Photo by Qeis Ismail on Unsplash
by the Educator Collaborative Fellow Cathline Tanis
As with many teachers in my circle, I am reading several books at once. I am going to bypass my Romantasy guilty pleasure and my sons’ summer reading books that I co-read and focus on the two that I am leaning into as I enter my 20th year in teaching and my 8th year as an administrator. I’ve recently returned to Design for Belonging by Susie Wise, recommended by a former Chair of the Conference on English Leadership (CEL), Janice Schwarze, during the Covid disconnect and to Design Love In by Marcus Buckingham which I started earlier this summer as I am grappling with the recent passing of my mother. The thought that lingers is that love may be the most radical act I can engage in right now; with my boys, my immediate family and within my spheres of influence.
In Design for Belonging, Susie Wise reminds me that belonging is not accidental. It is intentionally designed through the experiences we create, the invitations we extend, the voices we amplify, and the systems we build. Belonging is more than making people feel welcome; it is creating environments where every person can contribute, question, influence, and flourish. Wise explains that,
“Belonging helps us to be fully human. It gives us permission to share our talents and express our life force. It enables cooperation, collaboration, and the ability to work across difference. It emboldens our creativity and our problem solving abilities. When people feel they belong they are able to be their best and do their best.” (xiii)
Marcus Buckingham, in Design Love In, presents me with a personal and professional challenge. He reminds me that institutions and organizations become extraordinary not by fixing people’s weaknesses but by designing spaces and work that allow people to experience what they love, use their strengths, and contribute meaningfully every day. Buckingham defines love as, “the deep and unwavering commitment to the flourishing of a human.” (Audiobook) This definition of love is not soft, it is strategic and intentional. It is the force that unlocks dedication, creativity, and excellence
As I welcome another school year, I realize that educators all over the nation will begin preparing classrooms, organizing lessons, and welcoming students whose stories, hopes, fears, and identities are as diverse as the communities they represent. We often begin the year asking, “What do students need to learn?” Perhaps this year we should begin with a different question: “Who must our students become, and what kind of community will help them get there?”
I would like to begin my year with two powerful commitments to help me answer these questions; a commitment to belonging and a commitment to love. Imagine what becomes possible when these two ideas meet inside our schools. Schools might become places where every student belongs, where good educators are trusted, where communities are designed around human possibility rather than compliance and uniformity. And perhaps most importantly, the idea that emerged from a conversation with Henry “Cody” Miller, who is the Conference Program Chair for the 2027 CEL Annual Convention, is that through designing the belonging and the love in, schools might finally become the greatest expression of the public good.
Education Is the Ultimate Equity Issue
As an immigrant, my parents held the fierce belief that education was the pathway to a better future. Today, I work with students who are children of immigrants and they embody the dreams of their parents and their community for a life full of promise and dignity. A life that is better. Public education has always been more than preparing students for careers. At its best, education prepares young people to participate in democracy, engage with complexity, examine evidence, challenge injustice, imagine new futures, and care deeply about the lives of others. Education is where curiosity becomes courage. It is where literacy becomes agency. It is where questioning becomes civic participation. It is where learning becomes upward mobility.
If equity is about expanding opportunity, then education remains our most powerful equity strategy.
Every classroom that nurtures critical thought widens access to possibility.
Every teacher who creates belonging interrupts isolation.
Every conversation grounded in truth expands democracy, perspective, multiplicity and acceptance.
Every student who learns to ask thoughtful questions becomes more prepared to listen, to research, to create and shape a better future.
This is why what we do matters. Not only for individual success but for ourcollective future.
For Our Students: Designing Belonging In
As an educator and leader, I often attempt to create spaces that I believe are inviting, inclusive and spaces that I believe are full of answers and surety. But belonging is not created through posters on the wall or welcome-back assemblies. It is built in the daily choices leaders and educators make. Wise says, “Belonging is the invitation to be your full self, however that looks. It is the opportunity– no matter who you are– to learn, live, and love, to be honored, encouraged, and allowed to develop as you…” (7).
We design belonging in when we:
- Invite every student’s story before assuming we know it.
- Build classrooms where questions matter as much as answers.
- Replace compliance with curiosity and questioning
- Co-create learning experiences that encourage collaboration rather than competition.
- Honor multiple ways of knowing and demonstrating understanding.
- Help students see themselves reflected in the curriculum and school spaces while expanding their understanding of others.
For Our Teachers: Designing Love In
As an administrator, students are always at the center of my decision making but this year, I am equally looking at my teachers who show up everyday. Particularly, Buckingham reminded me that people do their best work when they spend more time doing what energizes them. What if we asked teachers different questions this year?
- What lesson do you most love teaching?
- When do you lose track of time because students are so deeply engaged?
- Which strengths do your colleagues see in you?
- How might your gifts become someone else’s inspiration?
In particular this year, I want to remain cognizant that:
- Schools flourish when educators are trusted as professionals, learners, creators, and leaders.
- The lifting up of educators is not a luxury; it is an investment in every child they will teach.
- If we want students to experience belonging, educators must experience it too.
- If we want students to love learning, educators must be given opportunities to love teaching.
- If we want innovation in classrooms, we must create psychological safety in faculty rooms and department meetings.
Begin This Year Differently
As you prepare your classroom this fall, consider beginning with these questions:
- Who might feel unseen on the first day? Why?
- How will every student know they belong here?
- What opportunities will students have to ask meaningful questions?
- How will joy and curiosity be protected?
- How will I help students discover not only what they know but who they are becoming?
- How will I intentionally encourage my colleagues, celebrate their strengths, and remind them that their work matters?
A Call to Educators
Let us advocate fiercely for public education, not because it is perfect, but because it remains our greatest democratic promise and our most enduring pathway toward justice.
Education has always been about more than achievement. It is about humanity. It is about possibility. It is about ensuring that every child in every zip code, and of every gender, language, race, ability, sexuality, immigration status, and circumstance has access to the critical thinking, curiosity, compassion, and opportunity that transform lives.
As this new school year begins, may we remember that every act of teaching is an act for the public good and an act of hope.
Works Cited
Wise, Susie, and Rose Jaffe. Design for Belonging: How to Build Inclusion and Collaboration in Your Communities. Ten Speed Press, 2022.
Buckingham, Marcus. Design Love In. Ascent Audio, 2026.
Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom (Instagram)
