3 Tips for Handling ChatGPT in Your Class Discussions

3 Tips for Handling ChatGPT in Your Class Discussions

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…

Reading, Writing…and Talking: What if America Had a National Conversation Skills Curriculum?

Reading, Writing…and Talking: What if America Had a National Conversation Skills Curriculum?

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…

Cotter’s Blotter: Reflection, Emotional Wellness, and “The Four Pivots”

Cotter’s Blotter: Reflection, Emotional Wellness, and “The Four Pivots”

by Cotter Donnell The end of the academic year always feels so full – full of fun events, big emotions, and new ideas. I don’t know about you, but my mind has been running in overdrive for the last few weeks! Here are a few things that have caught my attention. Enjoy! Making time for…

R.E.A.L. Teacher Feature: Patrick Farmer

R.E.A.L. Teacher Feature: Patrick Farmer

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…

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

Cotter’s Blotter: AI, Black History Month, & Future-Proof Skills

Cotter’s Blotter: AI, Black History Month, & Future-Proof Skills

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…

Skills for “The Good Life”: Today’s Kids Don’t (Yet) Have Them

Skills for “The Good Life”: Today’s Kids Don’t (Yet) Have Them

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…

REAL Teacher Feature: Helene Sughrue

REAL Teacher Feature: Helene Sughrue

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…

Teaching the Art of Effective Communication: A Case Study with Blair Academy

Teaching the Art of Effective Communication: A Case Study with Blair Academy

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…

What We Wish Adults Knew About How Gen Z Communicates

What We Wish Adults Knew About How Gen Z Communicates

Gen Z. iGen. Zoomers.  Whatever they’re called, members of the generation currently ascending into adulthood are often characterized by their affinity for and reliance on technology. This makes sense: born sometime between the late 90s and early 2010s, members of Gen Z are the first to have grown up in a fully connected world.  That…

Discussion Dashboards: Fall Recap & Looking Forward

Discussion Dashboards: Fall Recap & Looking Forward

by Emily Gromoll, Director of Program We began this school year excited to launch R.E.A.L. Discussion Dashboards, our new action research tool, but we were not sure what to expect. We hoped for a few things: first, that we could learn more about which areas – namely, discussion skills, sense of belonging, growth mindset, etc….

Our Why

Our Why

At R.E.A.L.® Discussion, we believe in the power of conversation to change a life and to change the world. That sounds dramatic, but it starts with science. We know that: >> Conversation is a uniquely human capacity. Monkeys and robots can communicate, but only humans can use conversation to interview grandpa, triage a patient, engage…