Annie's back! and Spring Break begins...

The Annie-dog is laying on the dog bed here in the living room...sigh. She has a four-inch long scar on her right hip, and she currently has no ball in the ball-and-joint-socket; they shaved the top of her femur off and are planning on six weeks of immobility bringing about enough scar tissue to act as a ball for her bone. But that means trying to keep her still for six weeks. Have you met this dog? She doesn't know she's injured.

I started Spring Break today for Annie. I'm staying home with her tomorrow to keep an eye on her. The vet wants her in a crate. For Annie, though, a crate is much more stressful and likely to cause injury than any other kind of containment. If we had a doggie day care option, we'd be taking her there. But our directions for now are strictly for her to go outside to go to the bathroom and then go back in the house--nothing more. I doubt that Annie will be interested in this. 

The rest of my school starts Spring Break tomorrow at 3:00. I teach three different groups of students over the course of the day, and I like them all differently for different reasons, but I like one of the groups much less than the others. Honestly, I think my liking a class is in direct proportion to how well I think I'm teaching them, and I'm not doing as well with one group as I am doing with the two others. 

Next year, I will only be teaching beginners to English--students for whom the most basic of English is a challenge. And I will be teaching that group all day long. That will be a challenge for me, as well. My one hour of planning will certainly be full of administrivia as we get this newcomer center up and running, but the reward of working with students who are generally highly motivated is an awesome thing to anticipate. It's also easy to see progress. I think it's at least once a week when I look at my students and say, "Man, do you know how much you've learned already?" So I guess the change is partially for them and partially for me. I can't wait!