Reach For The Cheese Slicer

When Russell and Steve from the Dynamic Deputies Podcast had me on, they had dug out this old blog post. Since we talked about it on the episode, I thought I'd repost it here. It comes with the caveat that leaders have a a responsibility to cut workload and the onus does not lie with teachers alone.

When it comes to cutting cheese I'm a traditionalist. A knife; that's the tool for the job - preferably a made-for-the-job cheese knife. You won't find me using a cheese slicer. They're flimsy at best and the thickness of the resulting piece of cheese just doesn't do it for me. And I've sustained severe injury from them in the past - it goes against all my instincts to cut towards my fingers as I grasp the block of cheese in a manner not necessary when cutting with the proper implement: a knife. Except every now and then one comes across a block of delicious mature cheddar whose length and width are perfectly adequate but which only measures about two or three centimetres in height. With a piece of cheese of this stature cutting a slice suitable for a sandwich is a challenge. Of course, I relish a challenge and out comes the trusty cheese knife and a slice of cheese measuring roughly 2cm by 10cm - you've got to cut a lot of those bad boys to fill a decent sandwich. I hesitate, sigh and then do the sensible thing; out comes the silly cheese slicer. And yes, the slices of cheese are paper-thin but at they do fill a sandwich properly. And using the ridiculous device wasn't that hard once I'd swallowed my pride. And this time I didn't even lacerate my digits. This is not a post about the trad vs. prog debate. This is a post about occasionally accepting that there are more efficient methods of working than the ones you're accustomed to. This is not even a post where I attempt to tell you what those more efficient methods of working are, although I will illustrate my point. This is a post to encourage you to reflect on your practice and that of others around you, be that at work, amongst your friends or even on social media networks. Ever found yourself envying another teacher's lack of weekend workload? Was it you that sarcastically said 'I wish I had time to just sit and read for pleasure!' or similar? Perhaps you even genuinely questioned how it was possible for someone to have seemingly less work than you. Amongst teachers there are differing levels of workload depending on time of year, the leadership of schools, proximity to Ofsted and a million other factors. But perhaps one of those other factors is your working methods - and you do have total control over them. Translate my cheese block to a pile of marking. My cheese knife becomes taking them all home to mark in the evening in front of the TV. The dreaded cheese slice is actually completing marking within a lesson - something you've designed your lesson structure around and which, as research seems to show, has a greater impact than marking books in the absence of the children. It's something you know other teachers do but it's just not the way you've always done it or you 'can't see how it would work'. Reach for the cheese slicer. Alternatively my cheese block could be that half an hour after the kids have left, you know that time when you mooch down to the staff room, get a coffee and get caught up in a conversation you don't really want to have. That's the way it's always been - you always get a coffee at 3:30. It's your cheese knife. There's a teacher in your school with a cheese slicer. They don't leave their room at that time and they seem a bit antisocial but they are getting stuff done, probably their prep for the next day's lessons, or one or two more report comments so that they go home with less to do. They're maximising their time and you could too. Reach for the cheese slicer. You rarely get taught on teaching courses how to reach for the cheese slicer and most CPD doesn't touch on it either. Use of the cheese slicer is something you either work out for yourself or it is passed on from others who have discovered the way of the cheese slicer. Remember, the cheese slicer is a better way of doing things. You should share the ways you've found of working more effectively and seek out others who work efficiently in order to learn how to put down the cheese knife every now and then, favouring the cheese slicer instead. Even now there are those crying out: 'But I love my cheese knife! And cheese slices are ridiculous.' Yet it is they who want the sensible slices of cheese that only the cheese slicer can provide and it is they who bemoan the fact that they only have the useless pieces they cut with their precious cheese knife. Reach for the cheese slicer.