London Taxis and Bathroom Accidents

Fascinating news from a new study of London taxi cab drivers where researchers have found that having to learn the complicated geography of London causes physical changes in the drivers’ brains. The study isn’t merely showing that cab drivers get better at navigating the 25,000 small streets and 20,000 landmarks (all without a map mind you) with time and practice. The science shows that the brain actually changes and the hippocampus grows larger during the time when the drivers are studying and practicing to take the rigorous driver exam. And when drivers retire, this part of the brain shrinks again. As the scientists conducting this study point out, this is another in a long line of research that shows that the brain is much more like a muscle than we used to think; with practice, our brain can adapt and even grow to meet the mental demands it faces.

This all got me to thinking about what researchers would find if they studied new elementary school teachers. How does your brain becomes rewired in your first few years of teaching 25 5-year olds all day? My guesses are below:

• Attention to detail – when you’re teaching and especially when you’re teaching small children, the difference between a great lesson and disaster can often be the result of very small differences. Have you taken the time to make sure each student has a baggie with exactly the right number of popsicle sticks for the math lesson? Have you thought about which students can’t be near each other on the carpet and what the effects are when you move even one student’s carpet spot? Does the bin holding the math manipulatives have low enough sides so children can see in without having to stand up? Have you thought about the exact details for how children will move from their spots on the carpet to the perimeter so that no one gets trampled? New teachers often think they are detail oriented but they have no ideas what it means to be obsessed with every detail of every lesson, which is what you need to be as an elementary school teacher.

• Emotional flexibility – Even the best teachers never have perfect days and when you’re teaching 5-7 year olds, this is doubly true. Kids have bathroom accidents, students have tantrums, milk spills at breakfast, parents are sometimes frustrated, and children call each other names. Oh, and you make mistakes too. Teachers quickly learn that while you try to limit these moments, you cannot dwell on them. If a student wets their pants, get their change of clothes from their cubby and help them change. If milk spills, clean it up. And if a student is having a tantrum, get them calmed down and move on to the next task and do all of these as calmly and quickly as possible. Great teachers are fully in each moment, but quickly put it behind them so they can focus on what’s next. In many jobs you hear people talking about each day being a new day, but as a teacher it’s really each lesson or even each minute is a new opportunity.

• Information processing– One of the key skills teachers must master is being able to take in tons of information at the same time and use it to make split-second decisions. Think of a kindergarten teacher leading students through a lesson on counting by 5’s. She has to remember the lesson plan and what her next steps are, she’s listening to student answers and adjusting her instruction based on how well students are “getting it”, while at the same time monitoring and responding to student behavior. Now add in remembering students who have individual behavior plans, dealing with an interruption by another teacher asking to borrow some materials, and ensuring that your instruction targets your highest achieving and most struggling students during the same lesson and you can see how some part of your brain must be getting bigger after this mental workout.  

And let’s add in one more from a school leader perspective: two years into the job and I can not only instantly hear when a kindergarten student starts to cry but I can identify which child it is (with 98% accuracy!) from the other end of the hall. Oddly, this skill doesn't seem to transfer to home where I just can't seem to hear my 10 month old when he wakes up in the middle of the night. Strange, right?