REAL World Skills: Predictions from R.E.A.L. Students

REAL World Skills: Predictions from R.E.A.L. Students

One of the best parts of our job is seeing how the skills students learn from the R.E.A.L.® program directly affect their performance in class and elsewhere. Our dashboards allow us to gain insight into how students grow in multiple ways — in how they participate in class, in their comfort in expressing themselves, in…

Meet Me in the Middle: A Conversation with Ellie Walsh-Moots

Meet Me in the Middle: A Conversation with Ellie Walsh-Moots

Ellie Walsh-Moots is a Social Studies teacher, former department chair (and Jeopardy! Teachers Tournament quarterfinalist!) who lives in Nashville, Tennessee. She is passionate about studying middle leadership – that is, the experience of school leaders who maintain teaching responsibilities – within schools. A Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Grantee, Ellie spent part of 2022 researching…

Cotter’s Blotter: Introverts, Civility, and the Power of “And”

Cotter’s Blotter: Introverts, Civility, and the Power of “And”

by Cotter Donnell Welcome to the latest installment of Cotter’s Blotter, a recurring 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…

How to Help Adolescents Navigate the “Digital Infinity”

How to Help Adolescents Navigate the “Digital Infinity”

Balancing life on and off “screen” is a defining project of what it means to be human in today’s tech-centric world. Questions abound: can you build fulfilling relationships fully on-screen? How “real” is your digital presence? How much do influencers influence your life? How do you appreciate the world in front of you when virtually…

Building Confidence and Conversation Culture: A Case Study with Girls Preparatory School

Building Confidence and Conversation Culture: A Case Study with Girls Preparatory School

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!

Cotter’s Blotter: Learning Loss, Stellar Teachers, and SEL

Cotter’s Blotter: Learning Loss, Stellar Teachers, and SEL

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…

A Gen-Z Response to ChatGPT

A Gen-Z Response to ChatGPT

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?…