Information & Inspiration from real teachers, real students & real research
One of the best parts of R.E.A.L.® Discussion is our intern program. As we work tirelessly to create meaningful, usable, research-backed programming for Gen-Z students, we have on our team a slate of bright, passionate Gen-Z college students who help our company run. Unlike some other internships, ours embraces, empowers, and relies upon interns –…
Susanne Carpenter is the founder and principal at Carpenter Leadership, a leadership consulting and executive coaching firm that helps leaders and leadership teams become high-performing and strategy-focused. What follows is a conversation between Susanne and R.E.A.L. ® Founder Liza Garonzik. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity. Liza: Susanne, we’re so excited to have…
Today, we’re thrilled to welcome Peter Nilsson — AI expert, seasoned school leader, and diehard humanities teacher — to the blog. A prolific writer, Pete has spilled much ink discussing the role and purpose of in-class education in an AI world — and he’s bullish on the part school still has to play, even amid…
Thank you to Sydney Freibaum & Jennifer Cordero for sharing their REAL lives with us! Sydney and Jennifer are sixth grade teachers at Hutchison School in Memphis, TN. Here are their thoughts on discussion, R.E.A.L.®, and learning. Names/Hometowns: Sydney Freibaum, Memphis Jennifer Cordero, Memphis Current School: Hutchison Middle School, where Sydney teaches sixth grade English…
How students who would rather talk than text imagine discussion in their futures We talk often about the “why” behind our work. We’re passionate about teaching discussion skills because we believe they define humanity – that they’re critical for success in the classroom, the cafeteria, or around the kitchen table. In our tech-centric world, conversation…
At R.E.A.L. ®, we are big on listening! Over the past two years, we’ve listened to our partner schools, and we’ve heard one repeated thing loud and clear: we shouldn’t wait until middle school to teach students discussion skills. We listened, and we agreed. But per usual, we had a lot of follow-up questions. What…
by Harriet Piercy Harriet Piercy has taught English at London secondary schools since 2015 and held a number of roles as a curriculum leader. She is currently joint head of the English faculty at Haggerston School in Hackney. She was recently a Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching scholar at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, undertaking…
Dr. Sarah Bennison is the co-founder and CEO of the Mattering Movement, an organization focused on combating the pandemic of loneliness and despair—that is, a widespread mattering deficit—that’s harming today’s youth. What follows is a conversation between Sarah and R.E.A.L. Founder Liza Garonzik. This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity. Liza: Welcome, Sarah, we’re…
Dr. Ruth Braunstein is the founder of The Meanings of Democracy Lab at the University of Connecticut. The lab engages students and partners in collaborative research and discussion about the contested moral and cultural foundations of American democratic life. What follows is a conversation between Ruth and R.E.A.L. Director of Program Emily Gromoll. The interview…
Over 2,000 students in grades 6-11 responded to the student survey we sent following the first R.E.A.L.® cycle of the 2023-2024 school year. The results were fascinating! While we saw some expected areas of growth – we usually see students master “Excerpting” early, and we did once again! – we also noticed some surprising patterns…
