TRACY ANDERSON: THE TEACHER YOUR KIDS LOVE

03/31/20 • 76 min

What makes a good teacher? More important, what makes a teacher good? Just as with any professional endeavor there are character habits that lead to mastery. Teaching is no exception. And while there are fantastic teachers everywhere, some rise a bit higher.

The role of teachers today has never been more important yet also has not been as under assault as it is today. Tax cuts riddle school budgets, technology drives adults and kids to distraction, and expectations for how kids achieve has seemingly never been higher. Not to mention the more prevalent occurrence of shootings in schools. So is it a wonder that teachers feel hamstrung to teach with so much going on outside the classroom?

Today's guest, Tracy Anderson, is a teacher I would have loved. Tracy's students thrive in today's educational landscape and she possesses a unique blend of individual talent and commitment that makes her exceptional.
Her career spans 23 years, the past 20 at Ann Arbor's Community High School. Tracy has taught literature, creative writing and journalism for two decades to students who've gone on to excel as adults in life and any number of careers. She is highly regarded by her students, their parents and by the administration. In addition, she is the director of The Communicator, the award-winning, glossy 80-100 page magazine entirely produced by students five times a year. Last year the Communicator won a Pacemaker award for excellence from the National Scholastic Press Association and was up for another award this year.

Tracy is exceptional for two important reasons. First, she is clear on her teaching philosophy. Her clarity of purpose is obvious as we discuss different experiences from her classroom. She is inspired by the premise fundamental to Montessori education that respects the individuality of each student and their learning style and that students' needs change as they grow.

Second, that respect for every student who comes to her classroom has led Tracy to commit to her career as a student of teaching, always challenging herself to understand the educational process more fully and whatever subject matter through which she is guiding her students.

One of the parts of the conversation I love the most is when she mentions that whatever exercise she has her students do she also does. Moreover, there is an absence of ego in Tracy's classroom. She talks about several instances where she admits to her students mistakes she made in approach or a question she asks of students. This humility serves as a great example for her students and inspires them.

"I treat them like individuals and like adults. I trust them," Tracy says,

Armed with a clear sense of fundamentals--she possesses bachelor and masters degrees in teaching as well as a substantial amount of education credits toward her Phd--and with a joie de vivre for young minds, Tracy is a fascinating conversation as well as a lovely person.
Links:
You can find Tracy Anderson here: https://tracyanderson.org/
Detroit Poet Jamaal May's poem There Are Birds Here
Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way
VOICE, Community High School's Literary Magazine

I hope you enjoy today's conversation wit

Website: https://christianrward.com/
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"I treat them like individuals and like adults. I trust them," Tracy says,

I hope you enjoy today's conversation wit

Website: https://christianrward.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christianrward/

Previous Episode

SCOTT HEDGES: COULD DISRUPTING HOW WE BUILD HOMES SAVE THE PLANET?

Let's be honest. Few people get really excited about minute details of home building projects and how to make them more energy efficient. It can get pretty esoteric. Today's guest, Scott Hedges, can dive into the details as well as any builder. But what makes Scott unique is his ability to see things from a larger perspective as well.

Scott is the co-founder of a company called WarmForm, which is using a particular building technique borrowed from energy-conscious Sweden to build homes here.

Why? Scott started his working life as an ecologist, guarding the habitats of birds and other animals in parks in Florida. Yet he became frustrated trying to preserve habitats when what he saw as the bigger issue was the further deterioration of the bigger environmental equation--massively inefficient building practices that lead to further incursions into the natural environment.

The dots connected during a stint in Sweden where he took a job building homes with a builder that was a game-changer for him. Scott realized the Swedes were doing things way different—and in his view more efficiently—than typical construction in the U.S. He began investigating further and discovered a treasure trove of information about an approach to building homes in the 1950s and 1960s the way cars are built. Yes, homes could be built on an assembly line and in fact were.
Scott says, "I have a modest proposal: skip the conferences and go spend time with people who actually are quietly doing what others are loudly proclaiming you should do. Said simply: Go to Sweden, spend time learning from a real Swedish builder."

My conversation with Scott is a both a history lesson in companies like Lustron and others that went against the conventional building industry and failed and a hopeful plea to change the paradigm in how we build homes to help save the planet. Scott is erudite and eloquent in expressing his knowledge of and his passion for the kinds of energy efficient building practices commonly used in Sweden. Scott believes the building industry in the US is fundamentally flawed and sees a disruption of commonly accepted building practices as a potential solution to making all homes significantly more energy stingy and in the long run reducing the impact on climate.

You can recognize his passion in how deep Scott can go on the details. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Scott Hedges.
Links:
LUSTRON HOMES: https://www.curbed.com/2016/10/10/13227810/prefab-lustron-house-prefabricated-home-building
Warmform: https://warmform.com/
Elementhus article: https://medium.com/@scotthedges/elementhus-swedens-ultra-modern-totally-forgotten-awesome-factory-built-house-899d0c96687d
Bygghouse: https://bygghouse.com/
Film of Construction of a house in Sweden: https://youtu.be/W-5vn9gx1QA
Construction of Swedish houses by Scott Hedges: https://bygghouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Summary-of-Swedish-Wall-Element-Construction.pdf
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scott.hedges.754

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scotthedges2/

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Website: https://christianrward.com/
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Next Episode

DAVID ZINN: PORTRAIT OF A CHALK ARTIST

Maybe a couple times in one's life are you lucky enough to come across truly unique characters. I'm talking about original, authentic and truly unique individuals who enlighten and inform your world view.
I'm thinking about just such a character right now. The guy I have in mind is kind of short and truth be told, though he might get a lot of attention, he is not someone who would be surrounded by women at a bar. It might be because he's green. Or the fact that his eyes happen to sit atop stalks on his head.
I know it sounds weird but if you have spent any time in Ann Arbor, you probably have seen this guy around town. He hangs out mostly on the sidewalks or alongside buildings downtown. He is almost always with a friend, someone as unique as he. He goes by the name of Sluggo. Maybe you know him.
Sluggo is the creation of today's guest, David Zinn, and, like Sluggo, David is just as unique, though he isn't green nor does he have eyes at the end of stalks. He looks like, well, like you and me.
David is world-renowned local artist who has created hundreds of characters in his favorite medium--chalk. He has had a substantial career as a commercial artist but a creative tangent took over his artistic mien and established Zinn as a premier chalk artist worldwide. His commercial work is seen all over the world. Sluggo's likeness is found on t-shirts as far away as China, though not authorized. We talk about the illegal use of his art during our conversation.
Kids and adults alike are enchanted with this artist's work. Ann Arbor's sidewalks and buildings are rich with his characters, not only Sluggo, but Phil, the winged pig, and dragons and other stylized characters from deep in the artist's imagination. Though we might have to be quick to see his work before mother nature -- or man -- washes it away.
Zinn admits that he is deliberate about, even loves, that his art is temporary. The temporary nature of Zinn's art is something we discuss. It's the process of creating, then walking away, allowing whatever will be, that is his focus. David owns the process, not the outcome.
He admits difficulty seeing himself as a legitimate artist in the same vein as Jackson Pollock, Rodan or Annie Liebovitz.

"I've spent most of my life, including up until now, not really thinking of myself as an artist because the word is so heavy," he tells me.
His sincerity and mindfulness are authentic and while you might suspect his humility is not genuine, I can assure you it is. Our conversation is a far-ranging discussion of how an artist survives the coronavirus shelter-in-place age as well as a portrait of a creative who is intimately aware of his mission.

I hope you enjoy my conversation with David Zinn.
Links:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidzinn/
Tublr: https://sluggoonthestreet.tumblr.com/
Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/davidzinn_art
Where to buy David's art: https://www.zazzle.com/store/david_zinn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L95cNBEfi5I&feature=youtu.be
TedX talk at UM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSVXYrJs4S8
https://www.businessinsider.com/david-zinn-ann-arbor-street-artist-2014-10

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