001: My Why
Why understanding the brain changed the way I teach and why I think every child deserves to understand theirs.
We spend years teaching children how to read, write, solve math problems, ask thoughtful questions and build meaningful relationships. We teach them about butterflies, weather, plants, the solar system and the human body.
But how often do we teach them about the incredible organ making all of that learning possible?
Their brain.
Over the past year, I've found myself returning to one simple question again and again:
How does the brain grow?
It wasn't a question I expected to become so important to me.
Part of that curiosity began in my kindergarten classroom. Every year, there seemed to be a small group of students who stayed on my mind long after the school day ended. They were bright, funny, creative and full of potential, yet despite trying different interventions, adjusting my instruction, and searching for new strategies, I still felt like I wasn't reaching them in the way they deserved. I kept asking myself, How do I help every child learn?
Year after year, I found myself going back to the drawing board. A new strategy. A different intervention. Teaching with more fidelity. Eventually, I realized I was asking the wrong question. Instead of asking, What should I teach differently? I began asking, How does the brain actually learn?
Around that same time, someone I love experienced a life-changing brain injury. Suddenly, learning about the brain wasn't just making me a better teacher, it was helping me understand recovery, healing and hope. Neuroplasticity was no longer just a scientific concept I'd read about. I was watching it unfold in real life. I was witnessing the extraordinary ability of the brain to adapt, rebuild, and create new pathways after unimaginable trauma.
Those two worlds, my classroom and my family's journey, unexpectedly collided.
And somewhere in the middle of them, Growing Every Brain was born.
The more I've learned about neuroscience, the more I've realized something that feels both simple and profound:
Understanding the brain changes the way we see children.
Instead of asking, "Why won't they sit still?" we begin asking, "What does this brain need right now?" Instead of thinking, "They're just not trying," we begin wondering, "What's getting in the way of learning?" Instead of seeing behavior as something to manage, we begin seeing it as something to understand.
That shift has changed everything for me. Not because neuroscience has all the answers, it doesn't, but because it helps us ask better questions. Questions about movement. Questions about belonging. Questions about attention. Questions about play. Questions about stress. Questions about wonder.
I don't have all the answers. I'm simply a kindergarten teacher learning out loud. This journal is where I'll share what I'm discovering as I explore the intersection of neuroscience, education, belonging, and joyful learning. I'll celebrate what I'm learning, wrestle with questions I haven't answered yet, and hopefully encourage other educators to become curious alongside me.
Because I believe every child deserves to know something incredibly important:
Their brain can grow.
And maybe, if we understand the brain just a little better, we can build classrooms where every child has the opportunity to grow with it.
Welcome to the Growing Every Brain Journal.
I'm so glad you're here.
