by Sidra Smith, PhD Sidra Smith, Head of Professional Learning at R.E.A.L. Discussion, shares her perspective as an educator and leader who has spent years designing and leading faculty summer reading experiences across schools—and now supports teams in turning those experiences into meaningful, schoolwide professional learning. For many years, spring marked my “summer reading” season….
Thank you to Maggie Iuni for sharing her R.E.A.L. life with us! Maggie is an English teacher at Berkeley Carroll School in Brooklyn, NY. We loved hearing about Maggie’s experience using R.E.A.L. to help her students grow their curiosity and perspective-taking, and discover their own “why” when it comes to learning discussion skills. Name: Margaret…
Explore 4 challenges shaping Gen Z and Gen Alpha learners today—and how schools can rebuild communication and discussion skills in an AI-driven world.
School leaders and teachers see the Conversation Crisis every day. Students arrive academically capable, but when it is time to engage in real discussion, something happens. Participation feels risky. Silence feels safer. Community breaks down. It is the predictable result of a screen-saturated, polarized, AI-shaped world. Enter Conversation Comeback.: A Teacher’s Guide to Class Discussion…
On The Purpose and Practice of K-12 Humanities Teaching in Today’s World, Co-written by Humanities Educators | 2026 Schools are moving quickly to adopt AI. New policies are being drafted. New tools are being piloted. Professional development is focused on integration and regulation. All of this work matters. But as the AI conversation accelerates, something…
Thank you to Anastacia Ike-Foreman for sharing her R.E.A.L. life with us! Anastacia is a seventh and tenth-grade English teacher at Tarbut V’Torah Community Day School (TVT) in Irvine, CA. She shared her perspective that listening is the heart of discussion and that structured dialogue helps her students move beyond black‑and‑white thinking toward more nuanced…
I recently found myself nodding enthusiastically as I was reading Sian Leah Beilock’s article in The Atlantic, “Teach Students How to Think, Not What to Think.” Beilock, a cognitive scientist and the president of Dartmouth College, argues that higher education should focus less on ideology and more on helping students develop the skills to think…
Sidra D. Smith, Ph.D. | R.E.A.L.® Discussion | Director, Independent Schools Program After many years as a school leader, this fall looks different for me. I am not walking into opening faculty meetings or greeting families at back-to-school night. Instead, in my new role supporting R.E.A.L.® Discussion, I spent the summer with hundreds of educators…
It’s been fun to see other founders share the “unhinged” things they have done to build their businesses. But to me, this trend is more than entertainment. It’s an example of authentic interaction in a world that is increasingly AI-dominated, and I’m a relentless champion for human connection.
So, what are some of the “unhinged” things I have done to build R.E.A.L.® Discussion?
Liza Garonzik featured on Millions of Conversations television show and podcast What happens when we teach young people to truly listen, speak with courage, and connect face-to-face? In Episode 8 of Millions of Conversations, hosted by Samar S. Ali and produced by NewsChannel 5 Network, Liza Garonzik joins the show to explore that big, deceptively…