Nationally known child development expert to speak in Port Angeles

Ellen Galinsky

Ellen Galinsky

PORT ANGELES — Many parents are familiar with author Ellen Galinsky.

If they haven’t read her books, such as the best-selling “Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs,” “Ask the Children” and the now classic “The Six Stages of Parenthood,” then they may have read excerpts of her work in the mini-messages of Darlene Clemens, lifelong learning chair of Prevention Works!.

Clemens, who has a doctorate, has been sending out snippets from Galinsky’s “Mind in the Making.” The retired teacher and former elementary school principal said she was so impressed with Galinsky’s book that she and her husband, Michael, divided the book into 93 “mini-messages” that she emails to more than 1,100 addresses each Monday.

It is because of her work with Clemens that the leading child development expert and author is coming to Port Angeles, Clemens said.

Galinsky will speak about “Mind in the Making” in Port Angeles in two sessions on Tuesday, hosted by Prevention Works!, the Port Angeles School District and Peninsula College, Clemens said.

Galinsky will host an interactive workshop for educators and volunteers who work with children in schools from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Peninsula College Student Union Building, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd., Port Angeles.

From 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., she will speak at a community presentation for parents, grandparents and other community members at the college’s Little Theatre.

Galinsky, comes to the Olympic Peninsula from New York City, where she spent 25 years at Bank Street College of Education.

She is president of Families and Work Institute (FWI) and chief science officer at the Bezos Family Foundation where she also serves as executive director of Mind in the Making, an effort to share the science of children’s learning with the general public, families and professionals who work with them.

She has published more than 100 books and reports and more than 300 articles in journals, books and magazines.

Mind in the Making includes the “seven essential skills” in a variety of learning modules now being implemented across the country and locally promoted widely by Prevention Works!, Port Angeles Schools and Peninsula College Early Education Department as critical learning for parents and professionals in helping children develop essential life skills in early childhood, organizers said.

Galinsky co-directs FWI’s National Study of the Changing Workforce, an ongoing study of the U.S. workforce, and co-directs When Work Works, about workplace flexibility and effectiveness, in partnership with the Society for Human Resource Management.

In addition, she is senior research advisor for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

For further detail, contact Clemens at dr.darlene clemens@olypen.com.

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