by Corinna Craddock

Created on: November 20, 2009

There is More to your Mind than Just your Brain

When a person decides to become a teacher, it is a decision that is made as a result of independent brain- functioning that causes him to deem the choice a pragmatic one; but to say that this career path became a goal, simply based on neurological activity, would be false. As humans, teachers bring much more to the table with them than the tissues organized for executive outreach, sitting between our ears.

As the central part of the nervous system, located within the skull, our brains have the most important duties, when it comes to our ability to be aware of the world as we experience it.

With two hemispheres of deeply-furrowed tissue that coordinate with the brainstem and cerebellum, the brain functions to control movement; interpret sensory input; orchestrate perceptions, in harmony with environmental responses; produce speech; secure memory; manage emotions; and allow us such complexity of thought.

While none of us could live life as we know it, without our brain - our physical, sexual, social, intrapersonal, professional, academic, and family functioning are all accomplished thanks to our mind.

We all have our own personality, our own unique characteristics, our own genetic make-up and distinct physiological variances that make us especially recognizable.

Of even greater importance, often times, is the fact that our personal history; developmental outcomes; mental schemas; bias; beliefs; fears; conditioned behavior; reactions to trauma; acquired religious predispositions; regional affiliation; political attunement; and the influence of our family of origin; all amount to only a partial list of the factors that define, not just a teacher's ability to teach, but also every human's ability to learn.

A good analogy to consider, when looking to understand the relationship between the brain and the mind, is to imagine the brain being like a radio. Our mind: the music. Although we need the radio to hear the music, the music does not originate from the radio, it is merely transmitted through it.

What Every Student Brings to the Table

To be a good teacher, one must first be a good learner. All the academic success in the world is quickly negated for a person who displays inadequate emotional intelligence or poor social control. Social anxiety, poor stress-management, nervous sensitivities, family dynamics, and irrational self-talk, can each interfere with our ability to conduct ourselves appropriately

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