Teacher Feature: Alex Munro on Teaching Discussion Skills in Middle School

Thank you to Alex Munro for sharing his R.E.A.L. life with us! Alex is a seventh-grade history teacher at Francis W. Parker School in Chicago, IL. Here are his thoughts on the value and practical steps of teaching discussion skills to middle schoolers. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Name: Alex Munro

Hometown: I’m originally from the Washington Metropolitan Area, specifically Ashburn, Virginia.

Current School: I teach all sections of seventh-grade World History at Francis W. Parker in Chicago, IL. 

Can you describe yourself as a student, in three words or phrases?

As a student I would say definitely inquisitive, strong collaborator, and a big idea person. I love bringing big ideas.

I think especially now, in the age that we live in with so much technology, specifically with the advancement of AI, having these human interactions regularly is really important for students to understand the importance of emotional intelligence.

Alex MuNRO

When it comes to discussion, what is your “why”? What feels compelling and important about teaching these particular skills, especially to seventh graders?

I think what’s most compelling is that it’s an opportunity for them to have a space where meaningful discussion is taking place. And it’s not to say that discussion doesn’t happen at recess or in the cafeteria and spaces like that, but it’s more structured, and there’s an intention behind it. Hopefully, with that intention, there could be greater value as a result from this discussion, and more takeaways.  

I think especially now, in the age that we live in with so much technology, specifically with the advancement of AI, having these human interactions regularly is really important for students to understand the importance of emotional intelligence. They learn how to read body language or how to notice when someone hasn’t spoken up as much simply because no one’s called on them. They’re picking up on those cues, active listening, and asking thought-provoking questions, all things that perhaps they may not have been invited to do at a younger age. All of these things happen with R.E.A.L. Discussions with more intention, coaching, and clarity.

That’s a really good point! Thinking a bit more about what that looks like in practice: take us back to your first R.E.A.L. Discussion. What were you worried about going into it? Were there any surprises or successes that you didn’t expect?

I think the biggest worry was the buy-in from students. Like, “what are we doing here? What’s this about? Is this just another box for Mr. Munro to check?” And the biggest surprise, obviously, was the flip side: the buy-in from students – that they were like, “Hey, we actually want to do this”, or “let’s go with it. Let’s take this seriously.” Last year was my first year doing it, and those groups just blew me away. They were so willing to participate in meaningful ways that when I invited other educators and admin to come into the room, they were like, “Wait, these are seventh grade students? Is this really happening?” And I’d say, “Yeah, I know, right?” It was really on the students. I helped coach them, but the students did such a phenomenal job, and just set the bar really high. 

That is so cool to hear. Thinking about that group a bit more, was there a moment that you can remember where something really clicked for a student or they had a breakthrough?

I think it was when one student, particularly who’s on the quieter side, had one of those days where they were just dropping gems, and everyone’s like, “Oh my gosh! Where has this been?” Some of these students have been here quite a while together at Parker, and so for this student to now be speaking up in this space and providing so many great contributions to the discussion – those are the ones that always stick with you. That was really powerful because you see the growth and the courage in the moment, and then to have that validation at the end, not from a teacher, but from your peers. I mean, it’s hard to put that into words. 

“For the DQs specifically, I like them to come from the students…it gives them a bit of ownership to know that one of their questions will be what everyone in seventh grade is going to be talking about.”

ALEX MUNRO

I completely agree! Those moments make such a huge difference for those students. Thank you for sharing! Shifting a bit now to the more tactical side of things: how do you go about planning for a R.E.A.L. Discussion? Do you have any go-to DQs?

For the DQs specifically, I like them to come from the students. So what I do is I share a Google Form with all the sections, and they spend about 15 minutes putting in their questions. Then I go through and I read all of them. I pick out ones I think would generate the most discussion. It gives them that bit of ownership to know that one of their questions will be what everyone in seventh grade is going to be talking about.

Have you noticed their reactions when they realize you’ve picked their question?

Oh yeah! They’re always like, “Wait, that sounds like my question!” And I typically say, “it probably is!” There’s some overlap to a lot of the questions, definitely some similarities. But yeah, they always kind of know. 

In terms of materials for discussion, what do you feel like has worked really well, especially for a history class?

I’ll say for the Ancient Latin America class, there’s no foundational text that I use so I’m pulling from everywhere and putting those lessons together. The discussion is kind of a culmination of some of the major things we’ve talked about. For that class specifically, we look at a lot of art because for so many of those civilizations we were able to make sense of what they were saying and what they were doing through their art forms. A good question that comes up a lot is: How can we use art to understand civilizations that maybe didn’t leave us a writing system or don’t have a bunch of artifacts? How can we apply that to today? 

For the migration unit, which I’m in right now, we anchor that in the text Refugee by Alan Gratz, a young adult fiction novel regarding three youth who are migrating due to various reasons over different spans of time throughout the 20th century. That one’s really good for discussion. 

The is so powerful since students don’t always make the connections between art and what it says about a historical time period on their own. Thank you for sharing that idea! I have two more questions for you! First, what’s next for your class? What are your hopes for the seventh graders this year building on what you were able to do last year?

In-R.E.A.L.-Time Notes! Some of them are doing it already, which is great. So I’m really happy! I was flipping through some of the portfolios earlier, and they’re already doing it. I want to get all of them to feel comfortable taking IRT Notes, and I think that will just show their ability to be multi-tasking in a discussion.

It really is such a helpful thing to learn how to jot down something shorthand, rather than feel like they have to transcribe everything. That way they can stay present! Same for DQ Prep – you don’t want them to be writing full sentences that they recite verbatim. 

Yeah, and that’s always the thing! I’m always saying: just bullet points! These are ideas that you’ll come to, and they’ll help you remember what you wanted to say. 

Totally! Okay, last question: what is inspiring you right now? Do you have a favorite quote these days? 

That’s a really good question. I have a folder in my phone that I literally titled “encouragement” for those days when you’re teaching and you’re like, “What is going on?” These keep me moving through! This one I like a lot from Daisaku Ikeda. He is a Buddhist philosopher, and he wrote: 

“Life is a constant battle against deadlock. As long as we are alive, as long as we continue challenging ourselves, difficult obstacles will block our way forward. If life were all smooth sailing, if we never encountered setbacks, that, in itself, would be a sign of stagnation.”

So that’s just really helpful for me, because when things become challenging, it’s really important for me to remember I’ve experienced other moments in life that were challenging, prior to being a teacher, prior to this year. It’s just a constant in life, and it’s a sign of progress, actually, that I’m evolving, I’m developing, I’m tapping into different parts of me as a human that perhaps I haven’t tapped into in a while. And it’s really important to recognize that and have that perspective when things get really, really hard. So I always appreciate that quote from Ikeda.

That’s an awesome quote. Thank you so much, Alex! We loved talking with you and hearing about your classroom and teaching style.