AI, Systems-Thinking, and Discussion: An Interview with R.E.A.L. Faculty Advisory Council Member Ralph Covino

Ralph Covino is the Humanities Coordinator at Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga, TN. He has been using R.E.A.L.® Discussion programs with his seventh grade history students since 2022. 

Catherine: Thank you for joining me today! We often like to start off thinking back to your own time in school. How would you describe yourself as a student in three words?

Ralph: Solid B-plus. Even though I coasted for a while, the skills I developed—especially language and critical thinking—served me well. I started learning foreign languages in seventh grade, which is the grade I now teach. I continued through college—Spanish, then Latin, then Greek. That gave me a huge leg-up in grad school where most of my peers didn’t even have Latin or Greek.

Catherine: Do you have a particular interest in students who are coasting now? Do you try to push them?

Ralph: Yes, definitely. I don’t buy into the cliché of “be the teacher you needed.” I had great teachers. But I think kids have an intuitive sense of who “gets” them. They know which teachers are on their side, even if the grades don’t always reflect it.

Catherine: Shifting gears—what education trends are you most excited about, nationally or at GPS?

Ralph: Right now, it’s all about AI. When the President starts talking about $500 billion going into AI and the possibility of personalized medicine, it’s obvious this is going to affect education massively.

I was lucky—just before ChatGPT went public, I was in a course at Vanderbilt with a professor of emerging educational tech who gave us a heads-up. Since then, I’ve tried to be an early adopter.

AI can give near-instant, high-quality feedback. That’s huge. If I get 82 essays that are seven pages each, it’ll take me a few days to return feedback. But AI can do it immediately. So now we have to ask: Do we start with AI-generated writing and then focus on tweaking and improving it?

I’m especially interested in vocabulary. Prompt engineering requires precision. Recently, my students kept using the word “inhumane” when describing bad emperors in ancient China. I asked them to define it, and they struggled. Later in the discussion, one student said “untruthfulness” when she meant “liar.” These are vocabulary gaps that we have to address—because their ability to use the AI effectively depends on it.

Colleges are split. Some are going back to blue books and pencil-and-paper. Others assume AI is the starting point. We have to prepare students for both realities.

I’m also excited about the personalization and differentiation AI allows—having multiple strands of learning in one classroom. And monitoring tools. Right now, I use the R.E.A.L. routine of IRT Notes to track who’s being heard or overlooked in discussions. But imagine doing that in real time—seeing instantly who needs more engagement? That would be game-changing.

Our school is always going to be relationship-driven, but if AI can help us support our students more effectively, then that’s a win.

Catherine:
In today’s world—AI and otherwise—what do you see as the power of R.E.A.L. Discussion?

Ralph:
Here’s a great example: A mom emailed me recently because her daughter and seven friends were at a birthday party. They were supposed to go to a local arcade museum, but it got canceled due to a burst pipe. The mom didn’t know what to do, so she asked the girls what they wanted to do instead, and she left them alone to talk about it. When she came back to the table, they were taking turns speaking, using our hand signals from R.E.A.L. Discussion. She had never seen that before and was amazed.

The girls explained it—how everyone gets heard, how they make decisions as a group. That’s the power of it. Especially for this generation that missed out on key social development years due to COVID, R.E.A.L. Discussion gives them the tools to interact thoughtfully and equitably.

Some kids pick that up intuitively, but others need direct instruction. R.E.A.L. provides that. It teaches them how to listen, how to recognize voices that aren’t being heard, and how to engage meaningfully.

Catherine: Thinking specifically about your classroom—when you get those students in seventh grade, what are your hopes for them by the end of the year when it comes to discussion?

Ralph: My hope is that, by the end of the year, discussion becomes second nature to them. I want them to be so comfortable with the system they’ve been taught that they don’t even need to focus on the mechanics anymore.

Those first few discussions are all about figuring out the hand signals, aggressively agreeing with each other, stressing about note-taking—it’s chaotic. I’ll say things like, “Yes, when you talk about your dog, that is relating to real life—give yourself an R.”

But by the end of the year, I want them to feel confident enough that even if a science teacher says, “Hey, let’s have a discussion,” they know what to do. They may not go through the entire R.E.A.L. protocol, but the core skills are there, and they’ll carry those through the rest of their academic career.

But by the end of the year, I want them to feel confident enough that even if a science teacher says, “Hey, let’s have a discussion,” they know what to do. They may not go through the entire R.E.A.L. protocol, but the core skills are there, and they’ll carry those through the rest of their academic career.

RAlph Covnio

My seminar class focuses on writing papers and giving presentations in front of an audience. That confidence begins in seventh grade. Same with research skills—when we start digging into challenging texts like excerpts from The Analects of Confucius, they’re learning how to process complex information.

Now with AI, I’ve taught them how to use it as a tool—to make sense of texts, extract key ideas, and support their thinking. They have to do the prep work, highlight excerpts, annotate them—and that directly sets them up for writing essays. Even though they’re just learning about adjectives and adverbs in English class, they begin to see how building a paragraph isn’t such a big leap.

I love those “a-ha” moments—when a student realizes, Oh, this isn’t too hard. I know how to do this. That’s what R.E.A.L. preparation looks like.

We put “Preparatory” in our school’s name for a reason—we mean it. We’re preparing them for that moment when they’re a college freshman, asked to write an essay on the spot while everyone else is panicking. That’s when the whole package pays off.

And I think R.E.A.L.came at exactly the right time—post-pandemic, when we needed to reinforce that every girl’s voice has meaning and value. And now, even better, their ideas are backed by evidence: girls say, “I believe this, and here’s why.” 

And I think R.E.A.L. came at exactly the right time—post-pandemic, when we needed to reinforce that every girl’s voice has meaning and value. And now, even better, their ideas are backed by evidence: girls say, “I believe this, and here’s why.” 

ralph covino

Catherine: If someone knew absolutely nothing about R.E.A.L., what would you tell them?

Ralph: R.E.A.L. is a system. And if you’re into systems thinking, it’s a vital part of building a classroom where your goal is to help students match claims with evidence—and build the confidence to express those ideas, first out loud, and later in writing.

But you have to be all in. Like with any system, you can’t just pick and choose. It’s not a salad bar—you can’t say, “We’re only going to work on listening and relating, but we’ll skip excerpting.” No. You need to commit, otherwise you don’t get the full experience. 

In my classroom, R.E.A.L. falls right in the middle of every unit. It’s the beating heart of the structure. They prep for it, they have the discussion, they reflect on it—it’s a full cycle.

If I were talking to someone brand new, I’d say: R.E.A.L. is a vessel. It delivers a specific set of skills in a process that’s relatively easy to learn and incredibly valuable once it becomes habitual.

Catherine:
That is a great description! 

Ralph:
The funny thing is, even though R.E.A.L. is this system, we all use it differently. Eamon in ninth grade, Weesie in sixth, me in seventh—we operate in completely different contexts. Even though we’re technically all following the same system – using the same language, routines, portfolios, metrics, there’s a lot of flexibility.

In one class, I don’t even break them into pods—we do full-class discussions because it works. In another class, we go half-and-half, because a big group just can’t stay on topic.

It’s flexible in what we talk about, too. We use R.E.A.L. to discuss everything—from advisory topics like where we’re going to lunch, to ancient world debates like “Who was the best pharaoh?” or “What’s the best way to maintain power?”

And it’s predictable. Middle schoolers thrive when they know what’s coming and can practice. It reduces anxiety, which is a major challenge. One thing people don’t talk about enough is the value in repetition. It’s not boring – kids love it. They see their own progress and I see it too, especially when their R.E.A.L. Student Survey responses display on my Teacher Dashboard. dashboard.

Middle schoolers thrive when they know what’s coming and can practice. It reduces anxiety, which is a major challenge. One thing people don’t talk about enough is the value in repetition. It’s not boring – kids love it. They see their own progress and I see it too, especially when their R.E.A.L. Student Survey responses display on my Teacher Dashboard. dashboard.

Ralph Covino

I never thought I would need or want data about my class discussions – but that data is amazing. It’s not about who talks and how much. It shows exactly how much the needle has moved. I can tell stories all day, but then I can show the numbers—like, “Here’s what happened with the introverts.” They’ve become confident that when they want to speak, they will be heard. They have found their voice.

Catherine: Thank you so much Ralph. I really appreciate your time. You’re always so thoughtful, and it’s just wonderful talking with you.