KIE and CSUB Department of Teacher Education Host 1st Annual SEEDE Institute
During the week of July 23-27, 2018, 20 local K-4 teachers, selected from a competitive applicant pool, joined the Kegley Institute of Ethics and CSUB Department of Teacher Education for the 1stAnnual Social-Emotional, Ethics, and Democratic Education (SEEDE) Institute. Held on the CSUB Campus and co-founded and directed by Dr. Michael D. Burroughs (KIE) and Dr. Brittney Beck (CSUB Teacher Education), the SEEDE Institute featured community-building activities and workshops on implementing dialogue-based and student-centered social-emotional learning (SEL), ethics, and democratic education lessons in K-4 classrooms. At the conclusion of the Institute, all participants presented their SEEDE-informed classroom plans and projects at the California Teachers Summit, the largest state conference for CA PreK-12 teachers.
SEEDE is an innovative education and professional development program. First, it features intensive collaboration between educators and workshop facilitators to develop dialogue-based lessons that are personalized and useful for participating educators’ own classrooms (as opposed to simply handing pre-formed curricula to teachers and schools to be implemented). Second, the Institute is just one element of a year-long SEEDE professional development process. Drs. Beck and Burroughs will continue to mentor and coach each of the Institute participants during the 2018-19 Academic Year, visiting participant classrooms and hosting a group debrief meeting for all participants in spring 2019. Third, participating teachers, now graduates of the 2018 SEEDE Institute, are empowered to be “SEEDE Ambassadors,” positioned as leaders in their own classrooms, schools, and communities for the advancement of SEL, ethics, and democratic pedagogy.
SEEDE was made possible due to the generous support of the CSUB Kern Rural Teacher Residency, the Wonderful Company, Kern Schools Federal Credit Union, and East Rotary Bakersfield. In addition, several CSUB undergraduate student assistants played important roles in developing the Institute, including Ms. Violeta Trujillo, Ms. Mnwah Musaad, and Ms. Elizabeth Monroig. Ms. Rechima Dean (KIE) and Ms. Paula Francis (CSUB Teacher Education) also played key administrative roles in bringing the Institute to fruition.
KIE and CSUB Teacher Education are looking forward to the year ahead, continuing collaborations with our 2018-19 SEEDE Ambassadors, and the continuation of this important project for many years to come!
