About
I’m Melissa, the founder of Busy Bee Brainworks.
I’ve worked in classrooms, early intervention, inclusion, and as a quality assessor.
Across all of it, I kept seeing the same struggles.
In the moment, there’s a lot happening at once. Teachers are constantly responding, redirecting, adjusting to keep things on track.
But it’s not always clear what’s actually going on or what would help.
When I was in the classroom, I remember feeling tired of the same training.
In my other roles, I had more exposure to development and behavior.
And I kept hearing the same questions from teachers.
How This Started
When I first started working in childcare, I was doing what made sense to me. But over time, I noticed I wasn't getting the results I expected. The same challenges kept happening. What I was doing wasn’t actually changing much in the right direction. If anything, it was getting worse. But that pattern told me something.
I started reflecting more on what I was learning in my psychology classes and looking for ways it could apply in the classroom. I found several right away and I began preparing for common situations so I’d be ready to respond differently.
Kids who used to run as soon as they felt a correction coming started coming to me instead. One child who would shut down or push back with other adults started to seek me out when he was upset. Another child once yelled at a teacher, “You don’t love me. No one loves me. Only Melissa loves me.” That’s when I knew he felt the difference too. It wasn’t just something I was noticing.
The same moments kept happening, and nothing was really changing. I knew I had to change my approach.
in the classroom
I kept seeing it everywhere
After my initial experience as a teacher, I started working in early intervention.
I had a lot more exposure to development and behavior.
And I found myself saying the same things over and over to families.
I thought to myself, "if only there was a course that could support these families."
Later, in inclusion work, it was similar.
Teachers would reach out when something wasn’t working in their classroom.
And again, I found myself repeating the same ideas.
Helping them think through what they were seeing and what might help.
This solidified the idea for me that a course addressing these issues could be immensely helpful.
Even now, as a quality assessor, I still see it.
The settings are different, but the questions are often the same.
So I decided to make the course.
The same questions kept coming up, no matter the setting.
The Pieces Were There, But They Weren’t Working Together.
A lot of what I was sharing wasn’t new.
Many of the strategies were things teachers had already seen in different forms, so the ideas were familiar.
When I was in the classroom, I remember feeling tired of the same training. A lot of it covered similar ideas, just explained in slightly different ways. It felt piecemeal.
Many ideas were introduced separately. Some were explained in very detailed ways, and others were oversimplified. And it felt like transference to the classroom environment wasn't always clear.
Over time, it meant educators were holding a lot of pieces, without always having a clear way to connect them in real moments.
My Background
I started my work in childcare, where I spent several years in classroom settings.
I hold a degree in Psychology, which shaped how I began thinking about behavior and development early on.
I then worked in Early Childhood Intervention, supporting children ages 0–3 with developmental delays. During that time, I completed developmental assessments with evaluation tools like the Battelle Developmental Inventory, the Hawaii Early Learning Profile, and the DAY-C. I also received training in approaches like Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) which centers around supporting children through challenging moments in a way that prioritizes trust and your relationship. I also trained in Pathways, which is an approach to teach preverbal skills to children. I worked alongside licensed clinicians like speech, occupational, physical therapists, as well as behavioral analysts in this role.
Later, I moved into inclusion work through a local workforce board, where I supported teachers and centers navigating more complex classroom situations. I received training in Conscious Discipline, became certified in the CLASS assessment tool (Infant, Toddler, and Pre-K) and trained as a trainer for the Ages and Stages Questionnaire.
I now work as a Texas Rising Star assessor, continuing to observe classrooms and support quality improvement across early childhood settings.
The basis of the course.
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The Blog
Reflections on development, classroom moments, and the thinking behind Busy Bee Brainworks.