9x9x25 #9: Who moved my cheese?

It started from a post in a course discussion forum when someone mentioned the book Who Moved My Cheese. So off I go to read and review the Wikipedia entry to learn more. I was struck by the notion of change being a constant. It linked to a quote I’d heard that the only thing you can count on is that change will happen, which led me to a search for that quote. It surprisingly connects back to a Greek philosopher and thinker named Heraclitus. So there we have it…. the winding path from Heraclitus to Who Moved My Cheese. So what does this have to do with teaching and learning and this final 9x9x25 blog post?

Either way you say it, it’s prophetic for teachers and learners. I’ve often used the phrase ‘learning on the shifting sands’ or ‘learning on the edge of possibility’ since these envision a learning and teaching space that has some fixed structure. There has to be a middle, an inside, an outside, if there is an edge to learning. There has to be some grounding for shifting sands since there is something more solid below the desert landscape, or at the end of it. So, learning has a beginning, since sand dunes or sandy deserts have an exterior boundary. There has to be an end, since we don’t wander the desert in perpetuity. There may be waves, since blowing or shifting sands often take this formation as they are restructured by winds. Shifting sands hint at uncertainty, but laws of physics and momentum apply. You’ll only drop so far on the edge of a sand dune. There will be a more solid structure to ground you once you reach a bottoming-out point.

Ok, so back to moving the cheese. Just like shifting sands and edges of possibility, there are perspectives that apply to this analogy of cheese.

The story [Who Moved My Cheese] is an analogy to how people react to change, either in their workplace, or in life. The premise is that there are characteristic ways that individuals handle and adapt to ‘flux’ in their lives and how they adapt to changing conditions. These include:

“Change Happens – They Keep Moving The Cheese
Anticipate Change – Get Ready For The Cheese To Move
Monitor Change – Smell The Cheese Often So You Know When It Is Getting Old
Adapt To Change Quickly – The Quicker You Let Go Of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese
Change – Move With The Cheese
Enjoy Change! – Savor The Adventure And Enjoy The Taste Of New Cheese!
Be Ready To Change Quickly And Enjoy It Again – They Keep Moving The Cheese.” (Wikipedia).

Since I’m a lover of all things cheesy, including this analogy, this really resonates with my thinking. I love metaphors and analogies. If I put this analogy to the work of teaching and learning, then I can see that moving the cheese around can be helpful, healthy, and leads to greater understanding, knowledge and productivity. If the cheese we’re talking about here is the acquisition of learning, then all of these ‘negotiations’ with cheese will need to be made throughout a learning course.

So as an educator, should I keep shifting the questions, keep moving the ideas around, and keep pulling in new ‘flavours’? Should I keep adjusting the course trajectory to ensure that students acquire that cheese! Underneath this analogy, there’s an element of Logos, some truth to be learned and shared. There will be some specific outcomes and goals in the teaching and learning events.

That will be the elusive goal – the cheese worth acquiring.

Check out my fellow Lakehead 9x9x25 bloggers:

Shauna Burnie – When Opportunity Knocks (hint, it’s a cheese moving scenario)!

Steven Secord – http://teachingbythebay.ca

Image attribution: Katrin Leinfellner on Unsplash Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/v9deD75EaRw

Extending My Thoughts

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