Reflect, Recharge, and Reignite: EduMagic Holiday Reflection Guide for Future Teachers E288

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 proud 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. Edge Magicians and welcome back to another episode of the Edge Magic Podcast. I'm your host, Doctor Samantha Festich, and I am so glad you're listening in. As we wrap up this year, I wanted to share something special and give you a little gift this holiday season. First, we know that reflection is one of the most powerful tools that we have as educators. It helps us pause, celebrate those wins big and small, and allows us to set intentions for the new year. So today I am gifting you 7 reflection questions, one for each chapter of the Edgy Magic book. Now if you don't have the book Edgy Magic, go ahead, pop it in your Amazon cart or go find it in your local library.

1:28 Edgy Magic is a book that's written specifically for aspiring educators just like you, and this reflection guide is going goes along with each of the chapters. It's going to help you recharge and reignite that passion for teaching. So grab your favorite holiday inspired drink, your journal, your copy of edgy magic, a guide for pre service teachers and this reflection guide. You can find it on over in the show notes or if you're on my e-mail list, you will have out of your e-mail. If you're not on my e-mail list, head on over to sfestish.com. That's SFEC, ich.com and you can click on Find my student teaching superpower and you will be added to my weekly list where you'll get information and tips and strategies to help you as a college student, as a pre service teacher, and as a student teacher. So let's start first.

2:23 Before we jump into our questions, let's talk about why reflection is so important. When we take time to reflect, we're not just looking back, we're actually leaning and learning forward, right? It helps us to grow and stay grounded in our why. Make intentional choices and plan ahead. So as you listen, I encourage you to pause after each question, jot down a few thoughts, or you can download the guide and we can get started again. It's over in the show notes. Let's start with our first chapter in Edgy Magic, Your Why. So the question for this one is, what inspires you to be a teacher? Why do you want to be an educator? Go ahead and jot down your why. This might be a bullet point. This might be a story, this might be a statement. And if you've ever been to any conference where I where I was a vendor, you will notice that I have a why. I teach cards and I give them out whenever I speak or whenever I'm a vendor because it's so important to keep us in the loop as to what our why is and keep that focus. You can hang that up in your dorm room. You can hang it up on your desk just to keep your focus. And why do you want to be an educator? Chapter 2 is all about your professional learning network or your PLN.

3:34 So go ahead and think about this question would be, how can you build a strong PLN to help you grow as a teacher and grow as a learner? What's one step that you can do to help you expand your networking opportunities? Whether that's on LinkedIn or Instagram or Pinterest, you're making those connections, sharing your ideas, and gaining resources as you go. The 3rd chapter of Edgy Magic. It's all about honing in on your digital presence. You want your positive and professional self to shine through on a Google search, right? So that starts by owning your digital footprint.

4:14 Because if you're not controlling it, then who is? You want your digital footprint footprint to be positive and professional as a future teacher. So what are some ways that you are making sure that your online presence reflects you as a professional educator? What are some things that you're sharing and doing and learning about? I also recommend with this one an action item, which is Googling yourself. Google your first and last name and see what comes up. Is it cringy? Is it something that are like, oh, that's positive and maybe think about sharing that. So you want your positive professional self to shine through. You want to keep that personal protected and private. Chapter 4 is all about making those classroom connections and classroom management.

4:59 So the reflection question for Chapter 4, what strategies can you use to make meaningful connections with your students? Really building those relationships with your learners from day one is super important. Even as a field student or an observer, building those connections very important. As an educator, it really does set the stage for classroom management, lesson design, and lesson delivery. Chapter 5 is one of my favorite chapters in Edgy Magic. A guide for pre service teachers is about technology. So how can technology enhance your lessons? How can IT support or differentiate material for learners? How can IT support the way you're teaching your students? How can it help collect data?

5:39 So there's lots of different ways you can integrate technology into the classroom as a support to augment but not to replace. An action item I have for this chapter would be try something new, try out a new tech tool over the break, see if you can get certified in it or become I'm a certified educator in it like near POD or Paradec Magic school. There's so many different ways you can continue to learn. That would be a great one to really build your educational technology muscle. Chapter 6 is all about having a growth mindset and this is about how can you really think about maybe being in the students shoes facing a challenge. So thinking about a challenge that you face during your teacher journey and how did you have the growth mindset to overcome it?

6:22 Remember, it's important to reframe mistakes. These are learning opportunities and the last chapter of Edgy Magic Reflection and self-care. Why is it important for educators to reflect? Well, we know it's in the Danielson framework. It's a part of our job. It's what we do, whether reflecting on lesson design, delivery, content, materials, resources, feedback, or on our own professional development. And I would love for you to practice your action item for this chapter is scheduling self-care. So you can schedule it like a meeting with yourself. And you don't want to ever reschedule that. So make sure you're putting in time for you as an educator because we know that teaching can be a 24/7 job if we let it. Teaching is a part of our identity. It's not all of who we are.

7:05 We are of many facets. We have lots of different features. So make sure you set those boundaries and practice self-care as an educator. All right friends, I hope you enjoyed this quick episode with a beautiful little gift for you. 7 reflection questions as you read through Edu Magic, A Guide for Pre Service Teachers book this holiday season. I hope you enjoy it. I hope you take time to reflect, engage and interact with these reflection questions. Thanks. Thank you so much for being part of this community. I hope that these help these questions really help you reflect and recharge and reignite your passion for teaching. Don't forget to grab this reflection guide over in the show notes. And I would love to see how you're using it.

7:45 Make sure you tag me on Instagram at aspessage. That's SFECICHI. Would love to see how you're using it and what you've come up with. Wishing you peace this holiday season. And you got this because you know what? You have the edgy magic within you. Bye for now. And there you have it, edgy 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.

8:28 Until next time you have the Edu Magic within you.