Audrey’s Day in the Life

This blog post was created by Audrey R., a member of the Tivnu 11 cohort from St. Louis, MO. She enjoys reading, kayaking, teaching, and helping kids. A fun fact about Audrey is that she knows every Taylor Swift song ever created (trust us, you can quiz her). She interns with Tivnu construction and in a 1st grade classroom at Boise Eliot Humboldt Elementary School. 

Follow along with me as I live a normal Tuesday in my life. It’s filled with so many different experiences: going to my internship, solo-time to reset, exploring different parts of Portland, and having fun with friends! I’m so glad we are spending the day together!!

6:35 am– Alarm goes off and I quickly snooze it. 

6:45 am– Get out of bed and say good morning Julia, whose alarm just went off (we wake up at the same time on Tuesdays so we get to spend our mornings together!)

6:55 am– Get dressed with the outfit I picked out for myself the night before. Most days when I am in the classroom I wear a pair of cute jeans, a nice sweater/top, and my favorite Converse. 

7:00 am– Do my morning skincare, brush teeth, do my hair, and get ready to go. 

7:10 am– Head downstairs to pack up my lunch that I made the night before and make some breakfast. Recently my hyperfixation meal in the mornings has been oatmeal with berries and granola. 

7:35 am– Pack my bags and I am off to catch the bus. My commute in the mornings is a mix of a nice walk and the Trimet bus. It’s really nice to have that time to reset in the mornings before I walk into the busy day ahead; most often I spend it listening to a podcast or my happy-music playlist. 

8:00 am– Walk into Boise Eliot Elementary School, (I am in the 1st grade classroom) greet the kids, and my mentor teacher I work with. Walking into school is the best part of my day because I am welcomed by the students with lots of hugs, “I love you”, and “Yay Ms. Audrey is here!”

8:05 am– School starts. I am in charge of teaching our reading, writing, and spelling lessons, which is perfect because those were my favorite subjects when I was in 1st grade. I also head the behavioral management in the classroom, so not only do I help the ones who are struggling in any of our subjects, but I also keep the kids on track.

9:55 am– Break time! The kids are in specials right now (PE, art, music, library) so my mentor teacher and I have this time as a planning period. We work on creating lesson plans, prepping for the “individualized education plan meetings,” printing, and any other tasks I can do to help her out. 

10:35 am– Go pick up the students from their specials class and get them started on our science lesson of the day. Recently they have been learning about wind so today we got to do a wind experiment involving their hair and shadows. 

11:55 am– Lunch time! I take lunch with my mentor teacher and our teacher friends. It’s nice to have that time to hang out with them, but also as a chance to learn from them. I want to be an elementary school teacher after college, so I love when they give me advice to help jump-start my career and make it as successful as it can be. 

12:35 pm– Time for us to get started on our math lesson of the day. We recently celebrated our 100th day of school so we are working on our counting skills past the number 100. 

1:35 pm– It is recess time. The kids have really been enjoying drawing at recess. They especially enjoy it when I participate because, “Ms. Audrey is so good at staying in the lines!”

1:50 pm– Time for our final block of the day. Right now we are using this time to teach our health unit. Portland Public Schools are very unusual as they teach the health unit in a gender-inclusive way, at an age appropriate level. 

2:30 pm– Say goodbye to the kiddos because the day is over and it’s time for everyone to go home.

2:35 pm– On the way home most days I stop at my favorite coffee shop, Brave Neighbor Coffeehouse and Social; it’s next door to my school and such a cute spot. My go-to there is matcha; I HIGHLY recommend checking it out!!

3:35 pm– Get home and take a nap. Tuesdays we don’t have any Tivnu activities or learnings so it’s a free night to do whatever you want.

5:05 pm– Julia (my roommate) gets home from her internship and we get ready to go out. We want to go explore Downtown Portland and eat tacos.

7:10 pm– While Downtown I had to take Julia to the O.G. Voodoo Doughnuts location because it’s a Portland classic. Safe to say we loved it. 

8:25 pm– Time to take a bus back home from Downtown.

9:00 pm– Now, a shower and getting ready for bed after a long and fun day!

9:30 pm– Movie time with some of the other noodles. We are currently watching the Twilight Saga and it’s so fun to see other people watching it for the first time. 

10:30 pm– Finally, I get in bed, have our daily roommate debrief, and head to sleep. I always feel really happy and excited as I am falling asleep; both because I had an amazing day today and because a new day at Tivnu is always an adventure.