On today’s show, the National SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) Project. For over 30 years, this unique teacher-led professional development program has cultivated multicultural teaching and learning across the globe and around the U.S. On this episode, we hear the voices of four SEED folk: veteran facilitators and National SEED Staff members Dr. Willa Cofield and Nancy Rucker Livingston, as well as SEED founder Dr. Peggy McIntosh, and Emily Style, who co-directed SEED for its first 25 years. By asking SEED leaders to examine their own school and life experiences while they study classic and contemporary scholarship, the National SEED Project has equipped teachers in 42 U.S. states and 15 other countries to challenge inequitable systems and establish more inclusive classrooms for more than three million students. (Image: my dandelion doodle, inspired by the National SEED Project logo.)

Dr. WILLA COFIELD joined SEED in 1989. She has written that the civil rights movement awakened in her a new feeling of personal power and a determination to work for change. She vowed “always to be involved in the effort to liberate the hearts and minds of oppressed people.”

NANCY RUCKER LIVINGSTON joined SEED in 1994, which she compared to “coming home”: “SEED has provided a way for me to stand upon the shoulders of my elders to continue their work of creating a more just and equitable world.” 

Dr. PEGGY McINTOSH founded what became the National SEED Project in 1986. An activist, scholar, and feminist, she has said, “We are all part of what we are trying to change.” Her book On Privilege, Fraudulence, and Teaching as Learning: Selected Essays 1981-2019 is now available from Routledge. Click the button to visit the show page of my full episode with her.

EMILY STYLE co-directed the National SEED Project from 1987 to 2012. Describing SEED work as both nourishing and challenging, Emily has provided memorable language for some philosophical tenets of the program, such as “Half the curriculum walks in the room with the students.” Click the button to visit the show page of my full episode with her.

As usual, Shayfer James has graciously provided intro and outro music. In addition, instrumental versions of songs from his album Haunted Things are featured throughout this episode. For more information about his music and performance schedule, visit shayferjames.com. And click the second half of this sentence to find Strength of Soul by SEED-trained equity practitioner Naomi Raquel Enright.

DISCLAIMER: This episode is my partial (but enthusiastic) introduction to a complex, long-established program. For official information about the National SEED Project, including information about New Leaders Week trainings, visit the site below.

Point of Learning is for anyone curious about what and how and why we learn. Important ideas carefully curated. Available about every other month in podcast audio, often with a YouTube companion edition. Subscribe to the newsletter and I’ll reach out whenever a new episode or bonus item is ready!

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