A Day in the Life

I remember one of the questions I always asked people when I was applying for jobs was what a typical work day looked like. More often than not, the response was, "Well, every day is different." And in fact, my job changes everyday, which I love. Knowing PP55 applications are due tomorrow, I thought it might be helpful to outline a typical day as a Communications Coordinator at a DC education nonprofit.

9am- Grabbed a coffee at my local bakery in Mt. Pleasant before hopping in a Zipcar. I usually rely on public transportation, so driving was a rare treat!

10am- Met with a reporter at one of our campuses in Southeast DC. My boss couldn't attend, so the Principal and I took turns answering his questions. I was excited to realize that after five months on the job, I could comfortably answer most of his questions without stumbling or questioning my responses.

11am- Joined one of the preschool classes while they read The Doorbell Rang. It was amazing to watch the teacher lead the discussion of the book with the 3-year-olds, as she emphasized new vocabulary words (e.g. "plenty," "doorbell," and "enormous"), basic math skills (counting the number of neighbors in the house), and a new letter ("V" as in the character's name "Veronica"). Afterwards, I sat on the carpet with a few of the students for Journaling as they practiced drawing the letter "D".

12pm- Sadly returned the Zipcar to Mt. Pleasant, deciding I should create excuses to borrow a car more regularly.

12:30pm- Joined a conference call with our communications consultant, who has helped us develop and implement a communications plan for the past few months. We made a lot of great progress this fall in improving our messages and communications decisions, but there's still plenty of work to be done!

1:30pm- Replied to emails I had received over the weekend. A less glorious but necessary portion of each day.

2:30pm- Printed and reviewed the proof sets for a redesign of the organization's logo. This is one of my favorite projects that I've worked on recently.

3:30pm- Revised my application to attend a full-day blogging workshop. My organization actively encourages staff to seek out professional development opportunities.

5pm- Caught up with the day's education news by perusing through my organization's Twitter feed.

6:30pm- Attended a Young Education Professionals-DC networking event. It was great to discuss early childhood education with a couple of attendees, and I always love hearing about the work of other organizations.

9pm- Quick trip to the gym, and bed soon after!