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Step into a Humanities English or History class during the first period of the day, and you might expect a familiar scene: the teacher guiding discussion, students reluctant to speak. But that's not what you'll see at Pomfret.

Instead, in Humanities English and History classrooms engaged in a R.E.A.L. Discussion, students are actively leading the conversation — building on one another’s ideas, offering evidence, and selecting the next speaker with intention. “R.E.A.L. Discussion provides Humanities students with a space to practice the deeply human work of face-to-face conversation,” says Dr. Alyssa Walker, head of the History and Social Sciences Department. “It’s where freshmen and sophomores learn how to be Pomfret students in the fullest sense — developing the skills needed for collaborative, thoughtful, and civil discourse.”

“Pomfret has long prioritized student-driven discussion. R.E.A.L. gives us a shared language and intentional structure to ensure that every student can share ideas with confidence, curiosity, and respect.” – Dr. Alyssa Walker, History and Social Sciences Department Head

Those skills don’t stay confined to the classroom. They travel into the lacrosse huddle, around the dinner table, and back to dorm common rooms. “Pomfret has long prioritized student-driven discussion,” Walker adds, “and R.E.A.L. gives us a shared language and intentional structure to ensure that every student can share ideas with confidence, curiosity, and respect.”

R.E.A.L. Discussion was founded in 2021 by educator Liza Garonzik in response to a growing concern: students’ diminishing comfort and skill with face-to-face communication in an increasingly digital and polarized world. The program breaks discussion into four explicit, teachable skills:

• Relate: Connect your ideas to others’ contributions or to the broader conversation
• Excerpt: Use precise evidence from texts or materials
• Ask: Pose thoughtful, purposeful questions
• Listen: Engage deeply and respond in ways that show understanding

Together, these skills transform discussion from an assumed ability into a set of competencies students can practice, reflect on, and refine over time.

Pomfret began implementing R.E.A.L. Discussion in the spring of 2024, with English Teacher Michaela Vitagliano and History Teacher Gavin Flood as the early adopters. The following year, additional Humanities faculty joined the effort. “Class discussions are a hallmark pedagogical tool in the humanities,” says Flood, “yet for too long, teachers have wrongly assumed that students know how to engage in them. Since Pomfret’s adoption of R.E.A.L. Discussion, my students are focused not only on what they say, but how they participate as thoughtful contributors and listeners.”

This year, all Humanities teachers are utilizing R.E.A.L. Discussion, and the impact is clear. “The technique to artfully hold a conversation is much harder than it seems,” Vitagliano notes. “R.E.A.L. helpfully breaks down the key elements of conversing so that every student — regardless of comfort level — has tools to ensure effective communication.”

Students appreciate the structure as well. “I think it’s a great way to hear from everybody in the class and gain other perspectives,” says Olivia Bissell ’28. “I enjoy how teachers step back and really let us lead the conversations and decide where they go. It teaches vital life skills — how to respectfully disagree and why evidence matters.”

R.E.A.L. Discussion also provides a shared language and consistent routines across Pomfret’s foundational Humanities curriculum. All freshmen and sophomores take Humanities English and History before branching into electives later in their academic careers. “Pomfret Humanities teachers have truly embraced the humanity at the heart of their classrooms,” says R.E.A.L. Discussion Founder and CEO Liza Garonzik. “Students routinely engage in rigorous, equitable, and screen-free discussions, thereby building relationships, respect, and real-world communication skills.”

The model aligns naturally with Pomfret’s competency-based learning (CBL) approach. “I love how R.E.A.L. makes discussion skills actionable for every student and calls teachers to be explicit in their expectations and specific in their feedback,” says Gwyneth Connell, director of the Grauer Family Institute. “It’s a living embodiment of a growth mindset — for both students and faculty.”

As Pomfret deepens its practice, it is also emerging as a leader in R.E.A.L. Discussion. Faculty members will help train and mentor educators from other schools during the Grauer Summer Institutes, sharing Pomfret’s experience implementing R.E.A.L. with fidelity and purpose. In doing so, Pomfret extends the reach of meaningful, student-driven dialogue well beyond the Hilltop — modeling what thoughtful conversation can look like in classrooms everywhere.
 

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