It’s been a BIG year at REAL! Read more in our Annual Report
Want to build a discussion skills program?
Information & Inspiration
from real teachers, real students & real research
Empowering girls to use their voices has always been mission-critical for Girls Preparatory School (GPS), an independent day school for girls in grades 6-12 based in Chattanooga, TN. We partnered with GPS to create a school-wide Conversation Culture that would activate voices throughout the entire community. Read on to learn more!
by Dr. Ralph Covino They say that no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. Such was the case with my first set of R.E.A.L.® Discussions. To prepare, my girls had gone through each of the skills and – conceptually anyway – knew how to Relate, Excerpt, Ask, and Listen, understood the pass-off protocol, and…
by Cotter Donnell Welcome to the latest installment of Cotter’s Blotter, a biweekly blog post where I share some of the education resources, interesting ideas, and captivating questions we’re thinking about at R.E.A.L.® Here’s a quick roundup of some of the ideas that have been on my mind and some of the things we’ve been…
Since OpenAI launched its groundbreaking ChatGPT AI chatbot in late November, the education world has been abuzz. Will such a sophisticated language model negate the need for writing instruction? Will it completely upend the road rules surrounding paper-writing and exam-taking? Will it further alienate tech-dependent students who may already feel distanced from the “real” world?…
Thank you to Weesie Cook for sharing her REAL life with us! Weesie is an English teacher at McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Here are her thoughts on discussion, R.E.A.L.®, and learning. Hometown: I live in my hometown in Chattanooga. I went to GPS (Girls Preparatory School), which is the sister school to McCallie. So,…
by Cotter Donnell Welcome to Cotter’s Blotter– a biweekly blog post where I share some of the education resources, interesting ideas, and captivating questions we’re thinking about at R.E.A.L.® I hope you find them inspiring and thought-provoking. Artificial Intelligence and a More Hopeful Future Anyone paying attention to current discussion in the field of education…
I feel like I need to preface this post with a disclaimer (which I encourage students – especially girls – never to do). But here goes: I am an optimist. No one has ever accused me of not being idealistic enough, not seeing the sunny side, not hunting the good. I’d even say that I…
Thank you to Helene Sughrue for sharing her REAL life with us! Helene is an English teacher at Tabor Academy in Marion, Massachusetts. Here are her thoughts on discussion, R.E.A.L.®, and learning. Hometown: Marion, MA Current City, School, Teaching Assignments: Marion, Tabor Academy, English 2, English 2 Honors, Advanced Topics: Rhetoric and Composition. Describe yourself…
At Blair Academy, a co-ed boarding school in Blairstown, New Jersey, relationships are everywhere: in the classroom, on athletic fields, in studios and dormitories, and around dining hall tables. These relationships require robust, real conversations — and in order to thrive at Blair, students must develop strong in-person communication skills. We partnered with Blair to…
At R.E.A.L.® we’re big believers in the power of conversation. Yet in 2022, our org-wide resolution was to listen more – and talk less. So what did we hear? One message was loud and clear: R.E.A.L.® is about so much more than class discussion. A sixth grader told us it’s about “becoming a civilized being.” A ninth grader said…
Want better discussion? We do.
join us + get your
free resource
