By: Becky Larson
This week’s Guess Who was tricky for some, and a snap for others- I received a variety of replies! This 25 year old photo of Mr. Timothy Frantzich, our Grade 2 teacher, recalled a vintage record album cover, very appropriate for such a talented musician! I sat down with him recently to talk about how he discovered Waldorf, the profound power of fairy tales and the joys of working in an urban school.
Timothy Frantzich’s first memory of Waldorf education is a note that arrived home with his son Zeb, encouraging them to watch less television. He recalls feeling mildly annoyed. “I thought, aww, keep it at school,” says Tim.
But it was a festival that piqued his curiosity about what Waldorf had to offer. He watched as Kerry Miller and Mary Hatch kept a room full of small children totally transfixed for twenty minutes with a long and involved puppet story. “My Dad was a storyteller, and I am a storyteller, and Mary and Kerry were so earnest and sincere with their puppets. So deliberate.” He remembers the tinkle of live guitar music, and the gentle, focused movements the teachers made with the little figures, but most of all, the rapt attention expressed on the tiny faces crowded round the stage. “The kids were enchanted and I was moved- I felt curious about what was going on, I wanted to be around that,” says Tim.
In time, Tim joined the staff as an assistant in Kindergarten, and learned a great deal working with Kerry directly. He began doing Waldorf training in the summers, and took a class from grade 1 to grade 3 before returning to music full time. He sings around town as Brother Timothy, (find his latest album, “Our Lost and Wild Daughter” on Itunes, Amazon or in the School Store. ) After 12 years as a full time musician, he wondered what it would be like to travel with a class all the way to grade 8, and has returned to do just that.
Storytelling drew him to Waldorf education, and he says stories carry his class. “Stories drive my teaching and it’s at the heart of the imaginative life of the curriculum- reading and writing comes out of the stories.” This year, his second graders will hear many tales about the saints, as well as fables full of magical animals.
What makes these old stories so moving? “Fairy tales are the dreams of human kind, filtered, changed and concentrated over time into pure images that speak to the human condition,” he says. “If you’re lucky enough to hear them as a child, they will help you live your whole life. That’s why [the children] listen so well, it speaks to a deep place in a human being.”
Teaching at a Waldorf School isn’t only about the children. It helps the adults continually stretch and grow too. “Steiner said we need to learn and change as much as the kids, ” says Tim, and returning to life as a classroom teacher has given him new tools also. He says working with form, rhythm and structure have been wonderful learning experiences for him. “Having a strong path set out, and finishing projects, like you have to in the classroom is really good for a guy like me,” he says with a laugh.
Another thing he loves about City of Lakes Waldorf School is the commitment to the city. “When you put a school on Nicollet, people are foundationally open to new ideas and new interpretations of the ideals. It’s one of the great strengths of the school, and it attracts people like that. There is flexibility, open mindedness and idealism.” The artistry of his fellow staff members is a source of constant inspiration too. “Playing with Elena, Peter and Sarina is really fun- they are all so talented, and that goes for the other teachers too. It’s amazing to work with all these artists with their feet really planted on the ground, and working with the awareness that flexibility and artistry bring. “