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AI is on everyone’s mind – and teachers are no exception. The recent rise in generative AI has educators undergoing somewhat of an existential crisis. If computers are smart enough to write an essay, to analyze text, and to draw connections and conclusions among various sources, what’s left for students to do? If teens have…
In what feels like a divided, screenbound world, here’s something I think most Americans would agree on: we need to re-learn how to talk (and listen) to each other. How can we do that? One step would be to make the instruction of conversation skills a national priority. Why? Discussion skills are democracy skills. They…
Thank you to Patrick Farmer for sharing his REAL life with us! Patrick is a reading/language arts and social studies teacher at Nativity Preparatory School in Boston, Massachusetts. Here are his thoughts on discussion, R.E.A.L.®, and learning. Current City, School, Teaching Assignments: 6th grade Reading/Language Arts and Social Studies Lead Teacher at Nativity Preparatory School…
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…
Thank you to Callie Hammond for sharing her REAL life with us! Callie is an English teacher at Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart in Houston, Texas. Here are her thoughts on discussion, R.E.A.L.®, and learning. Hometown: Concord, NC Current City, School, Teaching Assignments: Houston, Texas at Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart. Currently a…
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,…
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…
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