Great schools

have real conversations.

In a screen-bound world, face-to-face conversation is hard.

But it’s important—and teachable.

We’re here to help you teach it.

OUR CORE BELIEF

Conversation is mission-critical for schools.

It is at the heart of learning, belonging, well-being, and leadership. It’s how work gets done and relationships get built, in and beyond the classroom. 

Yet, for kids growing up in our tech-centric world, face-to-face conversation has become hard and scary. Today’s students struggle with the basics: expressing themselves, engaging different viewpoints, listening deeply, reading non-verbal cues. These are skills for learning — and life. 

This is not “just a covid thing” … the decline in in-person social skills is a trend researchers have documented for a decade: a predictable opportunity cost of more time spent on screens. It’s not about to get better. 

For teachers facing a tech-centric world, in-class learning – which relies on conversation – is becoming even more important. In an AI era, teachers need new tools for explicitly teaching – and equitably assessing – the human skills that robots can’t replace. At the top of the list? The oral and social skills students learn through live discussion. 

The good news? These skills are age-old (thanks @Socrates), future-proof (hey @AI) — and absolutely teachable. But they must be intentionally taught! 

At R.E.A.L.® we partner with future-focused school leaders to build mission-aligned programs for teaching and celebrating conversation skills on campus. We call it cultivating “Conversation Culture.” 

Together, we can

  • Align Conversation Culture to your school’s mission and strategic priorities and educate the entire faculty and staff on its urgency — and timelessness;
  • Equip Humanities faculty as experts in Conversation Culture: using the R.E.A.L.® Discussion method to build and monitor students’ growth in communication skills, belonging, and sense of purpose in grades 5-10.
  • Train staff leaders to build Conversation Culture with tools to run meetings that restore nuance, build trust, and make all voices heard; 
  • Invite parents, trustees, or alumni to join the effort to celebrate the enduring power of Conversation Culture – as feels right for your school.

Training faculty in R.E.A.L.® as part of developing Conversation Culture across campus is one of the most compelling and actionable ways any school that aspires to deliver on its promise of inclusion and belonging can prepare our youth to communicate effectively – and respectfully – across differences.
Dr. Margarita Curtis
Former Head of School, Deerfield Academy (MA)
Partner, Strategic School Leadership
Build Your School’s
Conversation Culture Strategy Today

Our School Partners

Group of students with teacher

Our Story

It all started during second period. Yet another discussion fell flat – the same kids spoke up, sat back, eye-rolled, panicked – and Humanities teacher Liza Garonzik realized that the Gen-Z students in her class lacked the in-person communication skills they needed to talk and trust each other. 

Liza knew that discussion skills are critical for learning and life – and wanted her students to thrive even as they grew up in a screen-bound, cancel-culture world. So she spent a decade working with experts, teachers, and Gen-Z students to develop R.E.A.L.®: the first research-backed method for explicitly teaching and equitably assessing in-person discussion skills. 

Today, R.E.A.L.® has several programs for teaching discussion skills and ultimately building Conversation Culture, used by thousands of students, hundreds of teachers, and dozens of teams across diverse schools. The results speak for themselves.

Our Story

It all started during second period. Yet another discussion fell flat – the same kids spoke up, sat back, eye-rolled, panicked – and Humanities teacher Liza Garonzik realized that the Gen-Z students in her class lacked the in-person communication skills they needed to talk and trust each other. 

Group of students with teacher

Liza knew that discussion skills are critical for learning and life – and wanted her students to thrive even as they grew up in a screen-bound, cancel-culture world. So she spent a decade working with experts, teachers, and Gen-Z students to develop R.E.A.L.®: the first research-backed method for explicitly teaching and equitably assessing in-person discussion skills. 

Today, R.E.A.L.® has several programs for teaching discussion skills and ultimately building Conversation Culture, used by thousands of students, hundreds of teachers, and dozens of teams across diverse schools. The results speak for themselves. 

The R.E.A.L.® approach has been featured by:

PROGRAM PREVIEW

R.E.A.L.® Discussion For Humanities Classes

R.E.A.L.® Discussion is a method for explicitly teaching and equitably assessing in-person discussion skills within the context of a Humanities class.

It has been used by hundreds of teachers across independent schools.

The results speak for themselves.


98%

of teachers would recommend R.E.A.L.® to a colleague


96%

of students see R.E.A.L. skills as useful beyond the classroom


98%

of students report more confidence in speaking up in discussion


96%

of students listen more actively to their peers


94%

of students show a growth mindset towards discussion


5

The top five words teachers use to describe R.E.A.L. PD :
Practical, Innovative, Fun/Funny, Motivating, Helpful

Stories from R.E.A.L.® teachers

“Breaking the mystery of discussion into teachable, learnable skills”

Patrick, Middle School Humanities

“Democratizing the classroom in a beautiful way”

Pam, Upper School History

“Game-changer for communication and community in my class”

Linda, Upper School History

“I know my students – and they know each other – so much better”

Kay & Liz, Upper School Religion

Next steps

Ready to build Conversation Culture?