To know Kass Minor is to have lived experiences where you simultaneously feel a bolt of the universe's energy enter your mind, body, and soul. A connector of hearts, a creator, a community organizer, and really, just such a rad human.

To be a reader of professional texts—of this professional text—is to sit between words and lines and pages, in conversation. In conversation with the author, with far‐away and close‐by readers reading in the exact moment you are, and, most importantly, in conversation with yourself. This book kindly hands you a mirror to hold up to an evolving you: illuminating reflections of validation, observation, interrogation, and that nudge to try something new. It brings back old‐school professional text vibes of deep research, and deep knowledge, requiring the reader to think acutely about their practice. The mirror‐holding Kass models for us is honest and steady, as she claims she has specific identity markers and doesn't have all the answers, but does have community and conviction. And we all need those things: community, conviction, and a healthy nudge toward continuing to construct justice for kids. And not for the future, for right now.

So, Kass's nudge is loving and fierce, with a sense of urgency. Just like Kass.

Teaching Fiercely is designed to match the demands of today's educators. Though it is highly comprehensive, Kass mentions early on to engage with the chapters the way we coach kid‐inquirers to find what they are researching for—read with your questions and identity markers in mind, clear eyes, and your heart wide open. I tried it this way and went down an empowered and individualized pathway—curated by Kass, but created by me—and found myself making lists of new‐to‐me scholars in the field, creatively responding to her Work Alongs like vision boarding, doing mini‐inquiries into Folk Schools, interrogating both my individual and our community goals (do they really bend toward belonging and justice?), reflecting hard on the teacher agency scale, and truly revising my own approaches to learning design guided by all the historical and cultural models Kass generously offers us. My educator efficacy soared reading this book, at a time when it is so needed.

To be an educator is to understand that, universally, education has always been and always will be the most powerful reciprocal tool individuals, gatherings, and communities can both receive and contribute to society. It is critical to breaking cycles of crises: illiteracy, poverty, hunger, violence in all forms, armed conflict, and large‐scale environmental and human tragedy. It is both the foundation and pillar of human sustainability. Educators also painfully understand that level of progress is not universally welcomed. I've had the good fortune of being in a community with educators around the country and around the world. This positionality only raises my awareness of patterns of systemic inequities that play out on the backs of kids and caregivers everywhere. With this lens, I am certain Teaching Fiercely is a book that can be used around the world, because personhood and joy are carefully held at the center. I applaud Kass Minor for modeling the level of learning in public we all must do in our collective commitment to disrupting these cycles on our pathway to justice.

Welcome to the world, Teaching Fiercely. We are better with you here.