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For the Love of Dolly Parton, Teach the WHY

  I have questioned EVERYTHING this week. And somewhere between questioning systems, practices, decisions, and probably the meaning of life itself, something clicked.....I figured out why people do not hear me when I say, "They don't understand, we have to teach them." or  "They know what to do, how to do it, they have no clue WHY we do it."  As a society, we spend a whole lot of time saying: “They should know this.” Should they? Like... SHOULD THEY REALLY? Because I am becoming increasingly convinced that we have built entire systems around the assumption that people know things nobody ever actually taught them. And then we are shocked when implementation falls apart. Here is the thing. We are mimickers. We watch the people around us. Someone models something. We follow the steps. We learn the routine. We get pretty ding dang good at doing exactly what we saw someone else do. And that can look a whole lot like mastery. Until something changes. Change the routi...
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Common Denominators: Life Is a Math Equation

  It is August 1, 2026 On July 31st, I had my hair lady chop eight inches off my hair. Apparently, I woke up this morning forgetting that happened. I touched my head, panicked, and briefly died inside. Then I took a shower and ran out of cold water. Yes, cold-ass water. It has been so hot outside that the water coming into the house is sometimes warmer than room temperature. Gross. Absolutely disrespectful. While standing there questioning my hair, the weather, the water supply, and every decision that had brought me to that moment, I remembered something else. On June 1, I started writing about common denominators. I have not posted it because I did not want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Honestly, what I wrote hurt my own feelings. But here it is. The grand release of Common Denominators: Life Is a Math Equation. I dove deeply into cognitive studies this summer. Why do we do what we do? Why do we repeat patterns even when we know they hurt us? Why do certain relationships feel famili...
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Let's Get Political... No, Let's Get Physical...

This isn't a post telling you who to vote for. It's a post challenging all of us...including me...to think deeper about leadership, community, and our own responsibility. If you're looking for a party endorsement, you're going to be disappointed.  If you're willing to think, grab a cup of coffee and keep reading. Y'all, it's primary season and county election time around here, and let me tell you something... Election season brings out people's true colors. It brings out the best in people who are willing to listen, learn, ask questions, and grow. It also brings out the rough and tumble in people who never make it past the surface. They pick a side, memorize a slogan, share a meme, and call it "research." Now let's get to the question everyone seems to care about. "Beth, are you a Democrat or a Republican?" I cannot believe I'm about to say this on the internet... Neither. Both. Somewhere in the middle. Switzerland with Wi-Fi....
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Everybody Wants to Make Waves Until It's Time to Ride One...

I've spent more time thinking far beyond the surface this summer than I probably have in years. For the first time in a long time, I chose to work all summer. Somewhere in the middle of summer assessments, spreadsheets, IEPs, conversations with co-workers,  research, and questioning everything, I also realized something else.  For the past year I've found myself saying the same thing over and over. "So many people know what to do. They know how to do it. But they don't know WHY." That statement has followed me everywhere. It started in education. Teachers are working harder than ever. They are juggling impossible expectations, testing windows, paperwork, behavior, intervention groups, parent communication, compliance, and somehow they're still expected to create magic every single day. Most are giving everything they have. But somewhere along the way, education became a race. Faster. More data. More checklists. More boxes. Education should never become a busin...
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Scattered, Smothered, Covered… and Apparently Running an Executive Function Intervention

Recently someone said something that made me stop mid-bite at Waffle House. This was during a discussion related to working memory.  “The people who work at Waffle House have their own language.” Now before you laugh and dismiss it, sit with that for a second. Because as I’m sitting here, coffee cup half empty, listening to “Cheesesteak plate! Over medium! Scattered, smothered, covered! Waffle PB! Eggs scrambled, scattered light!” being hurled across the room at lightning speed, I start thinking… Wait a minute. Are we overlooking a whole set of skills? As a special education teacher, my brain never shuts off. Ever. I could probably be stranded on an island and somehow connect coconuts and survival skills back to executive functioning and intervention strategies. So there I sit. Dishes clanking against tubs in the back. The sprayer hissing as plates get rinsed off. The steady sizzle of hashbrowns and bacon on the grill. Coffee mugs clink as servers slide them onto tables wit...
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