It's About Time

I am glad I waited to post this till now, because if I would have posted it last week it would not have been nice. Sometimes it is good to wait a little bit.

Do you remember the document camera that you all donated toward with Donors Choose in April? I have been waiting for it since then. They had said that because it was close to the end of the year there was a possibility that I would not get it until October. They asked me to wait until October to contact them. Meanwhile, I spent everyday asking the front office if a package had come for me. I bugged the office clear until the end of school. But to no avail.

I didn't even bother to ask the office once school started because somehow I knew it wouldn't come. I was frustrated. I think what made me the most mad was that I couldn't tell all my friends that had donated towards it how much better it had made my life. I was still writing everything up on the board and using up precious time in the process.

I patently waited until October. Then I e-mailed them telling them that I still had not received it. I received and e-mail back telling me that it had indeed been shipped back in April. Let me repeat that...IT WAS SHIPPED BACK IN APRIL. So then the question was, where was it?

The front office advised me to check with Fed Ex and see who had signed for it. I checked into it and it was a name of someone that didn't work at my school. In my mind I could just see a person coming in, signing for it and taking it. I was losing all hope of ever getting my document camera back. I dug deeper and found out that they shipped it to some place in Clearfield.

I e-mailed Donors Choose again and told them that it was shipped to the wrong address. I asked them where we were supposed to go from there and how they were going to rectify the situation. I didn't hear back from them. I was not happy. Then two days later they e-mailed me and told me that the company School Outfitters did send it to the wrong address and they were sending out a replacement. I was so relieved. But disappointed that I still had to wait.

Well the happy ending came about on Friday. The office brought me a big package as soon as it was delivered. I think they were as excited about it as I was. I opened it up and found not only had School Outfitters sent out a document camera, but they had upgraded it to a real Elmo. An Elmo cost $400 more than what I had ordered. So needless to say I am very happy.

We used the Elmo for the first time today. The kids loved it. I can't believe what a difference it makes in the classroom. It makes a huge difference. I have a student that has really had a hard time keeping track of where we are in class. She has dyslexia. She always needs me to direct her exactly what part of an assignment we are on, even when she is following right with us. But today, she was able to look at the actual assignment and stay right with us. It was amazing. The entire class understood all the concepts that I taught better when we used the Elmo.

So I want to shout out a great big thank you. Thank you for helping my little girl that is struggling. Thank you for helping the entire class to learn more. I can't wait to see how much they learn tomorrow.