SUPD 2024 Keynote Speaker
Dr. Kathy Koch
SUPD 2024 Keynote Speaker
Dr. Kathy Koch
Jesus celebrated kids. We equip people to follow His example.
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Kathy Koch (pronounced “cook”) is our keynote speaker for SUPD 2024!
With a passion for being an influence and for helping build strong and healthy families, Dr. Kathy writes (6 books and counting) and speaks (a lot and often) on a wide range of topics that are both timeless and current. Her humorous and easy-to-learn-from speaking style, foundational wisdom, and practical and relevant details leave her audiences empowered with strategies to navigate the challenges of raising and teaching children. She warmly speaks to young people and their adults with compassion and understanding, never shying away from tough topics in our current culture. Her messages are always beautifully woven with Biblical truth and hope.
Kathy has become a wildly popular speaker offering keynote presentations for conventions and seminars for educators and students held at schools, and conferences; and programs for parents, schools, conventions, and youth and parent organizations.
With audiences ranging in age from 10 to 100, Kathy has a unique gift of engaging, entertaining, and teaching them all. She attributes much of her excellence to the three degrees she earned from Purdue University, including a Ph.D. in reading and educational psychology. She taught second graders, coached middle schoolers, was a tenured associate professor of education at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, and finally a school board member before becoming a full-time conference and keynote speaker in 1991.
Dr. Kathy founded Celebrate Kids, Inc., in 1991 and co-founded Ignite the Family in 2018. It is now the conference ministry of Celebrate Kids.
BOOKS
8 Great Smarts: Discover and Nurture Your Child’s Intelligences
Five to Thrive: How to Determine If Your Core Needs Are Being Met (and What to Do When They’re Not)
No More Perfect Kids: Love Your Kids for Who They Are
Start with the Heart: How to Motivate Your Kids to Be Compassionate, Responsible, and Brave (Even When You’re Not Around)
Resilient Kids: Raising Them to Embrace Life with Confidence
Screens and Teens: Connecting with Our Kids in a Wireless World
DR. KATHY'S SESSIONS
MAIN SESSION #1
Feb 16, 2024 8:30 - 9:10 a.m.
CREATED TO BE
The day-to-day tasks involved with teaching and leading can exhaust you and weigh you down. You must remember the value of what we’re doing. You matter! You’re doing more than helping students learn much. You’re partnering with God to provide students with a bright and purposeful future. Education gets students ready for life! Why were your students created? What’s their story? You’ll be inspired by Chatty Kathy’s too-tall, spelling-is-challenging, low-voice reality and how it’s God’s perfect design for her. Her story will help you believe for your students’ future. Get ready!
MAIN SESSION #2
Feb 16, 20249:25 - 10:05 a.m.
RESILIENCY: A NECESSARY ABILITY FOR TODAY'S TIME
Learning about resiliency’s many benefits will inspire you to not panic when your students struggle. You’ll discover how to instruct and support them without over-protecting them or rescuing them too soon so they benefit from struggling and recover from hard times. Learn the best ways to help children handle their disappointments when things don’t go their way, how to encourage them when they want to give up, and how to help parents do the same.
BREAKOUT SESSION #1
Feb 16, 2024 10:45 - 11:30 a.m.
BIBLICAL CHARACTER: WHAT IS IT AND HOW CAN YOU TEACH IT?
Biblical character will set your students apart and allow them to change culture. (The same is true for you.) Learn how biblical character is different from Christlike character and what qualities to prioritize. Learn what to understand and do so students will have a positive, complete character that increases obedience.
BREAKOUT SESSION #2
Feb 16, 202412:30 - 1:15 p.m.
COMPLIMENT AND CORRECT TO POWERFULLY ENCOURAGE STUDENTS
The ways we compliment and correct students contribute to either a culture of effort and joy or apathy and fear. Our words either build up and encourage students or tear them down and discourage them. Therefore, how to compliment and correct well, and not criticize, will be explained and modeled. Examples will make the ideas come alive.