MSMS_Sustain

Introduction

MSMS_Sustain is a learning program predicated on the belief that students of the 21st century must know and understand issues related to climate change, sustainability and social justice.

Using the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the three spheres of sustainability and through personalized learning, students will have the opportunity to explore areas of interest, connect with others who are working to solve those problems, and to communicate their findings to the school community.

The program is based on the belief that students and adults should be partners. A focus on student voice, student-led action and collaboration with the learning community are core beliefs of program.

Land Acknowledgement

The MSMS_Sustain program respectfully acknowledges the traditional homeland of the Winooski People, whose unceded territory is the place that many of us reside or work in. 

The Winooski People are one of the twelve Wabanaki family bands that were living in this region  when the boundary line between Canada and the US was agreed upon in 1783, leaving Wabanaki people living on both sides of the border and caught in the middle of someone else’s war and boundary decision. 

We recognize the longer history of this place, which reaches far beyond colonization, and its significance for the Indigenous peoples who lived and continue to live upon this territory.

Source: Middle Grades Collaborative

Anti-Racism & Social Justice Commitments

We acknowledge our shared responsibility to work toward a better tomorrow, one in which there is justice toward those who are oppressed within our country and around the world. We commit to work toward dismantling unjust and oppressive educational systems via the following:

• Examining curriculum to identify and disrupt how white supremacy shows up within it.

• Engaging in antiracist education and learning to further our own development.

• Advocating for educational policies that disrupt discriminatory practices that disproportionately harm black students.

• Teaching about and through antiracist pedagogies and educational structures.

Source: Middle Grades Collaborative

Don Taylor is a middle school educator at Main Street Middle School in Montpelier, VT. After 17 years of teaching humanities, he has shifted to the development of a sustainability program serving all MSMS students. 

Taylor is working hard to create great relationships and an innovative, integrated, and dynamic learning environment for all students. 

When not working on his craft, Don can be found spending time with his family enjoying Vermont's outdoor, cultural, and community offerings. He is an avid angler, reader, and runner who believes that, "It's not where you start, it's where you finish."