and feedback, schools can make discussion a learning goal and help students see their growth over time.
Yes, R.E.A.L.® Discussions happen during the school day, but the purpose has always reached beyond the classroom. As an educator and a parent, I care about how students learn today—and how they’ll work, connect, build relationships, and participate in the world tomorrow.
A mind-meld and mission-meld
That’s why getting to know Alison Wood Brooks felt so significant!
Alison is a Harvard Business School professor, conversation science pioneer, and author of TALK: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves. She founded TALK Studios to bring conversation science into practice through tools, experiences, and partnerships across settings and stages of life.
The conversation gaps she saw among her students at Harvard Business School echoed what I was seeing in K–12. We had each built ways to turn research into practice, drawing on different experiences and working at different stages of life.
As we explored those connections, we found a mind-meld and mission-meld. We shared an ambition to make conversation something people deliberately learn, practice, measure, and celebrate throughout their lives.
This partnership brings Alison’s conversation research and teaching together with R.E.A.L.’s expertise in translating broad, interdisciplinary research into sustained school practice. It also puts TALK Studios’ partnership model into action: working with people whose expertise and experience help bring conversation science into more parts of our lives.
What this means for your school
Schools can explore R.E.A.L.’s established programs alongside selected TALK Studios resources now. We’re also beginning to co-create custom programs and materials for 2027–28, with schools’ questions and experiences helping shape what we research, test, and build next.
Every school arrives with its own question. Perhaps you want discussions that are more rigorous, equitable, or authentically student-led. Maybe you’re looking for shared language and benchmarks for speaking and listening. Or you’re asking how students can develop and demonstrate their own thinking—and human skills—as AI changes so much about how we work. For schools working toward a Portrait of a Graduate, conversation offers a place to put goals like communication, collaboration, and critical thinking into daily practice.
R.E.A.L. helps schools do this inside the courses teachers already teach, with teacher training and support, student routines and portfolios, and data that makes progress visible. We call it The Other AI: Authentic Interaction.
Let’s talk about what comes next
I’d love to hear what you’re noticing in your school and what you’re working toward. Whether you have an immediate need or are imagining what’s possible, let’s explore it together. You don’t need a fully formed plan to start a conversation.
If you’d like to stay connected as this partnership develops, share your information, and we’ll keep you updated on new resources and opportunities for schools.
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The Conversation Comeback is possible. I’m excited to build the next chapter with you.
