Hi, I’m Melissa.

A smiling woman with shoulder-length brown hair wearing glasses, a black top, and jewelry, sitting in a brown patterned armchair in a cozy indoor setting.

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”

-Annie Dillard

I am grateful to be on this earth at this present time for our becoming of a more beautiful world. I consider each moment of creating and each connection I make through my work as sacred.

My academic background includes study of critical pedagogy, curriculum theory, and creative writing. For the first 23 years of my career, I taught young children in K-5 public schools, developed interdisciplinary play-based curricula, and led school-based professional development.

In 2017, I left my position inside one school, in one district and… my dissolving, unfurling, and stretching began. Through deep and tangly layers of personal noticing, unlearning, and revision, I found a truer understanding of who I am, and what I most want to create and share with others.

My aperture on learning is wide. My approach with process is emergent and multidimensional. I teach, write, and speak so others may experience liberated learning and being.

I am rooted in wonder, play, delight, trust, and love—this is how I connect to the more-than-human realms, including the word-beings who come to dance, sing, listen, and story me.

At the heart of it all is the immensity of the small—how we notice, connect, attune, and hum with the aliveness of every small thing.

B.S.Ed. | Elementary Education and Social Sciences, Loyola University Chicago

M.Ed. | Curriculum Theory, Curriculum & Instruction, Penn State University

M.A. | Creative Writing, Poetry, University of Cape Town

NBPTS | Early Childhood Generalist

Curriculum vitae available upon request.

For event bios, photo permissions, book information, etc., please email: <contact@melissaabutler.com>

May we listen to the wisdom of moss.

A person lying on the ground in a mossy forest, resting with their head on a moss-covered rock. The person is wearing a hat, glasses, dark clothing, and a backpack, surrounded by moss-covered rocks and trees.