Ready for Spring? 5 Reflection Questions for Winter Break

0:02 Hello Edu Magicians, welcome to the Edu Magic podcast with your host, Doctor Sam Fessich. Doctor Sam is a professor of education, author of Edu Magic, and a Pumpkin Spice Latte fan. This podcast is designed for pre service teachers. Remember friends, teaching doesn't begin at graduation, but during that first class at 8:00 AM. Let's get this party started. This podcast is a crowd member of Teach Better Podcast Network, Better Today, Better Tomorrow and the podcast to get you there. Explore more podcasts at www.teachbetterpodcastnetwork.com.

0:44 Now let's get on to the episode. Hello there, Edge Magicians, and welcome back to another episode of the Edgy Magic Podcast. My name is Doctor Sandthesic, and today we're going to talk about the fall semester is over. We're going in the spring. What do I do during winter break? There's so many things that you can do to be thinking about and getting ready for the spring semester now that your fall semester has ended. And if you're a first semester student, there's a lot of reflection that can be done during this time so you can hit the ground running during your spring semester. So let's talk about some important ways to wrap up the fall semester and head into winter because we are ready to go for spring.

1:29 First and foremost, it's really important to reflect. Reflection isn't just for you as a future teacher. It's also for you as a college student, taking the time to pause and think about what study strategies worked for you, what places you like to study with, who you enjoy spending your time with, and what you can do differently can set you up for a really amazing spring semester. So I recommend going your favorite coffee shop. Or maybe you're like me, you want to be on the couch to the cuppa hot cocoa, That's cool too. And dive into some of these reflection questions. You can head off to the show notes to find a printable for your own.

2:13 Let's talk about some of these reflection questions. What are some things you are most proud of this semester besides your grades? Remember, grades don't tell the full story. They tell a snapshot in time about how you did in a single course. Yes, those grades add up to your GPA, but they do not define you and they are not the entire story of what happened this semester. So maybe you had a really rough start to the fall semester and your grades reflected that. Please do not stress about it. Know that you can continue to do better in the spring by taking some time to reflect, you can really hit the ground running. So what are some things you're proud of during this semester? Did you join a new club?

3:00 Did you take on a leadership role in an educational organization? Maybe you presented at a conference. Shout out to the students you presented at KSLA this semester. Maybe you made some new friends, or have a new friend group, or changed friend groups. Maybe you were able to learn something new, a new skill. Did you pick up a new job, an internship or a tutoring job? So many different things beyond grades that you can be proud of. So go ahead and jot down a few of your proudest memories, proudest accomplishments that you had this semester. Next, what strategies are you going to carry into the spring semester? What worked really well for you?

3:46 Are you the type of person that likes to have everything planned out on your Google Calendar or Outlook calendar? Do you use Microsoft to do to check off all those little tasks and really make a big task and drill it down into multiple areas that you can complete? Maybe you'd like 1 though, and you'd like to check off things there too and have a table that's organized with all of your classes and extracurriculars. Or maybe you'd like to have a planner and put everything in there. So what worked well? Do you like the digitally plan? Do you like the paper pencil plan? Did study groups work well for you or did you find that you did better with individual study time in a quiet space? Did you find a nice space to study? Did you check out the library or individual study rooms?

4:28 Or maybe you are a big fan of coffee shops? What worked well for you? What strategies helped you succeed regarding self-care and maintaining a healthy work slash student life balance? Did you work out? Did you eat healthy? Did you go for a walk after class? Did you review your notes? Did you stay on top of your assignment? So think about what helps you succeed and how you're going to bring them into that spring semester. Everybody has challenges that they're overcoming, so where's marriage that you struggled with? What are some resources on campus that can help support you next semester? Maybe you really struggled with mental health. Go look on campus to find mental health resources, counselors, and support.

5:18 Maybe you were struggling with time management and go to one of the career counselors on campus. Maybe you were struggling with keeping up with all the work in and out of class. Again, go find someone on campus that can help support you and maybe an academic success center could be helpful or attending tutoring sessions. So go look for tutoring sessions available in topics that you're looking at. You're looking at your schedule for next semester. I'm going to need some help in that stats class. Go and look for tutoring sessions day one for that stats class. Maybe you can even visit professor office hours. Guess what, these office hours are not just to talk about how you're doing in class or an assignment, but these are that. These are here to help you getting to know their professor or seeing how they're doing, seeing how you're doing in a class.

6:16 What are some extra resources you can explore? Are there campus workshops available at the beginning of the semester that can help you in tasks like time management and planning? Go ahead and check them out. Are there different organizations that can support you as a resource for next semester? Our 4th question is how did you contribute to campus community? Do you want to get more involved? Do you feel like you're taking on too much? So really reflect? Were you able to dive into a specific campus community group or organization? Did you give it your all or did you feel like you weren't able to give everything because you're you really spread yourself them. So really think about the events you attended, the events you volunteered at, maybe presented or attended a professional in development.

7:07 Really think about which organizations are helping you and which ones are spreading you. To think you want to engage with the campus community because you never know where that can lead. That can lead to leadership opportunities, networking, and maybe even a job. So make sure you don't spread yourself too thin when you're exploring lots of different organizations and groups on campus. Pick a few that fit you and your schedule and your passion areas. Our last reflection question is, what is one goal that you want to do this semester? Is it an academic goal? Is it a social goal? Is it a personal goal? Make it something that is achievable and reasonable and time bound and something you can track throughout your spring semester.

7:53 Maybe you want to go to the gym three times a week. Maybe that's a personal goal of yours. Maybe you want to turn in all of your assignments. That's an academic goal of yours. So I think about how can you track that? How can you monitor your progress? Maybe for the social goal, you want to engage in a campus organization at least once a month. Track that you can make it exciting, make it achievable. Create something really fun on Canva to track that skill. Speaking of an involvement, just like we're going to get involved in campus, right? Winter break is the perfect time to explore those opportunities. Check out your university's website for clubs and organizations, service projects and get involved to make those connections and to network and build those leadership skills. Take some time to reflect.

8:44 Write down your responses. It doesn't have to be paragraphs, it can just be bullet points. Share them, post about them. I would love to see what you're doing this spring semester from what you learned about yourself in the fall. Remember, when you're looking at those grades that come out, it's just one piece of the puzzle. You are so much more than that grade or that percentage. You are an amazing educator. You're an educator of excellence. Let's keep that going in the spring semester. You have the edgy magic within you. Bye for now.

9:32 And there you have it, Edu Magicians. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share it with your friends. For more Edu Magic, check out S fessage.com and follow Doctor Sam on Twitter and Instagram at S fessage. Until next time you have the Edu Magic within you.