Monday, October 08, 2007

Dreaming

Last night I dreamed that I was back in the courtroom.

I was sitting before the judge with reams of paper and folders. Co-counsel requested a document. I started pouring through the folders, binders, and loose paper all around me. I couldn't find it. I started frantically digging through the mess with the eyes of the judge fixed firmly upon me. I started panicking.

Then I woke up. It was 1:15 AM. I was sweating like a pig.

This, gentle readers, is the cumulative effect of data collection under the new reorganization. Absolutely everything must be documented, sorted, filed, copied, copied again for redundancy, and magically appear at the request of anyone who asks. I am swimming in mounds of paper and "to do" lists requiring that I document even more data for the week. Data, data, data...

I laughed at the latest article in "NY Teacher" which loudly proclaimed, "Let's not make data a four letter word."

Really?

Every time I'm waiting on line at Staples, with paper protectors, binders, and colored files to be purchased, I AM THINKING A FOUR LETTER WORD. And it's not "DATA."

And that's where I'm off to today. To buy more supplies to organize "data" and mull over how far behind I am in my "data" collection. I don't heart Staples anymore. Teacher's Choice? Please. Spent that in August. Wasn't there supposed to be a "paperwork reduction" initiative? So why do I have so much paperwork?

Ah, yes. Must give food to the 80 million dollar data eater. Bah.

2 comments:

X said...

Paperwork makes me want to shoot myself.

Does this mean that we'll be getting daily posts from you? Dreams really do come true...

proofoflife said...

Loved this post. I too am way behind on my data binder. I have lots of needs assessment data. Problem is I am so busy collecting the data that I haven't been able to address the needs!I actually called the UFT and asked them about the paper reduction initiative. It seems to me the more assessments we give the more paperwork we have. Guess what? No one phoned me back from the UFT.