Gen Z Thoughts on Technology & Mental Health

Gen Z Thoughts on Technology & Mental Health

We talk – often – about the negative ramifications today’s teens face of living in a screen-bound world. We postulate about the impact of ever-increasing screen time and ever-improving technology on teens’ mental health, their attention spans, and their conversation skills. We theorize about kids’ “addictions” to their phones, to social media, to screens.  As…

Why Teacher Intelligence Will Always Trump AI: A Conversation with Sarah Hanawald
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Why Teacher Intelligence Will Always Trump AI: A Conversation with Sarah Hanawald

Sarah Hanawald is the Senior Director of the Association for Academic Leaders at One Schoolhouse, a partner in innovation to independent schools around the world. What follows is a conversation between Sarah and R.E.A.L.® Founder Liza Garonzik. This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity. Liza: Sarah, thanks for being with us today. We are…

Interview with Rob Barnett: Modern Classrooms

Interview with Rob Barnett: Modern Classrooms

Rob Barnett is the co-founder of Modern Classrooms Project, a teacher-created, research-backed instructional model that helps teachers respond to every student’s individual needs. What follows is a conversation between Rob and R.E.A.L. Discussion founder Liza Garonzik, which has been lightly edited for clarity.  Liza: Rob, we’re so excited to be speaking with you today. Tell…

Want to Teach Civil Discourse? Break it Down into Civility, Discourse, and Civics

Want to Teach Civil Discourse? Break it Down into Civility, Discourse, and Civics

As we head into 2024, “Civil Discourse” is a buzzword – and for good reason. The next Presidential election cycle looms large. Many campuses are still recovering from the hydra-headed ways politics ravaged their communities in 2020.  The most strategic school leaders I know are taking a proactive approach, asking: How can we use ’23-24…

REAL Teacher Feature: Kennia Reddrick

REAL Teacher Feature: Kennia Reddrick

Thank you to Kennia Reddrick for sharing her REAL life with us! Kennia is a sixth grade reaching teacher at The Dexter Southfield School in Chestnut Hill, MA. Here are her thoughts on discussion, R.E.A.L.®, and learning. Hometown: Foxborough, MA Current City, School, Teaching Assignments: I currently live in Foxborough, but I’m teaching sixth grade…

Why Discussion Matters for Mattering: How to Teach Students the Power of Speaking & Listening

Why Discussion Matters for Mattering: How to Teach Students the Power of Speaking & Listening

For many teachers, class discussion is a chance to dive into content: to unearth new meaning in a text, debate the impact of a historical event, draw connections among ideas.  At R.E.A.L.® we believe all of those things are true – but in today’s world, class discussion serves an even more important purpose: it may…

REAL Teacher Feature: Brendan Flanagan

REAL Teacher Feature: Brendan Flanagan

Thank you to Brendan Flanagan for sharing his REAL life with us! Brendan is an English teacher at Gill St. Bernard’s School in Chester, NJ. Here are his thoughts on discussion, R.E.A.L.®, and learning. Hometown: Middletown, NJ Current City, School, Teaching Assignments: AP Language & Composition, English 10, and Digital Literacy at Gill St. Bernard’s…

Combatting Polarization with Conversation: An Interview with CDI

Combatting Polarization with Conversation: An Interview with CDI

Mylien Duong is the Senior Director of Research at the Constructive Dialogue Institute. What follows is a conversation between Mylien and R.E.A.L.® founder Liza Garonzik about CDI’s groundbreaking new report on Polarization in K-12 Classrooms. This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.  Liza: Tell us, what is the Constructive Dialogue Institute? Where did it…