Each semester, I invite some engaged students to talk about how to improve the course. During Fall 2020, the time of great COVID-19 sadness, one of them wrote this answer:

​...without further adieu, I created this page, and the sub-pages, and all the links, videos, and materials contained within so that no future students have the same concern.

Move from yourself, the student, to yourself, the teacher (or professor) by following the steps below to streamline your life.

Step 1: Weaponizing College

---

CDO Credentials File: If a professor, cooperating teacher, or supervisor compliments your teaching ability without documentation or evidence, does it still help to get you a job? 

You NEED recommendations. You need them from the best and most connected people possible. Collect and cultivate recommendations and relationships with the highest and lowest people with whom you have an interaction. How many teachers' phone numbers can you collect? D'ya know who has a letter of recommendation from their two, cooperating teachers? Everyone. D'ya know who has a letter of recommendation from the principals and secretaries of their student teaching placements? No one. Do you know how many teacher candidates I know with letters of recommendation from students they worked with? Only me. Standing out is about fitting in with the people who matter the most, and they live at the top and bottom of the totem pole. The people most people forget should be your targets.

Replace with image of appropriate Slides describing the importance of a CDO file.

So you've spent some time in field experiences? Cool...so has every other candidate!

Everyone thinks of a field experience as an exciting time to be around real teachers and students. College students in their field experiences assume that teachers, students, and principals will remember them. They wont. Unless you make yourself memorable. Here's how: spoiler alert, it has very little to do with wearing a tie or the correct shoes.

...idiots who don't know how to get jobs always prattle on about the importance of professional attire. You need to look professional, but what's more important is that you have documented proof that you ARE a professional. Walmart loafers and a button down work just fine when they're backed up by 35 letters of recommendation and unimpeachable evidence of your professionalism, and it's all possible to achieve during your normal coursework at Fredonia State!

Replace with Slides about evidence of authentic interaction and networking.

Building a resume happens in the real world before it can ever happen on paper.

Everyone worries about writing a resume, but before you write a resume, you need a collection of skills and experiences in the real world to describe in your resume. Work with kids whenever you have a chance, and document those experiences using the Slides information above. I helped a friend who works as an SLP create and refine her resume. She had SO MUCH raw material to start with: images working with kids, examples of student work, careful notes from work experience, related personal experience, etc. The resume wrote itself. I am not lying, last summer three districts called her unprompted to offer her a job because they found her three-year old, outdated resume posted online somewhere. They called based on what she had done before she started working. Look at the Slides to the right to see how to build a resume in the real world before ever sitting down to write it on a computer.

Replace with Slides about real-world resume building!

Scalability > Avoidance

Some students create scalable resources that they'll be able to apply to every unit of their teaching career. Other students reuse the same lesson plan for every course. Spoiler alert, I can tell the difference. Do you want to graduate having only written one lesson plan, and turned it into every course? Sure, it's easy, but then you go from one lesson plan per four years, to getting hired and writing three lesson plans per day, AND all the materials and assessments, AND all those assessments need to be graded, AND there's a CSE meeting that takes up both your preps and your lunch... Scalable is good; avoiding coursework is bad.

I can scale my digital field trip. I can use one in every unit. The structure, narrative voice, Prezi skills, linking, and Loom presentation are all universal. But each unit still needs a different Prezi and different organization and though.

Step 2: Resume and Cover Letter

I cannot stress enough: this step cannot happen without real world skills and experience. Follow the advice from the previous Slides before you type a single letter. If you haven't done anything worthwhile in your field, a resume will be troublesome to write. You need to think in terms of "how do I limit my resume to three pages" and not "how do I make a resume fill a whole page." 

What doesn't matter will never matter: debunking resume/cover letter myths:

People generally aim at the wrong target when they write their professional documents. Then they're surprised that no one notices them. If you're aiming at the wrong target, your arrow will never land on your dream job.

​They assume they're writing for an engaged and careful population of "hirers" devoted to the task of carefully reading every document. They're not. You're not important to them. You're one of fifteen positions they need to fill, and if you don't work out, they'll just get rid of you next year, and then not pay attention to the resume or cover letter of the candidate that will replace you. Before we start, let's debunk some myths.

Write for your actual audience, they're busy, and interviewing you is an extra thing that they don't need in their life, and your documents are, I guess, whatever. Let's see how you do?

Replace with Slides sharing resume and cover letter myths.

Resume Writing: Harnessing the Tao of the reader in 45 seconds or less...

When writing a resume, clarity is king. My resume method has proven 100% effective at job placement within six months, and has been applied to architecture, SLP, finance (...like, NYC finance, like the rich people who actually make money off of your 403b investments,) engineering, photography, coaching (swim and dive only, but the rules are universal,) and of course, teaching and education administration. Most people write resumes with weak writing skills, and hope to cover the fact that they cannot write well, so they use complex sentences and big words. None of that matters. Resumes are a world of parallel structure and skimming. Focus on what matters, it's almost nothing. ...oh yea, and anticipate and eliminate all pet peeves.

Replace with Slides about resume method.

I am writing this section to tell you how to write a cover letter. ...ugh. Please no!

"I am writing this letter to express my interest in the position of..." Don't think of the job you want. Think about the job you have. Would you ever read beyond the word "interest," if you were asked to serve on an interview committee? Neither would anyone else. ...and so they don't. By my reckoning, knowing my colleagues and administrators, I would say an average of 10 total words of a cover letter are ever read. Like a resume, almost nothing matters; what matters, matters immensely! Engage with the resources to the right to learn how to write a cover letter, and what simple mistakes to avoid.

Replace with cover letter Slides.

...on the importance of the digital portfolio.

The BEST part of web design is that in any building or room that I enter, my entire professional life is with me as long as the internet exists.

When I was interviewing for jobs, everything in the world was still on paper. Before an interview, I would think to myself, "is ten copies of my resume enough?" "Should I have included more student work in my copied, paper portfolio for the interviewers?" "Do I have what I need to prove I can teach and not just talk about teaching?"

Ever since creating my website (and working on it diligently for hours each day,) I never need to worry about carrying anything, or having what I need. Everything I need is everywhere I am, whether that's an interview, a PD during which I want to make the presenter feel self conscious, or at a Thanksgiving dinner when one of my extended family say, "those that can't do, TEACH!" 

Replace with digital portfolio Slides.

Step 3: Interview: Mirror>Window

Do you know who doesn't care about you? Anyone hiring teachers right now. Do you know who does care about themselves and their own agenda? Everyone hiring teachers right now. People want to see themselves reflected in the candidate. You can be yourself once you're tenured. At most, share some feelers, and respond in full "mirror" mode.

So... how many interviews before I get a job? What will I have to do?

While there will be some diversion from the rules shared in this section, the broad strokes will remain the same. The methods are many, but the rules are few. That's not my quote, I read that somewhere. Regardless, most districts follow very similar interview processes. The information shared in this section will prepare you for what to expect, and will hopefully allow you to use your time in college more productively.

It's a narrow road to landing a job, but walking the correct path takes practice and preparation, not luck.

What questions will they ask? How should I answer?

First of all, it's important for viewers to know, I'll update this list every year according to new educational norms, and whatever the hot buzzwords are at the moment. Interviewing is all about the buzz words and the evidence. It's also about knowing what will be asked, and what the correct answers are. Regardless of district, the correct answers are always the same. The jargon might change, but in this section I'll share all the possible interview questions you'll be asked, and how to answer them generically in a way that will get you hired, but with 5%-15% of your own spin.

Avoid these INTENTIONALLY CHOSEN facial expressions during your interview.

What questions should I ask? What answers should I expect?

The trick with questions is not to try to make yourself look good, but instead, to ingratiate yourself by allowing your interviewers to FEEL good. You'll have no way to know whether the interview committee is made up of amazing professionals or idiots, but regardless of the makeup, people love to feel smart, and in the context of the interview, they're in the position of power. The resources to the right will share some questions you can ask in your interview, and some sentence frames that might help you write some custom questions of your own.

In a perfect interview, all the pieces need to fit together. Tangram reference! Soon to be replaced by a meaningful resource.

Reading district interview protocol through inductive reasoning.

Some districts have incredibly strict interview policies to avoid favoritism and decisions based on unconscious bias. In other districts, committees kinda do whatever they want. Figuring out whether you're interviewing well in a district that is restricted by policy, or doing poorly in a district where interviewers would otherwise respond affirmatively is all a matter of observation. I hope you brought your Sherlock Holmes monocle... 

Replace with Slides sharing how to figure out protocol versus people.

Step 5: The Follow-Up

What happens after an interview is almost as important as what happens during that interview, and the twin punchlines need to be, "remember me," and "you're amazing!" People too often go with the punchline "Remember me? I'm amazing!" It's just an immediate turn off. Complimenting the district, and the interviewer's specific feedback and information is the key. Don't reach out to see if they listened, reach out to prove that you listened.