CHARLEMONT — Academy at Charlemont biology teacher Will Miller does not take living and working along the Deerfield River for granted. In fact, he incorporates the rich resources around him into project-based learning.

Now, Miller’s place-based education project, “Developing a Sustainable Maple Syrup Production System,” is what led him to be named the runner-up for the 2023-2024 National Signature Project Award from the Rural Schools Collaborative.

The collaborative hopes to build sustainable rural communities through programs focused on place, teachers and philanthropy. It awarded Miller $1,500 to conduct a year-long sugaring project with his students that involves researching cultural and ecological aspects of sugaring, interviewing experts, maple syrup making and hosting a pancake breakfast during which they present their work.

He hopes to teach the Indigenous history around the practice, the science of sugaring and get students working together and building community during the short season to produce the product themselves.

“What better way to rediscover building community than making something sweet,” he said.

This is Miller’s second time receiving a grant from the Rural Schools Collaborative. He worked with the organization previously to build a geodesic trellis on the Charlemont campus with his environmental science class. This project was inspired by a similar program at the Greenfield Center School’s kindergarten outdoor classrooms that Miller’s daughter took part in.

Miller explained he feels privileged being a rural educator having access to the natural world all around him. However, being a rural educator comes at a cost.

“There is a trade-off,” he said. “We don’t always get the attention and we struggle in feeling confident that we will always be around.”

He said the curriculum he writes is driven by hands-on, inquiry-based learning.

“Students learn from mistakes,” Miller said.

Lab-based teaching, he explained, is more similar to how science is done outside of high school and it allows students’ interests to drive what they learn.

Teaching technique and skills are often what drives Miller’s classes, which he said are often overshadowed in a school setting by a push for teaching content. He said the administration at the Academy at Charlemont encourages this type of learning and allows him to try new things in the classroom.

Content and skills can be just as important,” he said.

Miller began teaching in 2007, inspired by his time as a student, and he hoped to be able to drive students’ curiosity in the way he felt driven. He was home-schooled for many years, where his parents taught him about the natural world and art.

“I am a lifelong learner,” he said.

Miller said he is inspired by the potential he sees in his students and spoke of how the interest in the classroom motivates and drives his work.

“I am a teacher not just for the content,” he said, “but to get them to see the joy and beauty of the natural world.”

Bella Levavi can be reached at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com

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