SEED at RDS

May 29, 2009

Our guest writer today is Jodi Freedman, 6th Grade Humanities Teacher and SEED Facilitator

It always surprises me how I am becoming more okay with not knowing the outcome of things. I come from a long line of folks who “need to know” if their efforts will be “worth it” before embarking on a big project. Facilitating our staff and faculty SEED diversity group, I never know how the meetings are going to turn out, what people will share, and what we will learn. Wherever we are when we reach the end of our monthly three-hour meeting, that’s where we are. It makes me see how truly complex issues of race, gender, diversity and inclusion are: the work and growth are never done.

For the past two years, the SEED group at RDS has provided faulty and staff the opportunity to examine their own lives and backgrounds, and to learn about others in order to create a community where all members are valued and supported. We engage in activities, readings, and film discussions that focus on diversity and connection. Learning more about ourselves and listening to each other help create and support a more balanced, equitable, inclusive and understanding community.

The RDS SEED group is part of the National SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum, which is in its twenty-third year of establishing teacher-led educator development seminars in schools. As a trained SEED facilitator, I proposed the idea of creating a SEED group when I joined RDS, and Mike was very excited about the idea. The first year we had eight faculty and staff members; this year we have 14 participants, some new and some returning. Through readings and videos and personal sharing we have examined the “textbook on the shelves” and the “textbook of our lives” including issues of gender, race, white privilege, poverty, and sexuality.

The members of SEED have this to say about their experience, “Formally and informally, in and out of SEED, intentionally and sometimes totally incidentally, we’ve talked and thought deeply about an extraordinarily wide range of issues of privilege, inclusion, diversity, and culture. The support RDS gives SEED has allowed us to tackle issues from diverse perspectives and encouraged us to adapt and integrate some of our new thinking and ideas into our work here. We know that we’ve been enriched by the experience and we think the RDS community has as well.”

Our work in SEED is ongoing and rich. Feel free to come talk with me about SEED. I’d love to share and to listen.

Jodi Freedman
SEED Facilitator
6th Grade Humanities Teacher