R.E.A.L.® Discussion, a social enterprise on a mission to teach discussion skills to young people growing up in our tech-centric, polarized world, today announced that Dr. Sidra Smith will join the organization as Director of the Independent School Program. In this role, Dr. Smith will serve as the face of the organization in the K-12…
Duncan Flaherty is a fifth and sixth grade math teacher at Nashoba Brooks School in Concord, MA. This year he is conducting an action research project through a fellowship with the International Coalition of Girls Schools (ICGS) on how using R.E.A.L.® Discussion in math class can be a lever for improving girls’ feelings of self-efficacy….
It’s been another fantastic year at R.E.A.L.® Discussion! As 2024 draws to a close, we’re taking a look back at what we published and learned on the blog this year. Here’s our Destination: Discussion 2024 year in review. We are so grateful to you for making your way to our corner of the Internet, reading…
When we started R.E.A.L.® Discussion, our original program was geared toward high school-aged students. As R.E.A.L.® grew, we listened to and learned from educators who said they wished their high school students had this kind of training earlier – and consequently, we added programming to support discussion skills scaffolding in Middle School. We kept listening,…
a Guest Post by Robert Barnett What can machines do better than humans? And what can humans do better than machines? In the world of AI, this is a question on many people’s minds. And for those of us in education, it feels particularly relevant. Teaching has always been a fundamentally human endeavor, and the…
Spencer Burrows is the Equity and Civic Engagement Coordinator and 11th Grade Dean at Pacific Ridge School in Carlsbad, CA. What follows is a conversation between Spencer and R.E.A.L.® founder Liza Garonzik. This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity. Liza: Spencer, we are so excited to have you here. You are so committed to…
This week, we’re featuring a team of teachers from St. Catherine’s School in Richmond, VA: Maggie Nunn, who teaches eighth grade Civics and US Government, and Julie Elmore, who teaches eighth grade English. How do you kick off R.E.A.L.® in your classroom? What are some of the intro moves you make? What did you do…
by Dr. Ralph Covino Much has, obviously, been written about the dawn of the AI era with all the wild speculations about how AI will change the face of education as we know it. Some predict it will not only revolutionize education, but eliminate some sectors of it; they may well be right and only…
Last week, we were thrilled to welcome friend-of-R.E.A.L.® Jeff Wetzler to give a keynote presentation to our intrepid R.E.A.L.® educators. Jeff, the former Chief Learning Officer of Teach for America, is the co-founder of Transcend, an organization that strives to support school communities as they create extraordinary, equitable learning environments, and the author of Ask:…
by Emily Gromoll and Izzy Guiliano One of the ways teachers (and students) gauge growth in discussion skills as part of the R.E.A.L.® Discussion process is through the Student Survey and R.E.A.L.® Data Dashboard. Prior to starting R.E.A.L.® and every three discussions thereafter, students take a short, anonymized survey in which they report on their comfort…