Debbie Silver

Featured Keynote Programs

Come prepared to laugh, to think, and to leave with loads of ideas for improving school climate and helping teachers achieve their personal best. Empowering teachers is key to improving student outcomes. Based on her bestselling books, Fall Down 7 Times, Get Up 8 and Deliberate Optimism – Reclaiming the Joy in Education, Dr. Debbie Silver offers insights into what teachers most need from administrators in order to achieve personal and professional efficacy. She discusses the importance of effective feedback as a means to help teachers grow and foster a thriving classroom.
Dr. Silver also offers practical ideas and tips for helping teachers overcome anxiety and burn-out. She demonstrates how to lower stress in the work environment for both administrators and teachers. Filled with heart and humor, this workshop offers insights and practical solutions for learning to "listen with more than your ears."

Do you ever think about how much better your life would be if it weren’t for all those annoying other people? Dr. Debbie Silver explores some of the inherent traits people have and explains why they behave the way they do. She discusses learning styles, generational differences, and the differences between introverts and extroverts. This session is a fun, insightful, and great for working on a positive school climate. Teacher to teacher, teacher to parent, and teacher to administrator relationships are examined. Come see if you recognize yourself as well as those around you.

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 new 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

Differentiating learning involves more than ascertaining levels of mastery. Teachers need to understand who their learners are. Extrovert or introvert? Concrete or Abstract? Sequential or Random? Visual or Tactile? What’s a teacher to do? Dr. Debbie Silver offers tools and strategies for identifying how individual students learn best and how to maximize their classroom experience. She provides simple, direct methods for addressing learning differences and giving every student a reasonable chance at success.

Science as A Verb – STEM (or STEAM) in Action
Dr. Debbie Silver is a former classroom science teacher who has remained active in science reform teaching for over 30 years as well as STEM since its inception. In this lively session, Dr. Silver demonstrates proven techniques for engaging all types of learners in the science processes. Her belief is that the best science teaching starts with active, engaging learning. She gives “how to” tips on everything from safety to managing materials to how to set up cooperative groups. With technology, integrated instruction (math, and engineering), differentiated instruction, alternative assessment, cooperative learning, the learning cycle, discrepant events, and other established strategies, Debbie takes the audience through a myriad of ways to use science as a natural springboard for re-engaging and challenging all types of learners. She offers numerous ideas and gives helpful technology resources.

Are all the changes going on in education driving you crazy? Do you feel that you have been stretched as thin as you’re going to stretch? For teachers to have a profound educational and personal impact on the lives of students, they must meet and take care of their own needs. This session offers practical ideas and tips for recognizing and dealing with anxiety and burnout. This empowering, interactive, and entertaining presentation helps teachers discover the keys to honing their personal strength areas and to lowering stress in the work environment. New research, audience participation, and humor are used to illustrate how educators can learn to reduce and manage unwanted stress. Learn to laugh, love, and live a more satisfying life.

In this celebration of middle school educators, Dr. Debbie Silver congratulates those who “go outside the lines” to ensure the best environment for all middle level students. She addresses the specific developmental levels of young adolescents as well as their unique attributions and peculiarities. Dr. Silver believes that middle school is “the last best hope” for many of our students, and she is passionate about preparing them for the next phase of their lives. Debbie offers specific strategies, engaging techniques, and proven activities to “go in after” every middle level learner. Through her poignant stories and humorous anecdotes, she connects with the souls of all who have taught, who currently teach, or who hope to teach middle school in the future.

Today, more than ever, schools need parents as partners in the matter of educating their children. Dr. Debbie Silver offers proven procedures and basic, sensible methods to encourage parents to engage with schools in ways that will best benefit their offspring. She demonstrates how to help parents teach their kids to tackle challenges rather than avoid them by providing down-to-earth (and often humorous) real-life examples about fostering lifelong success. She offers a twist in perspective in that she taught for 30 years, and she also has five very different sons who went through the public school system with varying degrees of success. Debbie emphasizes the importance of focused attention and purposeful feedback to help students thrive.

Does working with teachers sometimes feel like you are dealing with students – only they are taller and less flexible? This session will help you assist your staff in becoming true D.I. advocates as they embrace the its key components. Based on her work with the book, Because You Teach, co-written with Monte Selby, Rick Wormeli, and Kathy Hunt, Dr. Debbie Silver demonstrates activities that can be used to engage all staff members in meaningful discussions about how best to serve students. These music-oriented tools and strategies can be use for faculty meetings, in-service presentations, small group discussions, and individual assignments. Come enjoy the fun while learning a few “tricks of the trade” for promoting D.I. to other educators.

Today, more than ever, schools need parents as partners in the matter of educating their children. In this presentation, Dr. Debbie Silver offers proven procedures and basic, sensible methods for engaging parents at every level. Dr. Silver also explores the dynamics of interpersonal relationships when dealing with parents. She offers a twist in perspective in that she has five very different sons who went through the public school system with varying degrees of success. The importance of professionalism, positive interaction, and compassion are emphasized.

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 who march to the beat of a different drummer?” Debbie discusses how to give students multiple opportunities to internalize information and to show what they understand. She demonstrates how to use components of differentiated learning, technology, and standardized curriculum to maximize instruction for 21st century learners.

This session is a MUST for new teachers, teachers who are having difficulty with classroom management, teachers who need to be "recharged," or administrators who want to help their staffs work towards being more student-centered. Dr. Debbie Silver offers simple, practical, helpful tips on everything from how to begin the very first day of school to how to trouble-shoot with disruptive students. Included are tips on student-centered discipline along with basic classroom routines and procedures. Teachers in the session laugh, think, and go back to their classrooms with scores of ideas on how to establish a classroom environment that facilitates learning.

Recent research clearly demonstrates that students who frequently engage in well-structured cooperative learning settings are better prepared to meet the challenges of the 21st century. This workshop is designed to help teachers set up a learning environment that fosters collaboration and cooperation among class members. In this session, participants work collaboratively on engaging tasks while practicing basic cooperative learning strategies. Beginners gain confidence to try it, while experienced cooperative grouping managers acquire new ideas that are aligned with project-based learning and needed 21st century skills.

How do teachers maintain a positive learning environment while addressing increased emphasis on standards, new teacher evaluations, and other challenges in education? Dr. Debbie Silver discusses how educators can maintain a sense of self as well as help their students become independent, resilient learners. Through her research and understanding of human behavior, Debbie provides insights into how to maintain one’s sanity while giving every student a reasonable chance at success. Using her well-known candor and sense of humor, Debbie offers participants an entertaining and thought-provoking look at how to empower both teachers and learners.

In this presentation, Debbie Silver utilizes humor and thoughtful insights to remind audiences of how important teachers (and other educators) 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.

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 all 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 views on what she considers non-negotiable in education – that every student deserves a reasonable chance at success. Participants will leave with great ideas for preparing 21st century 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: Teaching Kids to Succeed, Dr. Debbie Silver offers 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.

How do teachers maintain a positive learning environment while addressing increased emphasis on standards, new teacher evaluations, and other challenges in education? Dr. Debbie Silver discusses how educators can maintain a sense of self as well as help their students become inde- pendent, resilient learners. Through her research and understanding of human behavior, Debbie provides insights into how to maintain one’s sanity while giving every student a reasonable chance at success. Using her well-known candor and sense of humor, Debbie offers participants an entertaining and thought-provoking look at how to empower both teachers and learners.

Feel free to “pick and choose” from the array of topics. Debbie will be happy to customize a presentation to suit the needs of your participants. Just ask!

*Differentiated Teaching and Learning — Each of Debbie’s keynotes and workshops is grounded in the principles of growth mindset and differentiated instruction. Titles can be modified to reflect the needs of your conference or meeting.

Finding Your “North Star”–Fall 7 Times, Get Up 8!

Finding Your “North Star”–Fall 7 Times, Get Up 8!
In this inspirational speech for students, Debbie entertains kids while challenging them to make their own dreams come true. Through demonstrations, audience participation, stories, and comedy she involves participants in creative thinking and risk-taking situations. Based on a theme by Fablevision'sTM Peter Reynolds, the message that comes through loud and clear is that through commitment, courage, and character, students can set their own goals and achieve them.