Listen and Learn Debacle

You guys.

Daylight Savings Time had me ALL OUT OF SORTS THIS WEEK.

I tried to act all happy and energetic (you know – Attitude Adjustment and all that) and, in fact, Monday was a great day at school but I’m pretty sure it’s because my kids and I were half asleep through most of it.

But in all honesty, when I wrote the Attitude Adjustment post, I was a wide-eyed doe in a field of flowers unaware that in just two short weeks, I would lose a precious hour of sleep and basically feel as if I was running for my life through a dense forest with no end.

Just saying.

On top of Daylight Savings Time, I’ve been having a Listen and Learn DEBACLE because wonderful teachers from across the country were messaging me and leaving Q/A in my store saying THAT THE QR CODES WERE NO LONGER WORKING AND COULD I PLEASE HELP THEM.

And I don’t know if you’re just a regular person reading this, a teacher, a TpT’er or what, but let me explain something about myself that you might not already know.

I AM A PEOPLE PLEASER.

To the nth degree.

And whenever I receive an email notification that I have a Q/A in my store, I automatically begin to have tummy troubles, and a sinking feeling, and I do not want to read it.

But I do.

And the fact that these teachers had SPENT MONEY on these Listen and Learn Activities AND THEY WEREN’T WORKING just about killed me.

KILLED ME DEAD.

Basically . . . the recordings would come up when their kids scanned the QR Code, but there was no play button.

Er. What? HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?

WHY MUST TECHNOLOGY BE SO DIFFICULT?

And me, being the people pleaser that I am, wanted to fly across the country and help them sort it out and/or take their class for the day and just do Listen and Learn LIVE AND IN PERSON.

I asked several friends of mine in different school districts to test some out and four out of five had no troubles whatsoever, and another who shall remain nameless DID have trouble until she realized she was using a QR Reader that was just bad. I mean, who knew?

I tried contacting Audio Boom which is the site that hosts my QR Codes and received NO REPLY. And when I say I tried to contact Audio Boom, I meant I sent them an email DAILY, searched their site with a fine tooth comb for a freaking phone number (nope), and submitted multiple support requests.

I was relentless.

I also put out a plea in a private facebook group for help and several people there tried to help me, as well. One might be my new best friend whether she likes it or not because I email her quite frequently now.

Then I got this bright idea to take all of the QR codes OUT OF Audio Boom and move them over to my Google Drive.

And whether you understand all of this or not, I am here to say IT WAS A HUGE UNDERTAKING.

So every night after school this week, after playing with Murphie, taking care of house stuff, tax stuff, writing sub plans for a training on Thursday, eating, crossing stuff off my school to-do list because Open House is in two weeks, this was me:

I have over 300 (and counting) Listen and Learn Activities.

It took all week for me to move over about 50. It involved creating NEW QR Codes, uploading MP3 Files, linking the two, updating the packs in the store, and on and on it goes . . .

Meanwhile . . . I felt like crying. I didn’t. But I felt like it. My Listen and Learn packs are a labor of love. It’s locking myself in a dark room, teaching a phonics or math lesson for 15-17 minutes and, oftentimes, deleting everything I just did and starting over because I’m unhappy with how I said one sentence or even one word. I have to disconnect from the world, Steve, Murphie, everything and everyone in order to work on these.

Because Wi/Fi and technology is so hit or miss and can drive me up a wall, I offer MP3 files and Power Point Slides with Audio as a back up plan. My own school district blocks absolutely everything. On my personal phone, I have had to “forget this network” (the district’s network) in my settings, otherwise I can’t get texts or email or anything. I have all the MP3 files for all of my Listen and Learn activities on my class iPod, and just load certain ones onto the iPods in my Listening Center. But that takes time.

So I get it. I get why teachers want the QR codes. It’s EASY. It’s QUICK. It takes very little effort which is what we all need when everything else in our classroom lives takes all the effort we have to give, and then some.

So while I was on the verge of tears, I was also stressed to the max. Steve doesn’t like me like that because, I think, if you were to ask him how I am when he is around me, he would probably say even keeled and easy going and happy go lucky. At least most of the time. Obviously, I have my moments and he would be the first to tell you that while I won’t stand up to anyone for anything, I will go ten rounds with him and not back down.

All of that is to say he wanted to help me, but didn’t know how. Until one night, he pretty much snapped his fingers and said hey, see if Audio Boom is on Instagram, and tag them, and say I need you to contact me and call them out!

And, sure enough, Audio Boom is on Instagram. And rather than call them out, my non-confrontational nature sent a Direct Message instead, and I heard back from them right away.

I felt like crying AGAIN. I didn’t. But I felt like it.

They hooked me up with a technical support person who is my new favorite person in all the land, and suddenly, I could breathe again.

He checked all my QR Codes, said they’re all working on end his end, and said if someone else says there’s no play button, he wants me to ask for a picture of it so he can tackle the problem.

YESSSS!!

By the way, Audio Boom said they replied to my emails, but I don’t believe them because I honestly refreshed my email multiple times a day.

Also, just so that it’s said, I prayed and prayed about this.

To make this long story even LONGER, I then took all the QR Codes that I had transferred to Google Drive and changed everything back to the original condition. Because Audio Boom is a one stop shop, and after working on the recordings, I just need them to handle all the technical stuff. I don’t want to create QR codes from a third party source and then hope that they won’t break or this or that, then link them to Google Drive (where I am running out of storage) and on and on, and blah and blah . . .

DEEP BREATH.

It’s fine.

It’s all fine.

If you made it this far, I love you. Thanks for letting me vent.

Now . . . Steve and I just happen to be going to Coronado this weekend to meet my parents for lunch and a play . . . then Steve and I are staying overnight for some R and R.

And if you can’t tell, I kind of need it.

So have a great weekend and thanks for putting up with me!!