“Take a breath”

That first day in the classroom is bound to provoke some anxiety. But it can go much more smoothly if you're well-prepared and take a breath before every class.

Especially when you have to give criticism. It's something we must do to help students learn. But people get defensive when they hear bad things about their work, so we try to convey it in a way that encourages them to continue the good stuff and constructively addresses the not-so-good.

We often need to realize that achieving excellence only happens after we have failed at something repeatedly. Framing learning as a process and a difficult one can make those setbacks seem less devastating. Episode 10 shares some ways to do that.