Shekema Silveri, Georgia’s 2011 Milken National Educator, is Founder and Executive Director of the IFE Academy of Teaching & Technology (a K-12 public charter school located in Atlanta, GA). As the former Performance Management Administrator and Professional Learning Administrator for the Georgia Charter Schools Association, Silveri brings an extensive wealth of knowledge and experience in the charter sector. Recently elected to a two-year term as the Secondary Section Representative-At-Large by the 30,000 constituent members of National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), she also brings a host of national leadership experience to the IFE Academy leadership team.
During her nine-year tenure inside public school classrooms, Silveri has required students to produce evidence of learning, justify their perspectives, evaluate their reasoning, and set their future goals. As part of her well-rounded approach to instruction, Silveri integrated multimedia into her lessons, using websites and blogs as well as shooting and editing video, all of which lead to her being featured on CNN’s Perry’s Principles, NBC’s Education Nation Teacher Town Hall Atlanta, and America Achieves (funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies). Through these methods, Silveri’s students not only learned the information but also came to understand the pedagogy behind it, which is why her AP Literature classes were consistently filled to capacity and include students who are not normally on an honors or AP track.
Silveri’s leadership skills extend far beyond the four walls of the classroom. Nationally, she continues to lead through her elected office as NCTE’s Secondary Section Representative-At-Large, through membership on NCTE’s Executive Committee, and as an NCTE SPA reviewer for CAEP—in which capacity she has over six years of experience auditing the effectiveness of English teacher preparation programs at post-secondary institutions around the country. Additionally, Silveri served on the 12th grade writing level setting team for the NAEP assessment. Locally, Silveri leads by serving on the Fulton County Virtual School’s Steering Committee, through the implementation of various professional development series, and through service as a consultant for curriculum redesign teams (including Clayton County Public Schools, Fulton County Schools System, and the Provost Academy Charter School in Atlanta, GA). She has served on a State Superintendent Teacher Advisory Panels under Dr. John Barge (2011-2012) and Governor Nathan Deal (2011-2012).
In addition to being a coveted conference and keynote speaker, Silveri is a published author with pieces appearing in The New York Times: Room for Debate Series, Teach+Plus’ blog on the Huffington Post, Success at the Core Blog, and more. Silveri holds a Bachelors of Arts degree in English (Advanced Composition & Rhetoric Concentration) and a Masters of Secondary English Education from Georgia State University.
For more information on the IFE Academy of Teaching & Technology, please visit , www.myifeacademy.org.
"I understand that, like all leaders, my job is not to..." (read more)
2012 2012 Lowell Milken Center Fellow
2003 B.A., English Education, Georgia State University
2014-2016 NCTE Secondary Section Representative-At-Large and Executive Committee Member
