Workshops and Programs Designed for Your School
Build the conversation skills your community needs today.
Guided by our Advisory Council of K-12 Leaders
Our Faculty Advisory Council is made up of educators and leaders whose collective insight keeps this work grounded in the evolving needs of real teachers, students, and families in today’s complex world.
At most schools, discussion is mission-critical—and yet discussion skills are often taught haphazardly across teachers, divisions, and programs. We partner with schools to develop and implement custom programs to teach, measure, and celebrate discussion skills across your campus. We blend your school’s mission, priorities, and existing practices with our research-informed pedagogy and change management models. Ultimately, we create shared language, benchmarks, and metrics for your community.
R.E.A.L.® Discussion Custom Programs are multi-year engagements. Across 100+ schools and counting, we’ve learned thoughtful capacity-building takes time! Custom programs are unique but generally include:
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At R.E.A.L.® Discussion, we think differently about Professional Learning because we have sat through so much of it ourselves. We know what works, what doesn’t, and how precious the time really is. We believe that, done well, PL is a catalyst for strategic school leadership, so we partner with school leaders to plan that alignment up front.
All of our PL is research-backed, reality-focused, and FUN! Workshops can be virtual or in-person. Options include:
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While the bulk of our work is serving K-12 schools, we do partner with a select number of organizations each year that are interested in embedding conversation skill-building into their work. Our world needs adults to be learning these skills, too!
Led directly by R.E.A.L.® Founder Liza Garonzik, we partner with non-K-12 clients on a consulting basis and have experience working with a broad range of institutions, from high-growth companies to non-profits.
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Teachers can’t stop talking about R.E.A.L.®!
The students are more confident in speaking in class and they’re also more confident that they’re going to be heard. The R.E.A.L.® nonverbal cues create an invitation to actively respond to each other. This builds trust and engagement. The tools for teaching disagreement are critical, too. Now girls know that even if someone disagrees with a point they make, their classmate will show them that they’ve heard them before explaining why they disagree with their idea – it’s not that they disagree with them as a person!
R.E.A.L.® is my favorite PD. It’s what every teacher should have learned in grad school. Now it’s my third year with the program, and the R.E.A.L.® Dashboard continues to make me happy. It helps me see my power as a teacher, and PLC is inspiring. I am so grateful.
I have used R.E.A.L.® in two very different schools – and it just works. It makes discussion teachable and learnable for kids. They are so proud of themselves as they master the conversational ‘moves’ they need to go deep with each other. They learn the power of their voices and of listening to others. And I get to keep learning alongside them!
This is everything I looked for and didn’t find in Harkness for decades. It’s a game-changer for conversation and community in my classroom — and the Dashboards are 🔥!
“One of the parts I really like is the freedom to not grade the discussion itself because REAL Portfolios capture so much evidence of student engagement. The students love not having a graded discussion – it feels authentic instead of performative, and I am more present too. I love looking at their reflections and giving a grade based on evidence. Plus, I’m not known for generous grading, so it’s a way to reach a detente with my students!”
The R.E.A.L.® format establishes equity, and all students have an opportunity to speak and run the class together. I was surprised how much they can do when I step fully out of the way. One powerful moment was in our Maus unit, when a very vocal student shared how the discussion changed her perspective. This student is a natural leader in our class, so her concession made an impact on the class, showing them that it’s okay to change your mind when presented with new information and interpretation. This would not have happened in my old discussion formats. That vocal student would have dominated the discussion. It was the arguments from historically silent students who shifted her thinking.
I’ve been teaching for 30 years and don’t really try new things. I was surprised this worked, but I love hearing every girl’s voice!
I had a student who is quiet in larger groups. When we started doing R.E.A.L.®, […] he sort of took a leadership position, saying things like, ‘Now, we haven’t heard from you…’ I thought, I can’t believe this student is taking on that role […] He was clearly proud. And for the other kids in the class, it shifted something in the way they viewed him. That was probably my favorite moment.
R.E.A.L.® feels foundational, like it’s
something all Humanities teachers
should be trained in. The students really bond with each other through R.E.A.L.® They’re so much more comfortable with each other, and there’s more of a community feel than in previous years.
Case Studies
Real Schools, Real Impact
Girls’ Preparatory School
Blair Academy
Nativity Preparatory School
