In His Element: Brock Putnam, Ed.M.'87

Students at New Milford High School in New Milford, Conn., learn about the epic Battle of Salamis from a Greek messenger -- their teacher, Brock Putnam, Ed.M.'87. To get his students' attention, Putnam performs a speech from the Greek playwright Aeschylus's dramatization of the epic 480 B.C. Persians vs. Athenians conflict. They stare at him, rapt, too attentive to take notes.

The performance comes naturally to Putnam, who worked as an actor before he started teaching at Fessenden School, a private boarding school in West Newton, Mass., in 1974. He chose teaching because he thought the academic schedule would allow time for acting in summer stock. But, aside from a two-year break to complete a master's in acting and directing at Brandeis University, Putnam never left the classroom, that is, until 1986 when he enrolled at the Harvard Graduate School of Education to augment his resume and move into public education.

At Harvard, Putnam was introduced to computers, education law, and students from around the world. "One of the things that distinguishes HGSE from a lot of places," says Putnam, is that "most of the people had some teaching experience." Hearing his fellow students' experiences, he remembers, "meant the world to me."

After graduation, Putnam took a position at New Milford High School where he taught an experimental program for students at risk of dropping out. Even with a school-within-a-school environment and low student-teacher ratio, teaching a "rough and tumble" population when he'd come from a school where, he says, "students stood up when a teacher walked into the room" was challenging to say the least.

Soon, Putnam's dedication to his students led beyond the classroom and into afterschool. What began as his school's simple necessity for an advisor for its academic bowl team, Team Waramaug!!, became a career-long pursuit.

At first, Putnam had a "heck of a time" rounding up the three seniors needed for the academic bowl team, but the small team was immediately successful. In its first year, it won the Connecticut High School Bowl, then placed second (and won scholarship money) in the Texaco Academic Challenge in White Plains, N.Y. Since then, Putnam has coached Team Waramaug!! to the nationals almost every year.

Putnam's next afterschool activity was borne of his own observations at both his school and his son's. At New Milford, Putnam had noticed with dismay that his students used the word "gay" as a pejorative term. This, coupled with his son electing to change schools to escape persecution due to his sexuality, inspired his creation of the Gay Straight Alliance in the mid-1990s. He was a bit unsure if the club would survive in a conservative town like New Milford. He spent the club's initial months waiting for political fallout from the community. But, although at first some teachers asked Putnam what he was doing to "fix these kids," and a few of the participating students told their parents the club was "arts club," no real fallout ever came.

Instead, when Putnam stands in line at graduation to shake all 400 graduates' hands, he's come to expect that at least one student that he's never seen at a meeting will thank him for hosting the alliance. "I guess just knowing that something like that exists means something," he says.

At 62, Putnam is readying for retirement and is beginning to pass on his activities to other faculty members. He's also left contemplating how to continue his involvement in one particular club once he does retire. "I'd like to build an [academic bowl] set, buy buzzers and commercially prepared questions, and host [a TV tournament] on a regular basis," he says. And, he'd like to get back into acting, something that he hasn't been able to pursue, although some might say that he gives 25 performances a week -- in class.

-- Samantha Cleaver is a freelance writer. Her last piece in Ed. focused on Ilona Holland's evaluation classes.