Allow me to tell you about the paper jungle. It is a dangerous place. It exists in the immediate area of my office and I can’t possibly tell you how any of it really got there. I do know one thing though: it is messy. I’ve had to take out my big knife and cut some of it down to size though because I need to identify certain items of re-reading during my summer of words. I’d like to remind you of two things going forward: systems and technology.
I’ve written about the importance of syllabi in the past and this is certainly true when trying to compile a reading list from the past four years. Sometimes you read whole books but often you only read certain chapters. Maybe there were handouts or other items you need to read. All of this information is on the syllabus. Some teachers don’t want to e-mail you their syllabus for a number of reasons (almost all of them unreasonable). Care to guess which syllabi I have four years later? Did you say digital copies? Yes. The paper is long gone. Shame to the teachers who wouldn’t give me a digital copy. But what could I have done?
Well, if I’d been smart about things (and thought ahead) I would have scanned the syllabi into a digital file for myself. I’ll grant this shouldn’t be necessary but if you’re going to lose your syllabi, or like to look at it from any internet connected device, I encourage you to do this the 1st day of class. Four years later, and with a huge cumulative test on the horizon, I’m unhappily reflecting on my errors. Next time I’ll be talking about other problems I’m having finding what I need to review for this test. While my test is huge and your needs may only be one semester these reflections could save you a great deal of trouble.