Biz-Ed: Who Moved My Cheese?

**Biz-Ed is a reoccurring segment of this blog where business books are reviewed, making connections between the business theory and the education world**

Title: Who Moved My Cheese?
Author: Spencer Johnson

Summary
Who Moved My Cheese? is a parable about two people and two rats who live in a maze, in search of cheese. Once a large pile of cheese was found, the cheese becomes the center of their lives: effecting where they live, their identity, their purpose for living. Then one day the cheese is gone. The book chronicles the reaction of each character as they grapple with what to do once their cheese has disappeared. It centers around the questions: (1) What is your “cheese”? (2) What do you do when change messes with your cheese?

Education Connection
This book is a soul searcher. It leads the reader to ask key, important questions about purpose and dealing with change. The educational applications of this book are two fold.

The first application is for Teachers. Teacher Burnout is a major problem in education today. At the end of each year, thousands of teachers, myself included, feel fried to a crisp; worn out from the intellectual and emotional marathon of the school year. A large number of teachers choose not to return. This is a big problem. Who Moved My Cheese? can lead teachers to ask themselves some important questions to avoid this burnout:

What is your cheese? What is it that fuels your passion, gives you identity and makes you feel alive? Teachers are often attracted to this profession because of a desire to serve a grander purpose. Unfortunately, teachers easily loose sight of them the fray of the daily tasks of the job. Once you have re-identified your cheese, what do you need to do to protect your cheese? What do you need to do to make sure that you are staying connected with those things that keep you vitalize? If you find that at the moment you do not have a cheese or that your cheese has been moved, what do you need to do to go find new cheese? A life without purpose a life not worth living.
Find out what your cheese is. Protect your cheese.

What do you believe your students’ cheese to be? What do your Students’ believe their cheese to be? What is the difference between our expectations and their reality? So often we focus on what WE want our students’ cheese to be that we loose sight of what our students believe about themselves. How much more power and influence if we identify and connect with their cheese; using that as a launching point of our curriculum?

Final Thoughts
Who Moved My Cheese is an excellent book that is a quick read. It provides nuggets of wisdom to shape and guide a soul-search for purpose and what to do when life brings change.