ABSTRACT
“Teacher Self-Knowledge” contains testimonies from Peggy McIntosh, Hugo Mahabir, Bob Gordon, and Ruth Mendoza, related to their own experiences with school and schooling. Testifying to one’s own educational experiences is a crucial part of the National SEED Project, an organization McIntosh founded in 1986 for the development of teachers. The Project prepares teachers to facilitate deeply personal group work with colleagues in their schools. They find that when teachers come to believe in mining their own memory banks and interior selves for their understanding of equity or injustice as they have experienced these in their own lives, they become more firmly grounded in school and in life. Peggy describes her experiences as an elementary school student during World War II and as a university professor. Hugo and Bob each share their development from participating in SEED, and the changes SEED brought to their schools and classrooms. Ruth explains how SEED helped to change her understanding of her daughter’s and her students’ realities through “windows and mirrors.” Taken together, the essays in “Teacher Self-Knowledge” provide a practical and personal understanding of the work of the National SEED Project.
