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Debbie Silver  

Award-Winning Educator, Speaker, Author, & Humorist

Dr. Debbie Silver is a brilliantly funny, beautifully insightful, and boldly authentic speaker, author, and educator. She has dedicated her life to understanding learning and growth behavior and has become a world-renowned and empowering speaker. Debbie is one of the most sought after presenters for professional development in education!

Through her research, her outreach, and her humor, Debbie seeks to help teachers find the joy in the daily job of teaching, so that children can embrace the satisfaction and pride of knowledge, growth, and self-worth.

With 30 years spent as a teacher, staff development instructor, and university professor, Dr. Silver doesn’t just know her way around the classroom – she is deeply familiar with the challenges educators face at every level, from kindergarten through college. One of the nation’s most popular keynote speakers and professional development presenters, this former Louisiana State Teacher of the Year has given presentations around the world (including 49 states, Canada, Mexico, Europe, the Middle East, Australia, Africa, and Asia), helping audiences to interact with students on a more meaningful level.

Debbie’s best-selling book, Drumming to the Beat of Different Marchers: Finding the Rhythm for Differentiated Learning, has been recognized for its insights into research-based models, teaching strategies, management tips, and inspirational “from-the-heart” lessons for addressing individual differences. It is her humor, her practicality, and her ability to connect with students, teachers, parents, and administrators, however, that has made her a popular choice for keynotes, workshops, and breakout sessions.

Her best-selling book, Fall Down 7 Times, Get Up 8: Teaching Kids to Succeed, is heralded by parents, teachers, and administrators as a “fresh approach to getting kids to work smarter and better.” In it she explains motivational theory and provides down-to-earth examples of concrete, applicable guidelines for helping students overcome setbacks and failure to foster lifelong success.

Debbie co-wrote the 2014 bestseller, Deliberate Optimism: Reclaiming the Joy in Education, which offers research-based strategies, practical examples, and thought-provoking scenarios to help recharge educators and schools. With a healthy dose of humor to make it fun, Deliberate Optimism demonstrates the difference a change in attitude can make. In her most recent best-selling book, Teaching Kids to Thrive: Essential Skills for Success, Dr. Silver and co-author Dedra Stafford illustrate how SEL (social and emotional learning) instruction can be woven into all subject areas at levels preK-12. This book describes what SEL-friendly classrooms look like and provides a wealth of tools and strategies for those who want to teach life skills beyond the standards.

While inspiring educators to enjoy the job they once loved, she reminds them of how important they are in the lives of children, their families, and the world. Through her writing and her speaking, she highlights relevant and tested learning theory and tools for communication. She makes essential points while sharing poignant stories and lots of laughs. Debbie firmly believes that teachers need to be having fun and staying in touch with their passion to make their biggest impact in the classroom.

When she’s not working as an educational speaker and writer, Debbie enjoys spending time in Texas with her husband, Dr. Lawrence Silver, and spending time with their 5 sons and their families who live in 5 different states.

Speech Topics

Deliberate Optimism: Still Reclaiming the Joy in Education

How do educators maintain a positive learning environment while addressing the increasing challenges in education today? Dr. Debbie Silver discusses how educators can maintain a sense of self as they navigate the current shifts in public and parental support as well as the increasing fall-out from behavioral and emotional issues in students. Through her research and expert understanding of human behavior, Debbie provides insights into how to maintain one’s sanity and sustainability while finding fulfillment in one's job. Using her well-known candor and sense of humor, Debbie offers participants a genuine and thought-provoking look at how the adults at school can empower themselves.

Fall Down 7 Times, Get Up 8: Empowering Self-Motivated Learners

Do you ever ask ever yourself, “Just how am I supposed to motivate these kids?” The real question, of course, is how do we help them to motivate themselves? Based on extensive research for her book, Fall Down 7 Times, Get Up 8: Raising and Teaching Self-Motivated Learners, Dr. Debbie Silver offers sometimes surprising new findings about fundamental ways we can change our teaching practices to help kids become self-motivated. Come prepared to have your thinking challenged and to receive a multitude of strategies that help learners develop internal motivation and resiliency.

Teaching Kids to Thrive – Embedding SEL into Any Curriculum

For students to thrive in their frenzied, high-speed, hyper-connected environments, it is imperative for them to learn important competencies that go beyond academic standards. In their book, Teaching Kids to Thrive: Building the Other Essential Skills for Success, Debbie Silver and co-writer, Dedra Stafford, explore topics such as mindfulness, controlling executive functions, student agency, resilience, perseverance, responsibility, integrity, empathy, and gratitude. In this thought-provoking presentation, Dr. Debbie Silver examines how educators can help students develop their social and emotional learning (SEL) skills to find success both now and in the future. Debbie combines meaningful points about the importance of Thrive skills with tips on how to seamlessly integrate SEL skills into current curriculum preK-12.

Drumming to the Beat of Different Marches: Why We Need to Pay Attention to Learning Differences

Based on her best-selling book, Drumming to the Beat of Different Marchers – Finding the Rhythm for Differentiating Learning, Debbie Silver offers her wisdom and humor to answer the question, "How do we engage students from diverse backgrounds and experiences?" She demonstrates how to capitalize on student strengths and elicit greater achievement gains and higher motivation among students. Dr. Silver shares her view on what she considers a non-negotiable in education – that every student deserves a reasonable chance at success. Participants will leave with great ideas for preparing 21st century learners.

Be an Educator, Be a Hero

In this presentation, Debbie Silver utilizes humor and thoughtful insights to remind audiences of how important teachers (and other adults at school) are in the lives of children. Through poignant stories and hilarious characterizations, Debbie connects with the souls of all who work with students. Audience members laugh and cry as Debbie reminds them of the value of each child in the classroom.

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