Finding Exponential Hope in Courageous Communities
Citation
Crandall, Bryan Ripley; Dail, Jennifer; Goering, Christian Z; Mora, Raúl Alberto; O’Byrne, W. Ian; Price-Dennis, Detra; Witte, Shelbie. (2024) Finding exponential hope in courageous communities. Voices from the Middle, 32(1), 19–22.
Abstract
Things in education are rough right now. The educational landscape has shifted in ways that are making our jobs harder, more frustrating, and frankly, less rewarding than they ever should be. To be a teacher today means to be courageous in ways we couldn’t have fathomed thirty years ago — and to be courageous, one must find a community of support. Written collaboratively by the Divergent Research Team, this piece explores how each of us has found a courageous community that provides the hope and solidarity needed to persist in this work. A courageous community is defined by a shared commitment to truth, justice, and compassion — even in the face of adversity, discomfort, and conflict.
Notes
This one started from a place of honesty about how hard this work actually is right now. The Divergent Research Team has been writing and thinking together for years, and this piece let us drop the academic register and speak plainly: teaching is exhausting, the political pressures are real, and if you don’t have a community pulling you through, you will struggle.
My section focused on balancing change with mental health — specifically the tension between showing up fully as an advocate and staying sustainable as a human being. That balance is real and it’s not talked about enough. The instinct in education is to push harder, do more, give more. But you can’t pour from an empty cup, and pretending otherwise doesn’t help anyone, especially students. Checking my privilege and perspective — understanding how my background and biases shape the way I teach and interact — has to be part of this work too.
What I appreciate about this piece is that it’s not prescriptive. We’re not offering a framework for building courageous communities. We’re each telling the truth about where we found ours, and asking readers to locate themselves in the story.