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026. Susan Friedman, PhD 

 October 11, 2018

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What does it mean to be a bold learner? That's a phrase Dr. Susan Friedman uses often in her lectures, and it resonated with me.

As children, many of us (me!) absorbed the message that being wrong was bad, that mistakes would be penalized, and that revealing ignorance was cause for shame.

Often this turned us into timid learners, scrabbling for a foothold and trying to figure things out as we went, hoping no one would notice our incompetence. (Again, me!)

But there's another way to teach, a way that embraces mistakes as honest attempts to learn and understand, that encourages curiosity as a route to discovery, and rewards participation to stimulate personal growth.

I hope you'll listen in on this great conversation. We explored the freeing aspects of getting away from the labels we ascribe to behavior (e.g., stubborn, dominant, stupid, selfish, clingy). Labels and stories can help or hurt behavior.

Each of us is the result of our personal learning history. By being aware of ways it has helped us and ways it has held us back, we can become bold learners in our own right.

Susan Friedman, PhD, and Joe


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