Excerpted with permission of the publisher Jossey-Bass, a Wiley brand, from “Teaching Fiercely: Spreading Joy and Justice in Our Schools” by Kass Minor. Copyright © 2023 by Kass Minor. All rights reserved.
It is important to distribute equitable responsibility within the community to nourish teachers with time and space for planning, thinking, reflecting and collaborating. When this labor is centered on one entity, like “school leadership” or “grade team leaders” or even one person like “the principal,” the likelihood that an authentic and intentional thought sanctuary for teachers will come into fruition is minimal. One way to think about this movement is through the concept of “community-up,” meaning that community growth is connective, lateral and moves upward, together.
The cylindrical model shown below is an example of a community-up model, and supports organizing within a school community. I learned about the cylindrical model from Indigenous educator Cinnamon Kills First duri..