Curriculum Spotlight: All School “Door to Door” March Celebrates Taking Action

Highlighting the diversity of experiences that make up our community.

Curriculum Spotlight

The First Annual All School "Door to Door" March 

This year’s MTS school theme was “Action.” Throughout the year across the grades, we have been thinking and learning about why people take action, when people take action, and how people take action. We have studied influential people and looked at discrimination, racism, and the importance of representation. We have discussed systems that hinder and prevent equity and inclusion. We have also been inspired and called to action by people currently paving our path and those who have paved the path before us.  

Next, it was time for our students to take action. Last year, we emphasized being a “Community that Cares.” With this year’s focus on “Action,” we wondered, how does care translate into action? We challenged students to take ownership of this idea. MTS students in each class began to work on a “Door to Door” PBL (project-based learning) project by thinking about that driving question. Each class thought about the things in the world they care about and then chose one topic that inspires them to take action in a positive way in our community. They looked for inspiration by exploring how other people and organizations – especially people of color and others whose voices haven’t always been heard – find their voices.

Over multiple weeks, classes continued building on their work, turning their care into action through research and putting together displays on their classroom doors and walls for public viewing. Students, faculty, and visitors were invited to take action together, during a “Door to Door” march around campus to view the door and wall exhibits. The results were truly amazing! The amount of hard work and engagement that went into these projects was impressive, as was the excitement and energy as everyone walked through campus viewing the displays. 

Topics ranged from protecting the environment (how to take action to prevent drought or deforestation, for example), to the importance of the right to education, to stopping Asian hate,to athlete activism. First graders put together their learnings from a month-long Farm Unit, where they created models of farms and learned about raising farm animals, creating displays to invite visitors to advocate for the positive treatment of farm animals. The Middle School Music Department created a display called “Songs Written for a Cause,” telling stories about artists who have written songs to raise money for specific causes. The display included QR codes taking visitors directly to the songs on their phones. Vivian’s Mandarin classes created multiple doors with “Stories of Great Chinese Women,” as well as information about different Chinese traditions and greetings.   

On the day of the March, every student in the school received colored tiles that represented different reactions to the projects. Red tiles represented learning something new, yellow represented having a connection to the topic, blue represented an interest in the topic, and green tiles noted that the viewer had a question. Students dropped their tiles off in collection bags as they viewed each exhibit. At the end of the day, each class then sorted the tiles to see what visitors thought of their project. MTS students inspired students and visitors alike to be informed and take action.