R.E.A.L. Discussion (R.E.A.L.) is a research-based program designed to equip students with the skills they need to have face-to-face discussions. Discussion skills are a crucial lever for improving learning outcomes, increasing engagement, and building a sense of belonging in the classroom. R.E.A.L. partners with schools to design a discussion skills strategy that integrates with the existing curriculum.
Most schools use R.E.A.L. Discussion in ELA and Social Studies classes across multiple grade levels. At the foundation of the program are four standards-aligned discussion skills: Relate, Excerpt, Ask, Listen (hence the acronym “R.E.A.L.”). The program equips teachers with the common language, classroom routines, assessment tools, and student-facing materials they need to explicitly teach and intentionally measure discussion skills. Ultimately, R.E.A.L. ensures that class discussion is rigorous, equitable, and metacognitive—and that students build the face-to-face communication skills they need to succeed in “real” life beyond the classroom.
Built by teachers for teachers, R.E.A.L. has worked with more than 70 schools impacting students in grades 2–12. To support schools, R.E.A.L. offers customized programming built around four components: front-end design and consulting, teacher and facilitator training, student materials, and impact assessment. R.E.A.L. Discussion: Our WHY R.E.A.L. Discussion at Nativity Prep
What Makes This Model Innovative?
Social Responsibility & Action
Affirmation of Self & Others
Connection & Community
Related Models
Bard Sequence
The Bard Sequence model offers high-school students the opportunity to earn transferable college credits at no cost and build the confidence to successfully transition to higher education.
Bard Sequence
Bard Sequence is an opportunity for high schools to provide 11th and 12th grade students with engaging, meaningful early college experiences prior to graduation without any financial risk. The model gives students the experience of taking in-person or virtual college courses in a more student-centered, responsive way that helps them develop critical knowledge, skills, confidence, and momentum toward the postsecondary paths of their choosing. Students leave the program with an official Bard College transcript that allows them to transfer their credits to a wide range of institutions of higher education.
In partnership with schools, Bard Sequence, commonly referred to as Sequence, focuses on serving first-generation college students, low-income students, and students from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds. As a dual enrollment program offered in virtual and in-person formats, it gives students from around the nation access to high-quality, experienced, Bard-trained college teachers. They also have access to the liberal arts education that is a hallmark of Bard College, which seeks to prepare students not for a specific vocation but for encountering the world as critical, innovative, informed thinkers.
Sequence works closely with school and district administrators and teachers to make sure it fits into the particular structure and culture of an individual school. Sequence is never a “one size fits all” partnership; rather, it is a collaborative, ongoing relationship whose success—measured by the success and confidence of students—depends upon details and communication.
Launched in 2019, Sequence has expanded from 2 partnerships in the New York/New Jersey area to serve over 15 partner high schools across 8 metro areas and 4 states. Bard Sequence Overview
Self-Directed Learning
The Forest School’s Self-Directed Learning model empowers learners to take ownership of their learning, supporting them to set meaningful goals, uphold community agreements, exercise their voice and choice in the learning process, and engage in real-world work.
Self-Directed Learning
The Self-Directed Learning model was designed to give young people agency over their learning, guiding them to flourish and find a calling that will transform our world. The model embraces highly personalized, hands-on learning with real-world work in service of supporting young people to become curious, independent thinkers with a lifelong love of learning. Learners develop a wide range of skills that underpin self-direction—learning to learn, learning to be, learning to do, and learning to live together. The model centers around five key experiences, which are largely learner-led. Under the model, learners engage in Socratic discussions, challenge their peers to set rigorous daily goals, work on traditional academic disciplines at their own pace, practice self-governance, and tackle real problems through Quests.
Five schools have adopted the Self-Directed Learning model, and over 80 partners have gone through The Forest School and the Self-Directed Learning Institute’s workshops or trainings to design and build their own models. The Forest School and the Self-Directed Learning Institute offer 1:1 coaching and consulting, professional development, cohort learning communities, and resource toolkits to schools interested in implementing their approach.
Goals
R.E.A.L. Discussion helps build students’ communication skills so they can engage in deeper learning and foster confidence, a sense of purpose, and belonging in the classroom.
In-Person Communication
Students learn communication skills that help them know how to listen actively enough to take notes, facilitate discussions for inclusive participation, and contribute with affirmation and curiosity.
Belonging
Students recognize and value all voices during discussions, including their own.
Purpose
Students see discussion skills as valuable “moves” that they can use in conversations outside the classroom.
Self-Confidence
Students develop skills that help them see themselves as effective participants and contributors in classroom discussions.
Experience
In the R.E.A.L. Discussion program, students learn, practice, and reflect on what goes into great discussion, both from an individual and a group perspective. This “demystifies” discussion and structures all students for success. R.E.A.L. helps students develop the language, skills, and routines to use for discussions in school and life beyond it.
To begin the R.E.A.L. Discussion, students are introduced to four fundamental discussion skills—Relate, Excerpt, Ask, and Listen—through a series of mini-lessons aligned to texts and topics currently used in class. Each student receives a R.E.A.L. Discussion Portfolio to guide the year-long learning process. Through short, applicable lessons in their Portfolios, students learn how to see these skills as “moves” they can make to be effective participants in discussions.
For instance, students practice different ways they can use the Relate skill during a discussion, first by creating connections between the text being studied and themselves, the world, and other texts they have studied. Then they learn how to create connections with their peers’ ideas by agreeing, disagreeing, compromising, or even complicating ideas shared in discussions.
These introductory mini-lessons help students build up a toolkit with specific ways they can use each skill and the effect that those “moves” have on a discussion. Beyond relating, they learn how different interpretations of evidence from the text can support claims (Excerpting), how Asking different types of questions can move conversations forward, and how to show active Listening through nonverbal communication.
Following the introductory mini-lessons, students put these skills into action during structured text-based discussions centered on short readings from the curriculum. Discussions are scheduled at regular intervals in line with unit cycles every one to two weeks. During discussions, students use their skills in a set of predictable routines that include preparation, taking notes, setting and tracking skill goals, and reflection. This gives students consistent, structured opportunities to practice and build these skills.
Before a discussion, teachers will identify a text (an article, historical source, poem, chapter from a book, etc.) that is already part of a unit. They will then select two or three discussion questions about the text to pose to students. Students spend about 20–30 minutes preparing for discussion by reviewing the text to find excerpts that help answer the discussion questions.
They use their Portfolios to record evidence and make notes to reference during the discussion. This routine gives students the confidence that they will have something meaningful to say during the discussion. It also gives them a tool to outline analytical paragraphs in writing assessments that may accompany the discussion. R.E.A.L. Before Discussion Routines
Each R.E.A.L. Discussion is an opportunity for students to practice and improve their discussion skills. With repetition, students learn to share their voices, make space for other perspectives, disagree thoughtfully and respectfully, and facilitate the discussion without the teacher.
As students begin to discuss the question(s) posed by their teacher, ideally in small groups of 8–10, they use nonverbal communication systems to ensure an equitable conversation. When students are not speaking, their job is to pay full attention to whoever is speaking and make the speaker feel heard through body language or a non-verbal cue like an “I agree” hand signal. Students use a “pass-off” system to manage participation and make space for all students to participate.
At set intervals during a discussion, students take three-minute note-taking breaks to capture the best ideas they have heard from their classmates and how their thinking has been changed or challenged. Students learn to initiate these breaks themselves as they monitor the flow of the discussion. Students record their “In-R.E.A.L.-Time Notes” in their Portfolios, which contain scaffolded templates for preparing, tracking, engaging, and reflecting on discussions across the entire year.
R.E.A.L. Discussion is structured to allow both students and teachers to track growth over time. During discussions, students track their own skills, working to meet goals that they set for themselves. Students develop metacognition as they engage in the reflection that is built into every part of the R.E.A.L. program. At the end of a discussion, teachers lead students in a focused debrief, reviewing positive growth and opportunities for improvement. They also make time for peer-to-peer “shout outs” for contributions that lead to deeper thinking. This creates a norm around peer learning and lets people know that they were heard.
Because students learn how to facilitate discussions, teachers are able to move into the position of an observer or a coach. With clear rubrics and note-taking tools, they track individual contributions and discussion dynamics to inform the debrief and assess student participation.
Every three discussions, students take a short survey that provides quantitative and qualitative data that populates a teacher-facing Dashboard. R.E.A.L. Discussion Log Cycles The survey helps capture snapshots of the student group’s growth in discussion skills, belonging, and sense of purpose. Teachers use these insights to help students reflect together in a way that makes it feel like discussion is more of a “team sport” than about any one student’s individual performance, thereby building a more positive classroom culture. R.E.A.L. Teacher Dashboard
Supporting Structures
The R.E.A.L. model can be adopted by any school willing to integrate discussion skills instruction into the existing curriculum and build a learning culture around student-led discussion.
Schools can implement R.E.A.L. Discussion alongside any ELA or Social Studies curriculum, so long as they prioritize a skills-based approach to discussion.
To effectively integrate the R.E.A.L. Discussion model, schools must see the value in a skills-based approach to deepening students’ understanding of content. This means shifting the focus from teacher-led delivery of information to fostering students’ ability to develop essential discussion skills that allow them to make meaning of texts.
To successfully implement R.E.A.L. Discussion, schools need to prioritize the teaching and assessment of discussion skills within ELA or Social Studies classes. While students will be able to transfer R.E.A.L. skills to other contexts, they must be taught, assessed, and practiced intentionally and are thus best fit for humanities content classes, not homeroom or advisories.
Schools that have already adopted high-quality instructional materials or discussion-focused approaches such as Harkness, Responsive Classroom, or Project Zero Thinking Routines are particularly well suited to R.E.A.L. Discussion. This is because R.E.A.L. gives students a consistent set of discussion skills that are transferable across different types of curriculum. To support this, the program provides students with a R.E.A.L. Discussion Portfolio, a notebook that guides them through the process.
Schools must commit to building a Conversation Culture in their community.
Because the success of the R.E.A.L. Discussion model is focused on building Conversation Culture—a schoolwide belief in the importance, art, and power of face-to-face communication in a screen-bound world—schools adopting the model need to build conviction around how discussion can effectively contribute to achieving their specific goals. Whether it be promoting equity, enhancing social-emotional learning, or improving academic engagement in the classroom, the model can be tailored to support various objectives, but this requires a commitment to training teachers and scaffolding the program over multiple years. Doing this will help students grow into routines that allow them to feel more confident expressing themselves and engaging in productive discussions.
Teachers must be trained in the R.E.A.L. methodology to facilitate routines that lead to successful student-led discussions effectively.
To facilitate classrooms that use R.E.A.L. Discussion to drive learning, teachers must be trained in the model’s principles and techniques by a R.E.A.L.-credentialed instructor. This ensures teachers can shift the learning focus toward discussion skills and student agency. To support this, R.E.A.L. Discussion works with schools to customize trainings that work with their instructional coaches’ and teachers’ schedules and learning preferences.
R.E.A.L. Discussion methodology also helps teachers grow their instructional skills. Through a continuous learning model, teachers engage in cycles of gathering and reflecting on embedded discussion data. This empowers them to make targeted instructional changes and ultimately guide students to focus on specific goals that will help them reach their learning outcomes. By engaging in this weekly action-reflection cycle rather than waiting for an end-of-unit assessment, teachers are able to gauge student learning more rapidly and track progress toward student learning goals.
The R.E.A.L. methodology is flexible and modular, so that teachers can embed it into existing curricular planning.
Each step of R.E.A.L. Discussion is designed to be flexible and adaptable to fit existing curricula, so that it is part of the class, not an add-on. Preparation and reflection can occur during the same class period as a discussion, which can be shortened or lengthened depending on time. Mini-lessons can be embedded into reading and writing lessons as well.
R.E.A.L. is a screen-free program for students but provides tech tools for teacher support and formative data collection.
The R.E.A.L. Student Survey provides teachers with quantitative and qualitative data on student growth in discussion skills, belonging, and sense of purpose every three discussions. The R.E.A.L. data team customizes the survey to the school’s preferred platform and creates a user-friendly online dashboard for teachers. Two or three times a year, the R.E.A.L. team also creates benchmark impact reports to share data findings with administrators.
Continuous learning is built into the R.E.A.L. Discussion model.
The R.E.A.L. Discussion Program is built around continuous learning loops centered around teacher observations during discussion and student surveys. Teachers use this data to engage in action-reflection cycles to inform their instructional practices.
Teachers are trained to be intentional in how they listen and track discussion because the R.E.A.L. system is focused on developing student capacity for facilitation. This capacity is measured through student surveys that are translated into a R.E.A.L. Dashboard. Teachers use the quantitative and qualitative insights from the Dashboard to make evidence-based decisions and ensure that students are progressing in their communication skills and critical thinking abilities.
Schools can implement R.E.A.L. Discussion alongside any ELA or Social Studies curriculum, so long as they prioritize a skills-based approach to discussion.
To effectively integrate the R.E.A.L. Discussion model, schools must see the value in a skills-based approach to deepening students’ understanding of content. This means shifting the focus from teacher-led delivery of information to fostering students’ ability to develop essential discussion skills that allow them to make meaning of texts.
To successfully implement R.E.A.L. Discussion, schools need to prioritize the teaching and assessment of discussion skills within ELA or Social Studies classes. While students will be able to transfer R.E.A.L. skills to other contexts, they must be taught, assessed, and practiced intentionally and are thus best fit for humanities content classes, not homeroom or advisories.
Schools that have already adopted high-quality instructional materials or discussion-focused approaches such as Harkness, Responsive Classroom, or Project Zero Thinking Routines are particularly well suited to R.E.A.L. Discussion. This is because R.E.A.L. gives students a consistent set of discussion skills that are transferable across different types of curriculum. To support this, the program provides students with a R.E.A.L. Discussion Portfolio, a notebook that guides them through the process.
Schools must commit to building a Conversation Culture in their community.
Because the success of the R.E.A.L. Discussion model is focused on building Conversation Culture—a schoolwide belief in the importance, art, and power of face-to-face communication in a screen-bound world—schools adopting the model need to build conviction around how discussion can effectively contribute to achieving their specific goals. Whether it be promoting equity, enhancing social-emotional learning, or improving academic engagement in the classroom, the model can be tailored to support various objectives, but this requires a commitment to training teachers and scaffolding the program over multiple years. Doing this will help students grow into routines that allow them to feel more confident expressing themselves and engaging in productive discussions.
Teachers must be trained in the R.E.A.L. methodology to facilitate routines that lead to successful student-led discussions effectively.
To facilitate classrooms that use R.E.A.L. Discussion to drive learning, teachers must be trained in the model’s principles and techniques by a R.E.A.L.-credentialed instructor. This ensures teachers can shift the learning focus toward discussion skills and student agency. To support this, R.E.A.L. Discussion works with schools to customize trainings that work with their instructional coaches’ and teachers’ schedules and learning preferences.
R.E.A.L. Discussion methodology also helps teachers grow their instructional skills. Through a continuous learning model, teachers engage in cycles of gathering and reflecting on embedded discussion data. This empowers them to make targeted instructional changes and ultimately guide students to focus on specific goals that will help them reach their learning outcomes. By engaging in this weekly action-reflection cycle rather than waiting for an end-of-unit assessment, teachers are able to gauge student learning more rapidly and track progress toward student learning goals.
The R.E.A.L. methodology is flexible and modular, so that teachers can embed it into existing curricular planning.
Each step of R.E.A.L. Discussion is designed to be flexible and adaptable to fit existing curricula, so that it is part of the class, not an add-on. Preparation and reflection can occur during the same class period as a discussion, which can be shortened or lengthened depending on time. Mini-lessons can be embedded into reading and writing lessons as well.
R.E.A.L. is a screen-free program for students but provides tech tools for teacher support and formative data collection.
The R.E.A.L. Student Survey provides teachers with quantitative and qualitative data on student growth in discussion skills, belonging, and sense of purpose every three discussions. The R.E.A.L. data team customizes the survey to the school’s preferred platform and creates a user-friendly online dashboard for teachers. Two or three times a year, the R.E.A.L. team also creates benchmark impact reports to share data findings with administrators.
Continuous learning is built into the R.E.A.L. Discussion model.
The R.E.A.L. Discussion Program is built around continuous learning loops centered around teacher observations during discussion and student surveys. Teachers use this data to engage in action-reflection cycles to inform their instructional practices.
Teachers are trained to be intentional in how they listen and track discussion because the R.E.A.L. system is focused on developing student capacity for facilitation. This capacity is measured through student surveys that are translated into a R.E.A.L. Dashboard. Teachers use the quantitative and qualitative insights from the Dashboard to make evidence-based decisions and ensure that students are progressing in their communication skills and critical thinking abilities.
Supports Offered
R.E.A.L. Discussion offers the following supports to help you implement their approach.
Partnership
Cost Associated
To build a school or district’s capacity to implement the model, R.E.A.L. offers multi-tiered partnership opportunities.
- Training and coaching: Teachers must earn a credential through R.E.A.L. via asynchronous coursework and a short, live workshop. R.E.A.L. also offers custom training for instructional leaders.
- Student materials: R.E.A.L. provides custom-branded Discussion Portfolios which are workbooks where students complete their work.
- Impact dashboard: R.E.A.L. dashboards provide quantitative and qualitative insights into students’ discussion skills and sense of belonging and purpose. Customization is available for an additional fee.
Reach
Demonstration Sites
The following sites are examples of learning communities successfully implementing the model.
Nativity Prep
Boston, MA
Grades 5-8
Private
Girls' Preparatory Schools
Chattanooga, TN
Grades 6-12
Private
Blair Academy
Blairstown, NJ
Grades 9-12
Private
Impact
Students gain both academic and personal value from R.E.A.L. Discussion.
- 98% report more confidence in speaking up in discussion.
- 96% listen more actively to their peers.
- 94% show a growth mindset towards discussion.
- 96% see R.E.A.L. skills as useful beyond the classroom.
Students are positive about the growth they experience through R.E.A.L. Discussion.
“Now using the R.E.A.L discussion I have grown to be patient and listen to others as they speak. I also gained the confidence to disagree from other people’s opinions in a R.E.A.L discussion.” – 8th grade student
“We have learned to have more respect for each other, our opinions, and who we can get along with.” – 8th grade student
“I have become willing to work with people who I once would have been more annoyed to have to talk to. I also have done better at relating and actually agreeing with what they say.” – 10th grade student
“During our last discussion, I was able to change my opinion based on what my classmates have said, and personally I grew to love discussing among my classmates.” – 10th grade student
Teachers see the value of R.E.A.L. in their work.
- 98% would recommend R.E.A.L. to a colleague.
“R.E.A.L. feels foundational, like it’s something all humanities teachers should be trained in. The students really bond with each other through R.E.A.L. They’re so much more comfortable with each other, and there’s more of a community feel than in previous years.”