January 1, 2026 • 26 mins
The holidays may be over, but the magic of teaching never ends. Let’s celebrate the 12 Days of EduMagic with a series of focused gifts to help future teachers, education majors, and student teachers thrive from their first 8:00 AM class to student teaching and beyond.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Hello Edu Magicians, welcome to the Edu Magic podcast with your
host, Doctor Sam Fesich. Doctor Sam is a professor of
education, author of Edu Magic, and a Pumpkin Spice Latte fan.
This podcast is designed for preservice teachers.
Remember friends, teaching doesn't begin at graduation, but
(00:23):
during that first class at 8:00 AM.
Let's get this party started. This podcast is a proud member
of the Teachbetter Podcast Network, Better Today, Better
Tomorrow and the podcast to get you there.
Explore more podcasts at www.teachbetterpodcastnetwork.com.
(00:44):
Now let's get on to the episode.Hello Edgy Magicians and welcome
back to another episode of the Edgy Magic Podcast.
My name is Doctor Sam Fessage and I know the holidays are
over, but I would love to celebrate the 12 days of veggie
magic with you. So let's TuneIn and check it
out. So my first gift to you on this
(01:05):
12 days of Edgy Magic. And if you've been following me
over on Instagram, you have seenthem already posted, but I'd
love to cover them more in depthduring today's episode.
So on day one, I gave you the Find your teaching superpower
quiz, reflect on your strengths as an educator and resources to
help support you. You can find it over on S
(01:27):
festish.com. Just click on what's your
teaching superpower and you can find out more about your
specific teaching superpower. For example, are you an
empathetic teacher? Are you a caring and supportive
teacher? So those are just two of the
types of super teachers that we have, but there's four.
So go ahead and find out which one you are.
On the second day of Edgy Magic,I'm giving you 2 pieces of
(01:50):
inspiration. You can find both on S
festish.com. One is the podcast you're
listening to now, Edgy Magic. You can find it wherever you
listen to podcasts and the otheris the blog at
sfestish.com/blog. So you can find out resources,
materials just for future teachers like you to help
(02:13):
support you during your college career.
Field experiences, observation, and student teaching help you go
into the classroom with confidence that you are an
educator of excellence. On the third day of Instagram I
gave you 3 resources to help youbuild.
On the third day of Edgy magic Igave you 3 resources to help you
(02:39):
build your Instagram profile as a future teacher and some ideas
to help support you and to post about S 1st tip would be to add
in a profile picture of just youin the bio section.
Add in aspiring educator, futureteacher, pre service teacher,
(03:00):
and if you wanted to put in information like early education
major, he could do that as well.And then the next tip would be
to add in and post content that you're excited about, things
that you're learning about, strategies and methods, tech
tools and techniques that you'relearning about in your
coursework. And you can find out more on
(03:20):
aspessage.com slash Instagram. For future teachers voting
connections. There's a great blog post that
I'll put down in the show notes that you can find out more about
how to build your Instagram profile as a future educator.
On the 4th day of Edgy Magic, I brought you 4 interview tips and
(03:41):
these can be used during the endof student teaching or if you're
looking for a summer internship.So make sure you research the
district or the place in which you want to internship.
Look beyond their mission and their vision statement and
identify ways in which you alignto those values.
(04:02):
Make sure you have your clothes set and ready to go for your
interview the night before. Because you don't want to have
to think about what am I going to wear?
What if that doesn't fit? What that doesn't go with those
pants or that skirt? You want to have it all figured
out the night before, making sure things are ironed and clean
and ready to go. Because the first thing is you
(04:23):
wake up, you think, OK, I'm going to wear my this one pair
of pants and they're not clean. Now I have to find a different
pair. That's the worst.
The third tip for interview tipswould be bring something to
share during the interview. And I don't mean cookies or
coffee. I mean perhaps a resume
brochure. And you can head on over to my
(04:43):
Edgy Magic store and Teacherspayteachers to find a
editable brochure that you can turn your resume into, that you
can give the interviewers. And it highlights your skills,
your strengths, and your talentsas an educator.
Next, you're going to want to make sure you have questions
when they come to you and they say, what questions do you have?
(05:04):
You don't want to say none, I'm all good, see ya.
You want to have at least one ortwo quality questions prepared
ahead of time for that interview.
Now, you want these questions tobe things that can't be Google
able and things that aren't easily searched.
For example, one question could be how long have you worked here
and what brings you back every day?
(05:25):
Something like that. But make it personalized to
wherever you're applying. And you can find more of these
tips in addition to these4@sfesters.com/interviewtips.
On the 5th day of Edgy Magic, I am giving you 5 reasons why you
(05:47):
need the book Edgy Magic, the Guide for Pre Service Teachers
in your life. First, it's a road map to help
you as a future educator. It quotes different pre service
teachers who have been in your shoes, so you're not alone.
It's filled with practical strategies, reflection prompts,
and tools to help you support tosupport you throughout your
(06:07):
college career and beyond. It helps you build a
professional brand as a future teacher.
Because remember, if you are being googled by a district and
spoiler, you will be googled by a district.
You want that positive professional presence to show
up. And as you magic a guide for pre
service teacher talks you through exactly how to build
(06:28):
your positive professional digital presence, you're also
going to learn about how to build a teaching portfolio and
get ready for the interview using your teaching portfolio
that you build. So this is sometimes called a
teaching website and in the bookand walk you through how to
build 1 to help you as a tool for reflection, a tool to keep
(06:49):
all your resources and materialstogether, a way to reflect on
your teaching and your skills asan educator.
There's a wonderful resource that you can use during an
interview and as a way to collect content throughout your
college career. And lastly, there are so many
resources in Edgy Magic, a guidefor pre service teachers that
(07:12):
are classroom ready so you can hit that classroom running and
ready to go as a student teacheror as a field student.
There's resources and ideas thatother pre service teachers have
done that you can use and adapt for your own.
On the 6th day of Edgy Magic, I give you 6 interview tips.
So the first one is using AQR code to share a story.
(07:36):
So using AQR code on your resumeor on your resume brochure is
really powerful. You can have a link to audio or
video that really brings that example to life.
You can create an introduction video to put onto your website
or on that QR code using Animotoor Canva and this can show
(07:58):
pictures and audio and video of you living out your teacher
life, your best teacher life. You can think about the
interview process. It might not be the same across
every district that you apply for.
So knowing that ahead of time and not to expect like the
second round interview at every district that you apply for to
(08:21):
be a teaching demo. Sometimes it's more content
driven questions, sometimes it'sa teaching demo.
Some districts have 3 rounds interviews, some have two, some
have 4. Some are with students, some are
with not so understanding. The teaching interview process
is different throughout districts which are also really
important. You also wanna make sure that
you treat everyone well and senda thank you note as soon as you
(08:43):
get back in your car that day. So make sure you send a thank
you note. Introduce yourself to everyone,
give them a handshake and a smile, make eye contact, use
their first names or however they introduce themselves you
During your interview, be respectful and kind to everyone
from the administrative assistant to the principal to
other educators in the room of that interview.
(09:05):
You wanna show your best self, So be kind, respectful
throughout that interview process to everybody.
And there's a wonderful resourcethat goes along with the 6th day
of edgy magic, which is asfesters.com.
How to stand out from the stack of resumes.
You'll find these and more resources to help you during the
(09:25):
interview process. On the 7th day of Edgy Magic, I
gave you 7 tech tools to help you in your future classroom.
These can be tools that can helpresources be more interactive
and engaging for students. They can help with data
collection, and of course, it's going to help you with your
technology skills. So some tools I recommend trying
(09:47):
would be nearpod the Hoot, LucidCamba for Education.
And did you know that your.edu account for your school or your
university is like a gold mine, a treasure trove that can unlock
lots of free stuff with wheneveryou sign up.
So use it for Canva for education.
Sign up for your.edu and you'll get access to the teacher
(10:09):
resources on Canva. Other resources include book
creator, Ed puzzle, classroom screen and immersive reader.
And I will link to all those additional blog posts over in
our show notes so you can check them out.
I definitely recommend Costume Screen.
It seems like they are always adding in fantastic updates.
(10:30):
Some of my favorite ones with Classroom Screen are the timer,
the group creator, and of coursethe background with the squirrel
on it. He's a great teaching assistant.
So if you've used Classroom Screen, you know what I'm
talking about. On the 8th day of edgy magic, I
gave you 8 LinkedIn profile tipsto have a lovely LinkedIn
(10:51):
profile. First is a professional photo.
You know, choose a clear pictureof just you in the LinkedIn
website. Have a headline that really
pops. So instead of saying student,
you can have something aspiring elementary teacher password
attack those types of things in the about section.
(11:12):
Share your teaching philosophy. Make it professional, personal
just for you. So why did you choose to become
an educator? And if you're looking for a
great resource to help you create your teaching philosophy,
if you head on over to my Teachers by Teachers store, you
will find a Write Your teaching Philosophy template that'll help
support you to create something beautiful and meaningful.
(11:32):
In your LinkedIn profile. You also want to make sure you
show off your experience, including tutoring or volunteer
work, ways that you have helped support teaching and learning.
You can also include leadership roles as well in your LinkedIn
profile if you have leadership roles that you have done
throughout your college career. You also want to make sure you
(11:56):
highlight your degrees. Certifications.
If you are certified in any educational technology tools,
for example, like Microsoft or Google, make sure you pop that
in there. Skills and endorsement.
You can put things like educational technology,
classroom management. Those fit really well in skills
and endorsements. Any clearances could go over
there too. You also want to make sure you
(12:18):
engage on LinkedIn. So not just post and ghost.
You want to share posts, but things that you're learning
about. And you can also put your
LinkedIn profile on your resume as a link and or a QR code.
And in your LinkedIn resume, youcan link back to your digital
portfolio. So you want to make sure
everything talks to each other. The last thing I recommend for
(12:40):
LinkedIn to really make it pop is to customize your URL.
On the right side of LinkedIn, whenever you're logged in to
editing, you can customize your URL.
So my recommendation is to make it clean and professional.
For example, linkedin.com/yourname first and
last name, and that works reallywell for LinkedIn.
(13:01):
So you can also share that really easily on social media
and on your resume. All right, on the 9th day of
edgy magic, I have ways to balance school work and having a
life outside of school. Right, 'cause we know it can be
really difficult as a college student, as a student teacher,
how do you balance it all? A lot of posts that I wrote that
(13:23):
time management and having balance is like a Unicorn.
It doesn't exist. Some days you're going to have
days in which you're more busy with school work and then there
are days you can invest more in yourself and in your family and
friends. You want to have a little bit of
everything in your day. So some strategies, I share 9
different strategies. Some of them include time
blocking, so looking at your calendar and blocking out time
(13:46):
for studying, for classes, for time with friends, for working
out, those types of things, making sure you're looking at
your tasks and can you categorize them into things that
I have to do, things that I should probably do and things
that I could work on? So for example, must do would be
turning in an assignment before the due date, right?
Should do. You could probably start
(14:07):
studying for that quiz that's coming up in a week, right?
Starting just to review your notes and getting things
organized, you could do, you could organize your desk so you
are ready to go and have a greatstudy session, a weekly preview.
So looking at your week ahead onmaybe a Sunday or a Saturday and
blocking out time. What are sometimes that you have
scheduled? What are some open times, what
(14:28):
something you'd like to do that week.
So really looking ahead and previewing your week ahead could
be helpful in organizing your time and managing that focusing
in whenever it's time to study. I really like the Pomodoro
method where you have 25 minutesof, you know, you focus in and
you have a 5 minute break. And if you're having a hard time
getting started, just telling yourself, OK, just going to
(14:51):
study for 5 minutes. And usually it'll last more than
that. For example, when I go to the
gym, like hey, just going to lift for 5 minutes, I end up
staying there for like 2530, I mean, which is great.
So just getting started sometimes can be helpful, can be
helpful if you just think just going to do a 5 minutes.
So set that timer for 25 and then take a little 5 minute
break. Looking at your schedule and
(15:14):
using a way to break down your big tasks.
Having like a template or a Worddoc or a OneNote notebook open
or even a page on a notebook that's the same that you can use
throughout each week. So you put in your top three
priorities, what are the things you must get done or things you
should get done and could get done and then prioritize
(15:37):
surprise that, but having a template that you can work on so
you're not recreating from scratch every week.
Having a non negotiable list. What are the things that are not
coming off your calendar? For example, going to class
right, But also maybe you have on there.
Another non negotiable is moving30 minutes during the day for
three days a week. Or maybe a non negotiable is I
(16:00):
shut down my computer at 5:00 and I don't open it up again
till 8:00 PM. Or maybe another non negotiable
is lunch with friends three or four days a week, scheduling
time for family and friends and for yourself.
So actually make appointments onyour calendar for yourself so
you don't break that time. So you invest in yourself and
(16:22):
you do things that you enjoy andhobbies and hang out with
friends and call your family andtalk to your friends.
Oftentimes teaching can be a 24/7 job if we let it.
So make sure you schedule in time for those who are important
to you. Next would be to prioritize
sleep. I know that sounds really
(16:42):
simple, but you need to be able to get quality sleep so you can
have a great day, you know, the day, the next day.
So aim for 7 to 8 hours of sleep.
Her body will thank you. And then a last tip for the 9th
day of edgy magic, which was balance the busy with the with
(17:04):
teaching would be, you know, stay active.
You know, body in motion tends to stay in motion.
So continue to move to move throughout your day and schedule
it in with things you enjoy. Or maybe try a new class at the
gym or try a new workout routineor try a new walk to class, a
(17:24):
new route. You can add in movement in lots
of different ways. On the 10th day of Edgy Magic,
we gave you several ways to slaya field observation.
So first way, be early and readyto learn, but don't be like 1/2
hour early, like 15 minutes is just fine.
You want to give yourself enoughtime to park and get acclimated
to the building. Introduce yourself to
(17:46):
administrative assistant, let them know why you're here and
arrive in the classroom. Have writing utensil and
notebook ready to go. You want to make sure you take
notes in a notebook or with pencil and pen.
You don't want to have your laptop out 'cause that could be
distracting. And you also want to leave your
phone in your bag or in your car.
Do not check it. And if you're having a hard time
(18:09):
like not checking your phone, try little bits at a time, not
checking it and setting timers on your apps so you're not
spending three hours scrolling TikTok.
So start to practice that your future self will thank you and
you will feel less anxious when you're not around your phone.
(18:29):
Make sure you know what you're observing and what you're to be
looking for because you don't want to go into an observation
and then look at like, oh, I should have looked at this or I
didn't notice, didn't go into the right classroom or the right
type of classroom. So you want to make sure that
you're clear on what you need toobserve during that field work.
And you can look at your professor's rubric or syllabus
to identify what you know, specific needs There are you
(18:52):
want to look at classroom management techniques.
What are the verbal cues, nonverbal cues that the
teacher's using? What are some call and
responses? What are the procedures and
policies you want to look at? What technology is used and why
it's being used? Not just as one more thing, but
what's the purpose behind using the technology?
If you're able to engage with students, walk around, read them
(19:15):
at the doors, ask the teacher how you can get involved in
small ways. Can you observe other classes
and specialists? Are you able to observe a lower
grade and upper grade? Are you able to observe physical
therapy, occupational therapy, speech, or a computer class or a
music class? You never know where you might
get your next great teaching idea.
(19:36):
You want to also make sure that you send a professional, I think
you know, to the teacher and to the others that and to others
that you observed, thanking themfor their time and allowing you
in their classroom. If you had interactions with the
principal, please make sure you send them a thank you note as
well. And always be professional.
You're representing your school and yourself.
(19:58):
And you never know where that observation could lead.
It could lead to field work. It could lead to student
teaching. It could lead to an interview.
You never know. And there are more resources
about this type of content for field observation at.
Ss.com/sophomore year, the year to get serious.
On day 11 of Edgy Magic, I gave you 11 prompts to think about to
(20:23):
guide an observation. So kind of focusing a little bit
more on those policies and procedures because it can be
really daunting to go into a classroom and sit there with a
blank sheet of paper and like, ah, and I know what I'm serving.
There's so much I'm looking at, I don't even know what to do.
So here are 11 prompts are goingto help you out.
And of course, there are resources to help you with
observation in on the blog as well.
(20:47):
There's a great blog post that Ihave called Observation with
Trust and Support featuring Craig Randall.
You can go ahead and check out that resource for even more
content regarding observations. All right, so some prompts to
think about when you're observing.
What's the entrance protocol? How do students enter the room?
What are the expectations? How are students desks arranged?
(21:07):
Are they moved around at all throughout the day?
Does it depend on the content that they're learning or the
type of strategy the teacher's using for desk placement?
Where and how do students get materials and resources?
Are they able to just get up andget them?
Do they have to ask, you know, what types of resources are
available to them? What's the attendance policy and
where is it reported? What's the late policy for any
(21:30):
assignments? How are grades recorded and
reported back to students and families?
Which curriculum is used for each subject and what's the
pacing when, scope and sequence of that curriculum?
Where's the emergency information for students kept
and how is it accessed? Who has access to it?
What's the schedule for the day or the week or the month?
(21:51):
Do they do day schedules? Did they do ABC schedules?
How is it organized? Is there a social emotional
learning component to the curriculum or to the classroom
space? How do students exit the
classroom? When do they engage with each
other? Is it more teacher or student
driven curriculum? So just a few things to be
looking for during your observation.
(22:14):
And then on the last day of EdgyMagic, I gave you a fantastic
resource and it's actually on sale through tomorrow, January
2nd, and it's called the Edgy Magic Student Teacher Planner.
This is the ultimate guide for student teachers to get
organized and ready to go for student teaching and spring
(22:36):
2026. You can find it over my Teachers
Day Teachers store, but let me talk you through it a little
bit. So this resource, you can use it
digitally, you can print it out or you can use it in OneNote or
Canva, whatever you would like digitally, and you can print it
out and you can write all over it.
I prefer the printed method, butit is a lot of paper to print.
(22:58):
It's over 300 pages of content. So it has monthly calendars,
weekly calendars, daily schedules, Lesson plan
templates, student grouping guides, a page full of resources
to help you get started with QR codes, and specific blog posts
and podcast episodes for different topics.
(23:19):
It has 15 weeks of reflection prompts for student teaching,
something for you to focus on each week.
That also is a place for you to document your teaching
observation hours and big questions throughout the week
that you may have. There's also resources to
document student preferences, student birthday, student
(23:44):
interest. It's just a treasure trove of
resources to help you get ready for student teaching.
This is something that I wish I had as a student teacher.
It's something that I recommend all student teachers grab
because you're going to need it and it really helps to solidify.
What do I put in my student teacher planner?
What do I put in my binder? How do I organize my through
(24:04):
ring binder? This is going to help support
you. It has places for you to put
your observation notes, your supervisor evaluations, your
mentor teacher evaluations. It has a place for everything.
You will not get disorganized with this tool.
So again, you can head on over to him, My Teacherspayteachers
(24:25):
store. It's here in the show notes.
Go ahead and grab it and you canget it on sale today, January
1st through January 2nd, 20% off.
So go ahead and grab it. It is a fantastic resource to
our future self. Well, thank you.
Especially in January when you're heading in to your first
student. You can also use this resource
(24:46):
as a field placement resource aswell.
If that's something you're in inyour college career and you're
in field placement, this is another fantastic resource for
you to grab too. All right, friends, we walk
through the 12 days of Veggie magic.
We talked through interview tips, We talked through
(25:07):
technology tools, and we came away with so many tips and
strategies. And these are all from resources
from the Edgy Magic podcast and blog.
I hope you have a fantastic 2026and let's keep celebrating your
wins, big and small. Remember, you have the Edgy
Magic within you. Bye for now.
(25:38):
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
(25:58):
Magic within you.
Hello Edu Magicians, welcome to the Edu Magic podcast with your
host, Doctor Sam Fesich. Doctor Sam is a professor of
education, author of Edu Magic, and a Pumpkin Spice Latte fan.
This podcast is designed for preservice teachers.
Remember friends, teaching doesn't begin at graduation, but
(00:23):
during that first class at 8:00 AM.
Let's get this party started. This podcast is a proud member
of the Teachbetter Podcast Network, Better Today, Better
Tomorrow and the podcast to get you there.
Explore more podcasts at www.teachbetterpodcastnetwork.com.
(00:44):
Now let's get on to the episode.Hello Edgy Magicians and welcome
back to another episode of the Edgy Magic Podcast.
My name is Doctor Sam Fessage and I know the holidays are
over, but I would love to celebrate the 12 days of veggie
magic with you. So let's TuneIn and check it
out. So my first gift to you on this
(01:05):
12 days of Edgy Magic. And if you've been following me
over on Instagram, you have seenthem already posted, but I'd
love to cover them more in depthduring today's episode.
So on day one, I gave you the Find your teaching superpower
quiz, reflect on your strengths as an educator and resources to
help support you. You can find it over on S
(01:27):
festish.com. Just click on what's your
teaching superpower and you can find out more about your
specific teaching superpower. For example, are you an
empathetic teacher? Are you a caring and supportive
teacher? So those are just two of the
types of super teachers that we have, but there's four.
So go ahead and find out which one you are.
On the second day of Edgy Magic,I'm giving you 2 pieces of
(01:50):
inspiration. You can find both on S
festish.com. One is the podcast you're
listening to now, Edgy Magic. You can find it wherever you
listen to podcasts and the otheris the blog at
sfestish.com/blog. So you can find out resources,
materials just for future teachers like you to help
(02:13):
support you during your college career.
Field experiences, observation, and student teaching help you go
into the classroom with confidence that you are an
educator of excellence. On the third day of Instagram I
gave you 3 resources to help youbuild.
On the third day of Edgy magic Igave you 3 resources to help you
(02:39):
build your Instagram profile as a future teacher and some ideas
to help support you and to post about S 1st tip would be to add
in a profile picture of just youin the bio section.
Add in aspiring educator, futureteacher, pre service teacher,
(03:00):
and if you wanted to put in information like early education
major, he could do that as well.And then the next tip would be
to add in and post content that you're excited about, things
that you're learning about, strategies and methods, tech
tools and techniques that you'relearning about in your
coursework. And you can find out more on
(03:20):
aspessage.com slash Instagram. For future teachers voting
connections. There's a great blog post that
I'll put down in the show notes that you can find out more about
how to build your Instagram profile as a future educator.
On the 4th day of Edgy Magic, I brought you 4 interview tips and
(03:41):
these can be used during the endof student teaching or if you're
looking for a summer internship.So make sure you research the
district or the place in which you want to internship.
Look beyond their mission and their vision statement and
identify ways in which you alignto those values.
(04:02):
Make sure you have your clothes set and ready to go for your
interview the night before. Because you don't want to have
to think about what am I going to wear?
What if that doesn't fit? What that doesn't go with those
pants or that skirt? You want to have it all figured
out the night before, making sure things are ironed and clean
and ready to go. Because the first thing is you
(04:23):
wake up, you think, OK, I'm going to wear my this one pair
of pants and they're not clean. Now I have to find a different
pair. That's the worst.
The third tip for interview tipswould be bring something to
share during the interview. And I don't mean cookies or
coffee. I mean perhaps a resume
brochure. And you can head on over to my
(04:43):
Edgy Magic store and Teacherspayteachers to find a
editable brochure that you can turn your resume into, that you
can give the interviewers. And it highlights your skills,
your strengths, and your talentsas an educator.
Next, you're going to want to make sure you have questions
when they come to you and they say, what questions do you have?
(05:04):
You don't want to say none, I'm all good, see ya.
You want to have at least one ortwo quality questions prepared
ahead of time for that interview.
Now, you want these questions tobe things that can't be Google
able and things that aren't easily searched.
For example, one question could be how long have you worked here
and what brings you back every day?
(05:25):
Something like that. But make it personalized to
wherever you're applying. And you can find more of these
tips in addition to these4@sfesters.com/interviewtips.
On the 5th day of Edgy Magic, I am giving you 5 reasons why you
(05:47):
need the book Edgy Magic, the Guide for Pre Service Teachers
in your life. First, it's a road map to help
you as a future educator. It quotes different pre service
teachers who have been in your shoes, so you're not alone.
It's filled with practical strategies, reflection prompts,
and tools to help you support tosupport you throughout your
(06:07):
college career and beyond. It helps you build a
professional brand as a future teacher.
Because remember, if you are being googled by a district and
spoiler, you will be googled by a district.
You want that positive professional presence to show
up. And as you magic a guide for pre
service teacher talks you through exactly how to build
(06:28):
your positive professional digital presence, you're also
going to learn about how to build a teaching portfolio and
get ready for the interview using your teaching portfolio
that you build. So this is sometimes called a
teaching website and in the bookand walk you through how to
build 1 to help you as a tool for reflection, a tool to keep
(06:49):
all your resources and materialstogether, a way to reflect on
your teaching and your skills asan educator.
There's a wonderful resource that you can use during an
interview and as a way to collect content throughout your
college career. And lastly, there are so many
resources in Edgy Magic, a guidefor pre service teachers that
(07:12):
are classroom ready so you can hit that classroom running and
ready to go as a student teacheror as a field student.
There's resources and ideas thatother pre service teachers have
done that you can use and adapt for your own.
On the 6th day of Edgy Magic, I give you 6 interview tips.
So the first one is using AQR code to share a story.
(07:36):
So using AQR code on your resumeor on your resume brochure is
really powerful. You can have a link to audio or
video that really brings that example to life.
You can create an introduction video to put onto your website
or on that QR code using Animotoor Canva and this can show
(07:58):
pictures and audio and video of you living out your teacher
life, your best teacher life. You can think about the
interview process. It might not be the same across
every district that you apply for.
So knowing that ahead of time and not to expect like the
second round interview at every district that you apply for to
(08:21):
be a teaching demo. Sometimes it's more content
driven questions, sometimes it'sa teaching demo.
Some districts have 3 rounds interviews, some have two, some
have 4. Some are with students, some are
with not so understanding. The teaching interview process
is different throughout districts which are also really
important. You also wanna make sure that
you treat everyone well and senda thank you note as soon as you
(08:43):
get back in your car that day. So make sure you send a thank
you note. Introduce yourself to everyone,
give them a handshake and a smile, make eye contact, use
their first names or however they introduce themselves you
During your interview, be respectful and kind to everyone
from the administrative assistant to the principal to
other educators in the room of that interview.
(09:05):
You wanna show your best self, So be kind, respectful
throughout that interview process to everybody.
And there's a wonderful resourcethat goes along with the 6th day
of edgy magic, which is asfesters.com.
How to stand out from the stack of resumes.
You'll find these and more resources to help you during the
(09:25):
interview process. On the 7th day of Edgy Magic, I
gave you 7 tech tools to help you in your future classroom.
These can be tools that can helpresources be more interactive
and engaging for students. They can help with data
collection, and of course, it's going to help you with your
technology skills. So some tools I recommend trying
(09:47):
would be nearpod the Hoot, LucidCamba for Education.
And did you know that your.edu account for your school or your
university is like a gold mine, a treasure trove that can unlock
lots of free stuff with wheneveryou sign up.
So use it for Canva for education.
Sign up for your.edu and you'll get access to the teacher
(10:09):
resources on Canva. Other resources include book
creator, Ed puzzle, classroom screen and immersive reader.
And I will link to all those additional blog posts over in
our show notes so you can check them out.
I definitely recommend Costume Screen.
It seems like they are always adding in fantastic updates.
(10:30):
Some of my favorite ones with Classroom Screen are the timer,
the group creator, and of coursethe background with the squirrel
on it. He's a great teaching assistant.
So if you've used Classroom Screen, you know what I'm
talking about. On the 8th day of edgy magic, I
gave you 8 LinkedIn profile tipsto have a lovely LinkedIn
(10:51):
profile. First is a professional photo.
You know, choose a clear pictureof just you in the LinkedIn
website. Have a headline that really
pops. So instead of saying student,
you can have something aspiring elementary teacher password
attack those types of things in the about section.
(11:12):
Share your teaching philosophy. Make it professional, personal
just for you. So why did you choose to become
an educator? And if you're looking for a
great resource to help you create your teaching philosophy,
if you head on over to my Teachers by Teachers store, you
will find a Write Your teaching Philosophy template that'll help
support you to create something beautiful and meaningful.
(11:32):
In your LinkedIn profile. You also want to make sure you
show off your experience, including tutoring or volunteer
work, ways that you have helped support teaching and learning.
You can also include leadership roles as well in your LinkedIn
profile if you have leadership roles that you have done
throughout your college career. You also want to make sure you
(11:56):
highlight your degrees. Certifications.
If you are certified in any educational technology tools,
for example, like Microsoft or Google, make sure you pop that
in there. Skills and endorsement.
You can put things like educational technology,
classroom management. Those fit really well in skills
and endorsements. Any clearances could go over
there too. You also want to make sure you
(12:18):
engage on LinkedIn. So not just post and ghost.
You want to share posts, but things that you're learning
about. And you can also put your
LinkedIn profile on your resume as a link and or a QR code.
And in your LinkedIn resume, youcan link back to your digital
portfolio. So you want to make sure
everything talks to each other. The last thing I recommend for
(12:40):
LinkedIn to really make it pop is to customize your URL.
On the right side of LinkedIn, whenever you're logged in to
editing, you can customize your URL.
So my recommendation is to make it clean and professional.
For example, linkedin.com/yourname first and
last name, and that works reallywell for LinkedIn.
(13:01):
So you can also share that really easily on social media
and on your resume. All right, on the 9th day of
edgy magic, I have ways to balance school work and having a
life outside of school. Right, 'cause we know it can be
really difficult as a college student, as a student teacher,
how do you balance it all? A lot of posts that I wrote that
(13:23):
time management and having balance is like a Unicorn.
It doesn't exist. Some days you're going to have
days in which you're more busy with school work and then there
are days you can invest more in yourself and in your family and
friends. You want to have a little bit of
everything in your day. So some strategies, I share 9
different strategies. Some of them include time
blocking, so looking at your calendar and blocking out time
(13:46):
for studying, for classes, for time with friends, for working
out, those types of things, making sure you're looking at
your tasks and can you categorize them into things that
I have to do, things that I should probably do and things
that I could work on? So for example, must do would be
turning in an assignment before the due date, right?
Should do. You could probably start
(14:07):
studying for that quiz that's coming up in a week, right?
Starting just to review your notes and getting things
organized, you could do, you could organize your desk so you
are ready to go and have a greatstudy session, a weekly preview.
So looking at your week ahead onmaybe a Sunday or a Saturday and
blocking out time. What are sometimes that you have
scheduled? What are some open times, what
(14:28):
something you'd like to do that week.
So really looking ahead and previewing your week ahead could
be helpful in organizing your time and managing that focusing
in whenever it's time to study. I really like the Pomodoro
method where you have 25 minutesof, you know, you focus in and
you have a 5 minute break. And if you're having a hard time
getting started, just telling yourself, OK, just going to
(14:51):
study for 5 minutes. And usually it'll last more than
that. For example, when I go to the
gym, like hey, just going to lift for 5 minutes, I end up
staying there for like 2530, I mean, which is great.
So just getting started sometimes can be helpful, can be
helpful if you just think just going to do a 5 minutes.
So set that timer for 25 and then take a little 5 minute
break. Looking at your schedule and
(15:14):
using a way to break down your big tasks.
Having like a template or a Worddoc or a OneNote notebook open
or even a page on a notebook that's the same that you can use
throughout each week. So you put in your top three
priorities, what are the things you must get done or things you
should get done and could get done and then prioritize
(15:37):
surprise that, but having a template that you can work on so
you're not recreating from scratch every week.
Having a non negotiable list. What are the things that are not
coming off your calendar? For example, going to class
right, But also maybe you have on there.
Another non negotiable is moving30 minutes during the day for
three days a week. Or maybe a non negotiable is I
(16:00):
shut down my computer at 5:00 and I don't open it up again
till 8:00 PM. Or maybe another non negotiable
is lunch with friends three or four days a week, scheduling
time for family and friends and for yourself.
So actually make appointments onyour calendar for yourself so
you don't break that time. So you invest in yourself and
(16:22):
you do things that you enjoy andhobbies and hang out with
friends and call your family andtalk to your friends.
Oftentimes teaching can be a 24/7 job if we let it.
So make sure you schedule in time for those who are important
to you. Next would be to prioritize
sleep. I know that sounds really
(16:42):
simple, but you need to be able to get quality sleep so you can
have a great day, you know, the day, the next day.
So aim for 7 to 8 hours of sleep.
Her body will thank you. And then a last tip for the 9th
day of edgy magic, which was balance the busy with the with
(17:04):
teaching would be, you know, stay active.
You know, body in motion tends to stay in motion.
So continue to move to move throughout your day and schedule
it in with things you enjoy. Or maybe try a new class at the
gym or try a new workout routineor try a new walk to class, a
(17:24):
new route. You can add in movement in lots
of different ways. On the 10th day of Edgy Magic,
we gave you several ways to slaya field observation.
So first way, be early and readyto learn, but don't be like 1/2
hour early, like 15 minutes is just fine.
You want to give yourself enoughtime to park and get acclimated
to the building. Introduce yourself to
(17:46):
administrative assistant, let them know why you're here and
arrive in the classroom. Have writing utensil and
notebook ready to go. You want to make sure you take
notes in a notebook or with pencil and pen.
You don't want to have your laptop out 'cause that could be
distracting. And you also want to leave your
phone in your bag or in your car.
Do not check it. And if you're having a hard time
(18:09):
like not checking your phone, try little bits at a time, not
checking it and setting timers on your apps so you're not
spending three hours scrolling TikTok.
So start to practice that your future self will thank you and
you will feel less anxious when you're not around your phone.
(18:29):
Make sure you know what you're observing and what you're to be
looking for because you don't want to go into an observation
and then look at like, oh, I should have looked at this or I
didn't notice, didn't go into the right classroom or the right
type of classroom. So you want to make sure that
you're clear on what you need toobserve during that field work.
And you can look at your professor's rubric or syllabus
to identify what you know, specific needs There are you
(18:52):
want to look at classroom management techniques.
What are the verbal cues, nonverbal cues that the
teacher's using? What are some call and
responses? What are the procedures and
policies you want to look at? What technology is used and why
it's being used? Not just as one more thing, but
what's the purpose behind using the technology?
If you're able to engage with students, walk around, read them
(19:15):
at the doors, ask the teacher how you can get involved in
small ways. Can you observe other classes
and specialists? Are you able to observe a lower
grade and upper grade? Are you able to observe physical
therapy, occupational therapy, speech, or a computer class or a
music class? You never know where you might
get your next great teaching idea.
(19:36):
You want to also make sure that you send a professional, I think
you know, to the teacher and to the others that and to others
that you observed, thanking themfor their time and allowing you
in their classroom. If you had interactions with the
principal, please make sure you send them a thank you note as
well. And always be professional.
You're representing your school and yourself.
(19:58):
And you never know where that observation could lead.
It could lead to field work. It could lead to student
teaching. It could lead to an interview.
You never know. And there are more resources
about this type of content for field observation at.
Ss.com/sophomore year, the year to get serious.
On day 11 of Edgy Magic, I gave you 11 prompts to think about to
(20:23):
guide an observation. So kind of focusing a little bit
more on those policies and procedures because it can be
really daunting to go into a classroom and sit there with a
blank sheet of paper and like, ah, and I know what I'm serving.
There's so much I'm looking at, I don't even know what to do.
So here are 11 prompts are goingto help you out.
And of course, there are resources to help you with
observation in on the blog as well.
(20:47):
There's a great blog post that Ihave called Observation with
Trust and Support featuring Craig Randall.
You can go ahead and check out that resource for even more
content regarding observations. All right, so some prompts to
think about when you're observing.
What's the entrance protocol? How do students enter the room?
What are the expectations? How are students desks arranged?
(21:07):
Are they moved around at all throughout the day?
Does it depend on the content that they're learning or the
type of strategy the teacher's using for desk placement?
Where and how do students get materials and resources?
Are they able to just get up andget them?
Do they have to ask, you know, what types of resources are
available to them? What's the attendance policy and
where is it reported? What's the late policy for any
(21:30):
assignments? How are grades recorded and
reported back to students and families?
Which curriculum is used for each subject and what's the
pacing when, scope and sequence of that curriculum?
Where's the emergency information for students kept
and how is it accessed? Who has access to it?
What's the schedule for the day or the week or the month?
(21:51):
Do they do day schedules? Did they do ABC schedules?
How is it organized? Is there a social emotional
learning component to the curriculum or to the classroom
space? How do students exit the
classroom? When do they engage with each
other? Is it more teacher or student
driven curriculum? So just a few things to be
looking for during your observation.
(22:14):
And then on the last day of EdgyMagic, I gave you a fantastic
resource and it's actually on sale through tomorrow, January
2nd, and it's called the Edgy Magic Student Teacher Planner.
This is the ultimate guide for student teachers to get
organized and ready to go for student teaching and spring
(22:36):
2026. You can find it over my Teachers
Day Teachers store, but let me talk you through it a little
bit. So this resource, you can use it
digitally, you can print it out or you can use it in OneNote or
Canva, whatever you would like digitally, and you can print it
out and you can write all over it.
I prefer the printed method, butit is a lot of paper to print.
(22:58):
It's over 300 pages of content. So it has monthly calendars,
weekly calendars, daily schedules, Lesson plan
templates, student grouping guides, a page full of resources
to help you get started with QR codes, and specific blog posts
and podcast episodes for different topics.
(23:19):
It has 15 weeks of reflection prompts for student teaching,
something for you to focus on each week.
That also is a place for you to document your teaching
observation hours and big questions throughout the week
that you may have. There's also resources to
document student preferences, student birthday, student
(23:44):
interest. It's just a treasure trove of
resources to help you get ready for student teaching.
This is something that I wish I had as a student teacher.
It's something that I recommend all student teachers grab
because you're going to need it and it really helps to solidify.
What do I put in my student teacher planner?
What do I put in my binder? How do I organize my through
(24:04):
ring binder? This is going to help support
you. It has places for you to put
your observation notes, your supervisor evaluations, your
mentor teacher evaluations. It has a place for everything.
You will not get disorganized with this tool.
So again, you can head on over to him, My Teacherspayteachers
(24:25):
store. It's here in the show notes.
Go ahead and grab it and you canget it on sale today, January
1st through January 2nd, 20% off.
So go ahead and grab it. It is a fantastic resource to
our future self. Well, thank you.
Especially in January when you're heading in to your first
student. You can also use this resource
(24:46):
as a field placement resource aswell.
If that's something you're in inyour college career and you're
in field placement, this is another fantastic resource for
you to grab too. All right, friends, we walk
through the 12 days of Veggie magic.
We talked through interview tips, We talked through
(25:07):
technology tools, and we came away with so many tips and
strategies. And these are all from resources
from the Edgy Magic podcast and blog.
I hope you have a fantastic 2026and let's keep celebrating your
wins, big and small. Remember, you have the Edgy
Magic within you. Bye for now.
(25:38):
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
(25:58):
Magic within you.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Two Guys, Five Rings: Matt, Bowen & The Olympics
Two Guys (Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers). Five Rings (you know, from the Olympics logo). One essential podcast for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Bowen Yang (SNL, Wicked) and Matt Rogers (Palm Royale, No Good Deed) of Las Culturistas are back for a second season of Two Guys, Five Rings, a collaboration with NBC Sports and iHeartRadio. In this 15-episode event, Bowen and Matt discuss the top storylines, obsess over Italian culture, and find out what really goes on in the Olympic Village.