Putnam Schools And WCTE Employee Awarded By PBS

Putnam County Schools and WCTE Ready to Learn Project Manager Cindy Putman has been awarded for her work intertwining PBS content and local education.

Putman received the 2021 Bobbi English Champion for Children Award from PBS, Sesame Workshop and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Putman said she’s spent six years using public broadcasting to get kids ready for school.

“Taking the tools and content that’s created by PBS,” Putman said. “Actually showing parents and caregivers and educators of little learners how to use those materials and implement them to help them become their child’s first teacher.”

Putman said she goes into schools to train teachers on how to use PBS learning media and help them get creative with students in class and learning remote. She said putting these learning models together, setup families to replicate the lesson plan at home with the same videos online.

“I actually met with a school this morning and they’re having a virtual family engagement event around a PBS character named Ruff Ruffman,” Putman said. “Ruff is all about science. So, the kids are going to be learning about chemistry by doing different types of mixtures and the properties of mixtures.”

Putman said she is driven in this career by the importance of teachers, and the impacts they made on her. She said she was humbled by receiving this award.

“I really can’t say it’s just mine,” Putman said. “It belongs to every teacher that I’ve ever worked with. It belongs to every family, every student, it belongs to the Head Start families. Everyone who works and believes that they can really make a difference in the life of a child.”

Putman received her award at the National Educational Telecommunications Association Conference. She said her focus is on the youngest learners, in Pre-K through 3rd grade.