Twenty-six years in the classroom taught me that children rarely need us to create something inside them. More often, they need someone to notice what is already there.
Meet Melissa
The Teacher and Founder Behind Lovepug Learners
Twenty-Six Years of Seeing Children
I began teaching in 2001, and for more than two decades, the classroom has been one of my greatest teachers.
As a teacher and founder, I have spent my career dedicated to learning, adapting, reflecting, and continually asking myself one guiding question: How can I reach this child in a new way—one that might open a new path or help change their story?
Teaching kindergarten and first grade has shown me that children come into our classrooms carrying far more than academic ability. They bring unique personalities, stories, fears, humor, interests, strengths, and gifts that cannot always be captured on a worksheet, measured by an assessment, or represented by a piece of data.
With time and experience, I came to understand that some of the most powerful moments in education happen when a child realizes that an adult truly sees them.
Always a Teacher. Always a Storyteller.
Teaching has never been the only way I express myself. I grew up loving to create through dance, singing, musical theater, baking, art, crafts, and storytelling—and each of those creative experiences helped shape the teacher
I became.
Over the years, I have directed children’s, community, and college theater programs, organized performances, created rich classroom experiences, crafted, designed, baked, built, and found countless ways to bring imagination, energy, and creativity into learning.
I am a maker of joy.
I have built communities of confident learners by helping children work together, strengthen their sense of belonging, and recognize that they are part of something bigger than themselves. Along the way, they discover more of who they are, what they are capable of, and what they can contribute.
Creativity has always been one of the ways I connect—with children, with colleagues, and with the world around me.
And Then a Rescue Pug Changed the Story
Romeo entered my life through rescue, but none of us could have predicted the enormous role he would eventually play in my classroom.
When the world shifted in 2020, teachers everywhere faced the challenge of delivering meaningful instruction through a virtual classroom. During those remote-learning days, I leaned into my own creative strengths—storytelling, performance, humor, and connection—to create videos, stories, and to share everyday interactive moments with Romeo that kept my students engaged and excited about what each day might bring from their teacher’s home.
Driven by the challenge, I began weaving Romeo and his pug sisters into our daily learning in ways that created a new kind of connection with my students. They laughed at him, worried about him, remembered his stories, and saw parts of themselves in this funny, stubborn, snack-loving little pug.
Over time, Romeo became much more than a classroom mascot. He became a reminder that a beginning does not define an ending—and that being seen differently can change a story.
The Lesson I Didn’t See Coming
When classroom instruction resumed, everyone was thrilled to be back together—to see friends, teachers, and the familiar faces we had missed. But something had changed. One beloved member of our class family wasn’t there.
Romeo.
The children had grown deeply attached to him during our time apart. They missed his daily appearances and mischievous antics, asked about him, remembered his stories, and wanted him to remain part of our classroom life.
That realization shifted something in me.
What had started as a creative way to keep children engaged during an extraordinarily difficult time had become something much more. Romeo had created connection. He had become part of their sense of belonging.
And in his own unexpected way, Romeo helped me put words around something I had been learning about children for years:
Every child is already carrying something worth noticing.
A strength.
A spark.
A story still unfolding.
That belief became the Lovepug Lens:
See Each Child. Find the Spark. Change the Story.
The Teacher Becoming the Student Again
After twenty-six years in the classroom, I am stepping into a new kind of learning.
Building Lovepug Learners means becoming the student again—learning entrepreneurship, business, product development, technology, and all the pieces that happen behind the scenes.
But the heart of the work is familiar.
I am still teaching.
I am still creating.
I am still trying to help children see something valuable in themselves.
Lovepug Learners is simply a new way of carrying that important work forward.
There are still more children to reach and inspire— beyond the four walls of my classroom.