Summer Work

Summer Work
Posted on 10/04/2018

InstructionPutnam Ave. teachers were hard at work preparing for the school year during the summer! Many staff participated in independent professional development throughout the summer, including, but not limited to: Project Zero at Harvard; Corwin’s Visible Thinking Conference; Universal Design for Learning Conference; graduate school classes and an online course taught by Putnam Ave. staff based on Dr. Linda Nathan’s book--When Grit Isn’t Enough.

We also came together in August for the following professional learning opportunities:

  • Summer Leadership Institute: This annual institute is intended to support and ground our work as leaders and is facilitated by the administrative team. We continued to explore Mr. Chardin’s framework: “Going Beyond Access” and thought deeply about Impact over Intentions, Learner Visibility, and Authentic Relevance, making connections to our data, our goals, our classroom and hallway displays, and student voice. We also revisited our core value of Ownership (Putnam Ave. Definition: A great school relies on a strong sense of ownership, and we demonstrate ownership through reflection and planning. By committing to goals, developing clear plans for achieving those goals, and regularly reflecting on the progress we have made towards reaching 
our goals, we are accountable to ourselves and to our community.), which we will be focusing on as a school.


  • Voluntary Staff Days: These days prior to the official start of school provided teachers with an opportunity to meet as teams, plan our September events, and prepare our classrooms for students.


  • Putnam Ave. English Department: This team worked diligently to prepare to launch an independent reading program that will support all of our students in developing vibrant, engaged, and empowered reading lives.


  • Putnam Ave. Math Department: In addition to exploring the math practice standards in greater depth, our math teachers also dug into data and brainstormed ways to support and accelerate learning. 


  • Staff Orientation: We came together as a staff to kick off the school year by exploring our school-wide theme: “Revisit, Refine, & Own It,” which started with staff unpacking our core value of Ownership and a viewing of the video, Know Your Why. We also spent time in teams preparing for the arrival of students and setting up our classrooms and hallways.
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