As I was minding my own business on vacation last week and trying not to confuse myself by planning for my next vacation which was to start three days after I get home from this vacation (I know, tough life right?), I obsessively checked my Blackberry for the 1,497Th time. Yes, I have a "crackberry", so aptly nicknamed. Last fall I went into my local Verizon store because my phone contract was up and I'd been getting all sorts of tempting "deals" sent to me. I had 45 minutes one day before I had to pick up Daniel a
nd I dropped into the store to see what they had. I had no intention of upgrading to the Blackberry. Nevertheless, the beauty and actually, practicality of the whole thing sucked me in. The fact that it was pink had NOTHING to do with it. Really. I walked (ran) out of the store in a rush to pick up Daniel on time with a new Blackberry in hand. I am not an impulsive person, so this came as quite a shock to my husband. I tend to research things to DEATH before I buy anything. I wrestle with the price in relation to need, I drive myself crazy. But committing myself to a 2 year contract with data plan, apparently wasn't a problem for me. I had a bit of buyers remorse afterward, but mostly, I love my phone.
nd I dropped into the store to see what they had. I had no intention of upgrading to the Blackberry. Nevertheless, the beauty and actually, practicality of the whole thing sucked me in. The fact that it was pink had NOTHING to do with it. Really. I walked (ran) out of the store in a rush to pick up Daniel on time with a new Blackberry in hand. I am not an impulsive person, so this came as quite a shock to my husband. I tend to research things to DEATH before I buy anything. I wrestle with the price in relation to need, I drive myself crazy. But committing myself to a 2 year contract with data plan, apparently wasn't a problem for me. I had a bit of buyers remorse afterward, but mostly, I love my phone. On many occasions being able to quickly email people during a meeting has saved a LOT of time. I love the calendar and always having it with me to coordinate and not have to get back to people after checking it at home. It works for me. Add the laptop onto our list of electronics and I now check email more times a day than I'd like to admit. Add in facebook and I am connected all the time to every one I know. Frankly, I like it that way. Oh, I understand the downside of these things. I can't tell you how many times during a meeting that I am thinking, "don't check your Blackberry, don't check your Blackberry, it's rude". I, mostly, don't. It has come in handy keeping in better communication with the school. They know I'm fairly easy to reach.
So when I was in Charlevoix this week and checked my phone/email, the last thing I expected to see on a mid July day was an email from the middle school that Daniel will be attending this fall. His coordinator emailed me and wants to meet this week, with possibly the special ed director, principal, myself and her. I read the email over and over. I couldn't quite wrap my brain around it. My head was in a different place. It was in northern Michigan at carnivals and parades. How am I supposed to think about his academic schedule for the fall? That's what the email was about. His schedule. There are several phrases starting with "we took the recommendation...." "we took a second look....." "based on our meeting.... "In short, they changed the schedule we came up with in our IEP. I have read and reread the email many many many times. I finally emailed her back on my trusty Blackberry from my in-laws vacation home saying I couldn't just go ahead with it. I did need a meeting. I would be home for 3 days before I left again for another vacation. I asked for his teacher from last year to attend. I don't know if she can. I feel like she can give me good input on if this is the right thing for him. We had him in both resource and a co taught math class. They got rid of resource math and put him in a computer's class. He has an academic support and they feel like he can get enough extra support in here for both math and science. This may be excellent. It may not. I know nothing about the computer class. I just have too many questions, so before I leave again, I have to meet with the school. I have to switch into school gear. This is not easy for me to do at the end of July.
Without my Blackberry I may not have gotten the email until way too late to schedule a meeting. So once again. I'm happy I have it. But there is that part of me that wondered if it would have been better to not be so connected. But then I thought again. I still love it. After all, it is pink.
So when I was in Charlevoix this week and checked my phone/email, the last thing I expected to see on a mid July day was an email from the middle school that Daniel will be attending this fall. His coordinator emailed me and wants to meet this week, with possibly the special ed director, principal, myself and her. I read the email over and over. I couldn't quite wrap my brain around it. My head was in a different place. It was in northern Michigan at carnivals and parades. How am I supposed to think about his academic schedule for the fall? That's what the email was about. His schedule. There are several phrases starting with "we took the recommendation...." "we took a second look....." "based on our meeting.... "In short, they changed the schedule we came up with in our IEP. I have read and reread the email many many many times. I finally emailed her back on my trusty Blackberry from my in-laws vacation home saying I couldn't just go ahead with it. I did need a meeting. I would be home for 3 days before I left again for another vacation. I asked for his teacher from last year to attend. I don't know if she can. I feel like she can give me good input on if this is the right thing for him. We had him in both resource and a co taught math class. They got rid of resource math and put him in a computer's class. He has an academic support and they feel like he can get enough extra support in here for both math and science. This may be excellent. It may not. I know nothing about the computer class. I just have too many questions, so before I leave again, I have to meet with the school. I have to switch into school gear. This is not easy for me to do at the end of July.
Without my Blackberry I may not have gotten the email until way too late to schedule a meeting. So once again. I'm happy I have it. But there is that part of me that wondered if it would have been better to not be so connected. But then I thought again. I still love it. After all, it is pink.
1 comment:
In the "reframe" department, it's good that they notified you beforehand. At the beginning of one year, Nigel's middle school made changes to his schedule and never notified me. I found out about it after the fact and let them know that it was not acceptable to not inform me. It was not a good start to the year!
I hope that your meeting for Daniel is a productive, beneficial one.
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