Mrs. Leach

My teaching schedule has finally calmed down a bit almost to the entire other extreme.  I've gone from working about 35 hours a week to about 10.  As a result I've discovered:

• I think I'm finally getting used to being called Mrs. Leach.  One of my coordinating teachers had a last name that sounded suspiciously like Miss Edwards, so I found that I would respond when they called her name as well.  Overall, though, I'm not looking for my mother-in-law as much when people call out, "Mrs. Leach!"
• I realized again that I do love to teach.  Granted these were some pretty ideal teaching conditions in that I didn't have to take home papers to grade, keep up with lesson plans, etc.  I just got to teach, which was pretty fun.  Sure, there were days when getting up at 5:30 got pretty old and my back was hurting from standing, but it was a great experience and I'm so thankful for the opportunity.
• During my student teaching I had experiences in rural, suburban, and urban settings.  It was good to get a taste of each, as my own experience in school was definitely more suburban.  After these past 2 months, I got a much bigger taste of life in an urban school, one which was very "Tale of Two Cities" (i.e. "The best of times . . . the worst of times.").  At certain points my heart would break as I would catch glimpses of the many things these kids are dealing with and the choices that they were making that had some major impacts on their lives.  At other points, I found myself laughing with delight and thrilled to see the progress they would make as well as new perspectives from an entirely different point of view.  It's something I'll continue thinking about for a while, I'm sure.
• I have a whole new respect for women who are pregnant and working full-time.  You are my heroes. :-)