Patrick Donohue: Study Skills Now, Life Skills Forever: The Tools to Help Your Child Achieve - GPS Oct 17 event

K Parmar, a Glenbard North parent, offers this takeaway from GPS Oct 17 event featuring Patrick Donohue:

Pat's 5 Things Good Students Do--it's unfortunate when students do not have a good understanding on how their course grade is structured and what matters to the teacher, because this can literally make or break their grade for the semester no knowing what their overall grade consists of especially if teachers use categories. I was also impressed with the Pomodoro Timing and his Rewrite Shorty Notes techniques, and it's something I will have my children try to implement as part of their study skills.

As a parent, it's important when our children hit that bottom of the curve as Pat stated, that we take time to support and encourage our children to continue to face it, work hard, be persistent, be present, and give their all even when the outcome is unknown. It's important to help our children realize that they are going to be successful and the outcome is likely to be positive when they've prepared in this manner.

As parents, it's also important fir us to keep "failing"and "failure" separate and help our children understand the differences between the two as we encourage a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset.

And my final takeaway from tonight: Besides the 5 things good students do to be successful in academics, much of Pat's presentation was on how to parent in an encouraging and supportive manner so that our children are motivated to be successful, and to develop and sustain a growth mindset throughout their lives, not just in academics in high school and college!

Patrick Donohue’s Red Zone Fathering

Dr. David Yeager Speaks at GPS events on October 10 and 11

As we know, to achieve, we need more than inborn ability—we need the right mindset. Dr David Yeager a leading expert in grit, performance, and the growth mindset: the belief that we can change and make progress, spoke to parents and school staff on Oct 10 and 11. He studies the ways students feel like they belong and are respected; that their work is relevant and purposeful; and that they can overcome setbacks and continue to improve.

David Yeager is an experimental development psychologist in the department of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. In his academic research, he examines the causes of and solutions to adolescent learning such as academic achievement, stress, cheating, trust, and bullying. He focuses on adolescence as a place where there is great opportunity (and risk) for young people’s trajectories.

In May 2014, he was the subject of a major New York Times Magazine article (“Who Gets to Graduate?”) by Paul Tough (a former GPS speaker).  He has co-authored work on grit with Angela Duckworth and on growth mindset with his collaborator (and another former GPS speaker)  Carol Dweck. Dr. Yeager recently chaired a national summit on mindset interventions at the White House. His work appears regularly in places like The New York Times, The Atlantic, Scientific American, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and beyond.


Check out some of his most recent articles here

New York Times article: Teaching Teenagers to Cope With Social Stress

New York Times article: Can Teenage Defiance Be Manipulated for Good?


Dr. Yeager is interested in understanding the processes shaping adolescent development to create positive or negative trajectories for youth.  He is also interested in learning how to influence these psychological processes, so as to improve educational outcomes for all young people and transform their lives for the better. Yeager's research shows we need to change our perceptions about failure. To be challenged is to grow skills for today and tomorrow. We need to do all we can to instill a growth mindset and not a fixed mindset. Check out the book Mindset by David's mentor Carol Dweck.

Other resources for David Yeager:

Presentation Notes, GPS event - David Yeager on Motivating Teens

The College Transition Collaborative

Mindset Scholars Network

David Yeager, University of Texas, Austin