A CURRICULUM SHOULD BE a CALL to ACTION Here Students Do at PUTNEY, THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS EXTRACURRICULAR
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A CURRICULUM SHOULD BE A CALL TO ACTION here students do AT PUTNEY, THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS EXTRACURRICULAR. EVERYTHING IS LEARNING. You are going to be learning all of the time—inside and outside, with teachers and fellow students, through your jobs and leadership roles, in independent study, at campfires, and in classrooms. This book is rogressive educator Carmelita Hinton founded a menu of choices, but it is also a call to action: a call to be creative P The Putney School in 1935. In 1954 the school and work hard. At Putney you will learn to be bold and innovative, to established eight goals for students and faculty: work and to lead, to consider yourself and others, to live at home and out in the world, and to build sustainability into all of your efforts. To work not for marks, badges, honors, but to discover truth and to grow in knowledge of the universe and in the understanding of men, to treasure the hard stretching of oneself, to render service. 4 The Putney Core 54 Afternoons To learn to appreciate and participate in the creative arts, 7 Throughlines 62 Evening Arts 13 Subject-Centered Objectives 6 8 J o b s where man gives expression to his struggle for 18 Essential Experiences 69 Leadership Positions communication of his inner life and for beauty, and to 26 Academic Curriculum grant these arts great prestige. 28 Courses 29 Long Fall To believe in manual labor, be glad to do one's share of it 30 Independent Work For a current and comprehensive look and proud of the skills learned in the doing. 32 Support at Putney's curriculum, please visit To play just as wholeheartedly as one works, but watching out curriculum.putneyschool.org a bit for the competitive angle, remembering that play is for recreation and an increased joy in living. To want to lend a hand to the community at large, not to live EDUCATION FOR CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION in an “ivory tower." Education that fosters creativity is crucial design yourself. Independent studies and To combat prejudices caused by differences in economic, to your ability to be useful in the world. exhibitions will require you to dig deeply political, racial, and religious backgrounds; to strive for Twice a year, you will design and carry into an area of interest and create new out lengthy independent projects you will questions and connections. a world outlook, putting oneself in others' places, no matter how far away or how remote. EDUCATION FOR LEADERSHIP To have old and young work together in a true comradeship At Putney, you will practice leadership 50 leadership positions in which students relation, stressing the community and its need for the and learn through experience. You will are leading their fellow students to get cooperation of all. help to run work crews, lead dorms, sit work done, or in which students are part on committees. You will find yourself of the decision-making processes that To wish to live adventurously though not recklessly, in lengthy debates about how to run make the community run. This work is willing to take risks, if need be, for moral growth, so a community in which individual vital to the school. freedoms must mesh with responsibility that one definitely progresses along the long slow road See pages 68–69 for more on Jobs & Leadership. to the group. There are more than toward achieving a civilization worthy of the name. EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY Putney stands for a way of life, and includes Physiological Ecology, and we realize that this life must be an Complex Systems, as well as biology and environmentally sustainable one. chemistry classes that use the natural world Throughout our history, the land use as their laboratories. You will be required program has been a key element of a to work on the farm, in the gardens, and in Putney education. New technology and the woods in order to graduate. old are combined to find ways to live more For more on sustainability at Putney, visit lightly on the land. Our science program www.putneyschool.org/sustainability 2 the putney core curriculum.putneyschool.org the putney core 3 THE PUTNEY CORE HAS THREE COMPONENTS: the I. Throughlines putney PAGE 07 © core Seven overarching skills and habits of mind, defined in clear rubrics, guide development through a student’s time at Putney — The Putney Core outlines the skills, II. knowledge, and understanding essential Subject-Centered Objectives to a Putney education and necessary for PAGE 13 graduation. It is a proficiency-based system, which requires students to show progress and proof of their learning through a digital portfolio. A Putney diploma represents four years of planned secondary school study. Specific learning objectives define the detail of content and skills In addition to successful completion of the that a student will need in each discipline baseline requirements outlined by the Putney — Core, students will define and pursue other areas of individual interest. III. Essential Experiences PAGE 18 Invaluable and immeasurable opportunities to develop qualities which people should progress toward throughout life 4 the putney core curriculum.putneyschool.org the putney core 5 i. Throughlines The seven Throughlines are overarching skills and habits of mind, supported throughout our curriculum through coursework, projects, activities, jobs, group experiences, and independent studies. Each Throughline is assessed using a rubric that describes each goal in detail and delineates the following levels: novice, emerging, proficient, and beyond. In order to graduate, students must demonstrate, through supporting evidence and reflection in their portfolio, that they have achieved the proficient level in all seven areas. ETHICAL, CULTURAL & COLLABORATION SOCIAL JUSTICE PERSPECTIVES Works with others in building an Understands the ethical implications intellectual, creative, and active of questions raised in each discipline. community. Engages in productive Understands that all fields may be viewed dialogue, shows respect to a group, through differing cultural lenses, and and supports common goals. appreciates the value of other perspectives. See page 10 for sample rubric Understands the complexities of social justice. LITERACY & COMMUNICATION INQUIRY & RESEARCH Reads, interprets, analyzes, and makes meaning from a multitude of sources Turns curiosity into clear, useful questions including written, visual, and auditory. and pursues a line of inquiry. Practices Effectively conveys meaning in a academic research in the context of variety of modes including written, different fields. visual, and spoken. ARGUMENTATION SELF-KNOWLEDGE & Constructs arguments, evaluates one’s SELF-REGULATION own arguments and those of others, asks salient questions, and evaluates Prioritizes, manages time, and competing claims in the contexts of understands personal learning styles, different disciplines. strengths and weaknesses; perseveres in the face of adversity and uncertainty. See page 8 for sample rubric DESIGN & BUILD Articulates practical problems, imagines possible solutions, develops plans, attains skills needed to execute plans, and creates objects that address the identified needs. 6 the putney core curriculum.putneyschool.org the putney core 7 SAMPLE THROUGHLINE RUBRIC ARGUMENTATION Constructs arguments, evaluates one’s own arguments and those of others, asks salient questions, and evaluates competing claims in the contexts of different disciplines. ARGUMENTATION ELEMENT NOVICE EMERGING PROFICIENT BEYOND B Uses argumentation to Identifies ideas or viewpoints. Regularly identifies a clear States a position clearly and evaluates its Independently and regularly subjects own develop and clarify one’s purpose and line of reasoning coherence with relevant premises. thinking to internal debate and logical own thinking with some evidence or Regularly outlines how an opposing point of testing. examples. view would present its reasoning. Can trace out most implications of a given assumption and is aware that not all conse- quences can be predicted. Uses logic, organization and Recalls and restates exam- Modifies teacher-provided Understands basic logical structure and can Describes different sets of premises that recognition of logical flaws ples of logical fallacies and of examples of logical argu- lay out a complex thought in rational form. may lead to the same conclusion. Describes sound logical reasoning. ments to make them sound Identifies gaps in logic and relevant data how small changes in premises or assump- or false. Student explains in needed to test an assumption. Student dis- tions would modify conclusions. words or pictures teacher- tinguishes between necessary and sufficient provided examples of a conditions and gives multiple examples of each. condition being necessary but not sufficient, and sufficient but not necessary. Evaluates evidence for Recognizes evidence, but not Uses an insufficient amount Uses relevant, valid and sufficient evidence. Recognizes the most salient evidence relevancy, sufficiency, and the validity or the sufficiency of pertinent and valid Recognizes contradictory evidence and can for the purpose. validity of the evidence. Occasionally evidence and sometimes realize when they are wrong. accepts they are wrong when recognizes invalid evidence. told so. Occasionally recognizes when they are wrong. Understands audience, Recalls examples of Sometimes employs rhe- Detects unstated assumptions and perceives Understands that unexamined or irrational author’s intent and bias, and emotional appeals or other torical techniques including bias embedded in an otherwise logical argu- beliefs shared by an audience can enhance their rhetorical techniques rhetorical methods that they emotional and ethical ment; understands how real-time debates can author’s capacity to persuade. have encountered in class or appeals, logic, and establish- exacerbate this challenge. Is aware that his/her own bias exists, that the media. ing credibility. Sometimes Identifies bias and uses it to better under- it may be limiting his/her ability to see an takes audience into account stand and address an opposing point of view. argument’s validity, and that some of that when crafting an argument. Fluently manipulates parts of an argument. bias may be unconscious.