Kim Bearden | Best Selling Author, Co-founder at Ron Clark Academy, and National Teacher Hall of Fame; Organization Culture / Climate and Communication Specialist

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Kim Bearden

Best Selling Author, Co-founder at Ron Clark Academy, and National Teacher Hall of Fame; Organization Culture / Climate and Communication Specialist

Kim Bearden
Biography

Kim Bearden is the cofounder, executive director, and language arts teacher at the highly acclaimed Ron Clark Academy, an innovative middle school and educator-training facility in Atlanta. More than 115,000 educators from around the world have visited Kim's classroom and have attended her workshops to learn better ways to engage students, promote academic excellence, build relationships, and create a climate and culture for success. 

Throughout her career, Kim has received numerous accolades, such as being inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame. She was chosen from over 70,000 nominations to be honored as the Disney American Teacher Awards Outstanding Humanities Teacher, and the Milken Family Foundation selected her to receive the Award for Excellence in Education. She is the winner of the InfluencHer Award, the University of Georgia Outstanding Educator Award, and the Turknett Character Award for Servant Leadership. Mercedes-Benz recognized her in their Greatness Lives Here campaign, and Women Works Media Group has named her one of Georgia's Most Powerful and Influential Women. 

Over the past thirty-six years, she has been a teacher, instructional lead teacher, curriculum director, school board member, staff development trainer, and middle-school principal. Kim is also a wife, mom, and bestselling author of three books: Crash Course, Talk to Me, and Fight Song: Six Steps to Passion, Power, Peace, and Purpose. 

Before Kim comes to the stage, please watch this video about where she spends her days at the Ron Clark Academy. 

Kim Bearden
Featured Videos

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Kim Bearden
Featured Keynote Programs

Fight Song
6 Steps to Passion, Power, Peace, and Purpose

In most lives there is a moment when we need to rise through our pain, through self-doubt, fear, and mistrust, and reconnect with who we are meant to be. Kim is an award-winning educator of 34 years, but she is also a wife and mother of four children. Perfect for motivating others, this speech will focus on ways to overcome feeling overwhelmed, overworked, and underappreciated. Through the use of her own personal journey and how she overcame tragedy, betrayal, heartbreak, and pain, Kim will help audience members realize their influence, strength, and worth. Kim's heartwarming and thought-provoking anecdotes serve as compassionate, humorous reminders that it is possible to find power within our most painful moments—that in fact, these experiences are the root of our power, truth, and self-acceptance. The blend of personal, professional, and pedagogical anecdotes in addition to Kim's 6 steps engage participants searching for a balance between their lives and their hearts.

*Book available

Talk to Me
Find the Right Words to Inspire, Encourage, and Get Things Done

This presentation is for those who wish to improve their communication skills and rapport with others. Through the use of stories and scenarios, Kim will share 6 principles for effective communication that will empower participants to be considerate, yet strong; they will learn how to stand firm and still support others. Participants will leave with tools that will help them develop rapport, gain respect, support others, engage listeners, develop insight, and increase productivity.
*Book available

Talk to Me Extended Workshop

This extended workshop is for those who wish to improve their communication skills with others. Through the use of stories and scenarios, Kim Bearden will share 6 principles for effective communication that will strengthen their ability to strengthen both professional and personal relationships. Participants will have the opportunity to practice implementing the 6 principles through guided practice, discussions, and role play. They will also learn how to overcome possible obstacles and culture killers that hinder effective communication. You will leave empowered with tools that will help you develop rapport, gain respect, support others, engage listeners, develop insight, and increase productivity!
*Book available

Creating a Climate and Culture for Success

Available as keynote or extended workshop

Kim will motivate, inspire, and remind participants of the powerful impact that they can have, despite the pressures and challenges of their profession. Kim will also share the importance of building relationships among staff, families, and students that will motivate, engage, empower, and create success for all. She will share how to ignite a passion for learning, provide support and encouragement, hold high expectations for student behavior, promote parental involvement, and ensure a safe, secure environment where everyone feels welcome. Additionally, Kim will share how to create consistency and expectations while simultaneously instilling passion and joy.

Kim Bearden
Featured Books

Talk to Me: Find the Right Words to Inspire, Encourage, and Get Things Doneby Kim Bearden

Talk to Me: Find the Right Words to Inspire, Encourage, and Get Things Done

by Kim Bearden
Fight Songby Kim Bearden

Fight Song

by Kim Bearden

There Is a Song Within You Just Waiting to be Sung.

In most lives there is a moment when we need to rise through our pain, through self-doubt, fear, and mistrust, and reconnect with who we are meant to be. Fight Song recounts one acclaimed educator's journey through chaos into meaning-and shows readers how to reawaken connection with themselves and humanity.


Kim Bearden is an award-winning educator whose career has spanned three decades. She has been inducted into the National Teacher's Hall of Fame, selected as a Disney American Outstanding Teacher of the Year, and honored with the Milken Family Foundation's Award for Excellence in Education.


In Fight Song, Bearden recounts her personal journey from hopelessness to healing and how those steps soon coincided with her cofounding the renowned Ron Clark Academy. Over 15,000 educators visit the academy and Bearden's classroom each year to learn ways to engage students and create a climate and culture for success.


In this inspiring memoir, Bearden analyzes her own path and shows readers how they, too, can strip sorrow and passivity from their lives and thrive by rediscovering their significance and genuine life mission. The revealing and often humorous anecdotes illustrate a thoughtful process that invites readers to identify their true worth through unification with others and ultimately guides them to a sense of deep purpose-a fight song.


This is a revised edition, with bonus content.

Kim's wisdom and grace will help you find passion and purpose, and her capacity for love will capture your heart. You need this book. We all do. -Ron Clark, award-winning educator, bestselling author, cofounder of the Ron Clark Academy


Bearden's gift of helping one muster up courage and embrace their purpose is second to none. If the words on these pages don't renew your passion, uplift your spirits, and inspire you to stand up and press forward-fight-you might want to check your pulse. -Tara Martin, educator, director of PR and Communications, keynote speaker, author


Kim Bearden's latest book is a true testament in rediscovering the strength we have within ourselves to overcome and endure. Countless readers will find solace in this book and deem it as the battle cry they need to persevere.-Dr. Valerie Camille Jones, Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science winner

Crash Courseby Kim Bearden

Crash Course

by Kim Bearden

The inspiring true story of a teacher's experiences with her students and the life lessons she learned that can help others find joy and success. Crash Course chronicles the life lessons that Kim Bearden has learned during an award-winning career in education that has spanned three decades. Kim has taught more than 2,000 students, and each has shown her something about the world and the abundant capacity for love, resilience, and appreciation that we all possess. By sharing her students' stories, she teaches their inspiring lessons to us all. Throughout the ups and downs of her professional and personal life, Kim found that her students were the light that illuminated her path; they were her sanctuary in the storm. From her challenges as a first-year teacher to her triumphs as the cofounder of the highly acclaimed Ron Clark Academy, Kim shares how children can teach each of us the importance of building relationships, abandoning fear, embracing one's unique gifts, and living with passion. Full of honesty, humor, heartbreak, and humanity, Kim's experiences show how children can help any one of us, despite life's obstacles, find the joy and significance in both our personal and professional lives            

Kim Bearden
Featured Reviews

Kim Bearden
Featured Articles & Resources

PAST: Kim Bearden | 7/17

Presentation Topic A 30-minute presentation on The Six Principles of Effective Communication: How to Create a Climate & Culture for Success. About Kim Kim Bearden is...
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Teaching Through Struggles- Kim Bearden on the Beyond Speaking Podcast

In this episode of the Beyond Speaking podcast, best selling author and co-founder of the Ron Clark Academy, Kim Bearden shares how she handles personal struggles while teaching...
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Kim Bearden honored by Mercedes-Benz USA as a #GreatnessLivesHere hero.

We are so privileged and proud to be working with such great speakers that make an impact all over the world. Congratulations to Kim!
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RCA Goes to Washington | Kim Bearden Inducted Into the National Teachers Hall of Fame

  The Ron Clark Academy Co-Founder and Director Kim Bearden has officially been inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame, making her one of the top five educators...
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'Of Teaching, Living and Learning' | A Testimonial On Kim Bearden

Source: Facebook Kim Bearden recently had the honor of delivering the keynote for a Teacher Appreciation Dinner hosted by Valdosta North Rotary Club. This event allowed...
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Kim Bearden | GISD Convocation Storify - Garland, TX

  The only thing all-star educator Kim Bearden loves more than teaching is getting other educators as fired up as she is about changing students’ lives. Kim was recently...
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