by: Dr. Aradhana Mudambi

Educators are undervalued in our society.  We take the most delicate little beings that are entrusted to our care when they are barely 5 years old, if not earlier, and help mold them into 18 year-old shakers and doers, the future of society, filled with knowledge, values, and the ability to apply the former two to in turn shape the world they have inherited.  And yet, we are only teachers. 

What would happen if we were to shed the term “teachers” and embrace a new name, neuro-practitioners?  And why not?  Neurobiologists study the brain while we engage many brains in the act of studying.  Neurosurgeons invasively change the brain while we also make changes to the brain but by using the art of teaching as our scalpels.  

The brain changes when it learns. It is made up of cells called neurons; each of these neurons have branches known as dendrites.  Dendrites are tasked with receiving information.  Because of neuroplasticity, our brain has the ability to grow dendrites when we learn new things.  And when learning is reinforced through application, higher order thinking, and review, especially during the first 48 hours following initial learning, we grow even more dendrites.  Furthermore, the more we connect students’ learning to background knowledge and other subject areas and the more we practice our learning, the more neural pathways or “roads” amongst neurons are created.  These pathways are what help us recover faster from brain illnesses. They help us find ways to postpone symptoms of degenerative brain diseases.  Finally, it is through the excitement, engagement, and productive struggle that we create myelin sheaths or a fatty acid that protects brain cells from degeneration, thus protecting our memories and securing our learning for future retrieval (Hammond, 2015).

So yes, our work influences the structure of the brain.  And as teachers of multilingual learners, we are making even more powerful changes within students’ brains.  As students learn new and/or multiple languages, their neural matter increases, which suggests greater neural pathways and likely more dendrites.  Hence, it takes 5 more years for bilingual individuals afflicted with Alzheimers to show symptoms after the onset of the disease in comparison to monolinguals.  Speakers of four languages or more who get the disease may never show any symptoms at all.  This is what we, neuro-practitioners, are in charge of.  
So take a moment to realize how important our jobs are.  When we are successful at teaching our students, we are literally making changes in their brains.  We are neuro-practitioners.