Category: From the Founder

I remember the moment I began to believe in the power of R.E.A.L.® Discussion.  It was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving in 2013: Grandfriends’ Day in my eighth grade…

What Teachers Can Do to Help Students Through Moments of Polarity This summer I spoke with hundreds of teachers across nearly a dozen workshops about a near-omnipresent anxiety:…

Adults everywhere lament kids’ conversational skills (or lack thereof) – in schools, restaurants, around family dinner tables. The causes are debatable and myriad: blame iPads, TikTok, parents, politics,…

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…

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…

Back-to-school season just might be our favorite time of year here at R.E.A.L.® Discussion. Why? We have spent the summer connecting a diverse group of educators across geographies,…

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…

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…