The Common Core initiative calls for implementing fewer, tougher standards for literacy instruction. Seen from a student's perspective, the standards ask a lot in terms of effort and focus. Educators have to ask themselves, How can they motivate students to care enough about what they read and write to put in the hard work necessary to meet these higher standards? Spoken dialogue offers one key. According to the authors, this point was brought home to them in 2010 when they interviewed Melissa Hedt, the literacy coach at Asheville Middle School in Asheville, North Carolina. Melissa had been piloting 6th grade Common Core instructional units that they had developed in partnership with the Literacy Design Collaborative. The units featured a Paideia seminar--a formal, text-based dialogue--as well as extensive practice in close reading and the writing process. Their conversation with Melissa gave them new insight into the role of formal discussion in classrooms that help students meet the standards. Because the Common Core standards include explicit anchor standards for speaking and listening, they had already been arguing that faithful implementation of the standards must include formal classroom dialogue. Now, they began to realize that practice in speaking and listening might also be the key to engaging students in more rigorous reading and writing. This article illustrates how Paideia seminars support the Common Core anchor standards for speaking and listening. (Contains 2 endnotes.)