Longtime AAPS educator/coach Rusty Fuller is revered for the many roles he has filled at Ann Arbor Public Schools over the last several decades. In fact, he’s been connected to AAPS since he went to school here at Burns Park Elementary in the 60’s.
Fuller was born in Tucson, Arizona, but moved to Ann Arbor at the age of nine months when his father took over as the pastor of Memorial Christian Church. His father stayed there for 40 years during which time Rusty’s mother and sister both were ordained, so Fuller grew up a PK (preacher’s kid) in the 1950’s and 60’s in the Burns Park neighborhood.
His parents were deeply involved in the civil rights and anti-war movements, so Fuller grew up thinking that social and political activism was the norm. Both of his parents loved Ann Arbor and his sister still lives in the Burns Park house in which she and Fuller grew up.
Fuller bought a house on the Old West Side because he wanted to live in the Slauson neighborhood. He met his spouse Jamie when he hired her to coach soccer at Slauson and he’s often joked that he was lucky because she was the only candidate. They have two adult children, Zoey and Tobias, both of whom attended Ann Arbor Open, followed by Community (Zoey) and and Community/Pioneer (Tobias).
Fuller retired from Slauson Middle School at the start of the 2020 school year. He had taught 6th, 7th, 8th (and 9th before they moved to the high school) Social Studies, which included World Geography, American History, and Civics.
Fuller is now in his third year as a building sub at A2 Open, and is currently teaching Classical Civilizations to seventh/eighth graders.
Last fall, Fuller reached out to Rec & Ed and led the charge to bring back the High School Basketball League there.
“Rusty Fuller is a staple of the Ann Arbor community,” says Seth Dodson, Team Sports Manager for AAPS’ Community Education and Recreation. “He has volunteered to coach more youth basketball teams than I can count. The kids and parents of the teams he has coached would all say that he puts kids first and will do anything for them.”
“It was amazing to see the kids get out and have fun on Sundays,” says Dodson, “and he was the reason it happened.”
Fuller is a basketball junkie and still loves to play. Other than being with his family, hanging out in the Slauson gym, playing hoops, or supervising kids playing pick-up with their friends is his favorite Ann Arbor location. For decades, Fuller has opened gyms, believing that young people (and old guys) need safe places to just play on their own. There’s a good chance on a Friday night outside of Pioneer’s Basketball season, that Fuller will have 30-40 kids playing ball ranging from 7th graders to back-home college kids and even “old geezers”—even though he now has to rent the gym. Fuller is a big believer in “Play Local” and wants kids to have opportunities that don’t require big financial investments and hours of travel time.
Fuller feels the call of the West and the mountains regularly and loves to be camping and hiking. He’s been exploring the possibilities of long hikes like the Appalachian Trail and the Te Araroa New Zealand if he ever decides to truly retire.
What inspired you to become a teacher?
I had great teachers at Burns Park in the 1960s, many of whom I remember fondly. The most important of these was Pro (Irving) Boim, the Pied Piper of Physical Education who educated the bodies and minds of Ann Arbor elementary school students for decades. Much of my joy in participating in sports and understanding how to work with students in athletics can come from his influence. I remember the principal, Marion Cranmore, as one of the first strong women leaders I encountered—especially when I got called to her office.
My first inclination toward teaching came during my years at Tappan Junior High. The Tappan staff was an incredibly strong combination of veterans coming out of the post-war years and bright young baby boomers just starting in the profession. Three teachers were especially important in my personal development and eventual decision to go into teaching and coaching. Don Horning and Rob Lillie taught Physical Education and coached a variety of sports. I owe them a tremendous debt not only for their example but for being able to work with them on Middle School Athletics over the next 40 years.
The biggest influence pushing me toward the teaching profession came from my 9th Grade Civics teacher, Paul Van Colen. Paul created a classroom full of political socialization experiences that became a foundation for my teaching. He ran mock Congresses, where students wrote, debated, and voted on various local, state, and national bills. Every four years, he ran a school-wide mock political convention with students portraying candidates and created a 1960/s70s national convention atmosphere involving the entire school. My favorite falls at Slauson were Election years with Mock Schoolwide campaigns and voting. I still use many of his ideas and teaching methods in the Humanities classes I am currently covering at Ann Arbor Open.
At Pioneer High School, I was again fortunate to have excellent teachers in every field. I especially enjoyed Social Studies and the Humanities program (still the best class I have ever taken). The list of Pioneer teachers who impacted my learning and life included Mr Larson (math), Mr. Sooby (science), and Randy Peacock who intrigued me with lessons on Russia and Revolutions, and his eventual spouse Janet, part of the great humanities team. Eldon Rouse, the Head Coach of Pioneer Basketball, pulled me into athletics and encouraged me in the beginning of my coaching career.
Still, as I graduated from Pioneer, I initially was planning on heading into pediatrics and was accepted to the first year of the U of M Interflex program. Instead, started premed at a slower pace and had already begun helping coach at Tappan with Rob Lillie, Don Horning, and Paul VanColen. By my sophomore year, I was headed into the School of Education, eventually student teaching with Paul, and continued to expand my coaching roles. At the U-M School of Education, I fell under the guidance and friendship of Mike Marich, Social Studies and Education guru, whose wife taught in AAPS. He would come to have the greatest influence on my teaching philosophy and practice.
How many years did you teach social studies at the middle and high school levels? What were some of your favorite units to teach?
After graduating from the University of Michigan, I spent several years working as a Recreational Therapist at the U of M Children’s Psychiatric Hospital. During these years, I learned a tremendous amount about working with students struggling with emotional and self-regulatory issues and I believe that experience helped me develop skills for working with middle school students. I also fell under the influence of John Taylor, a long-time fixture in Ann Arbor Youth Sports, who got me involved with Jr. Football, the Ann Arbor Basketball Association, and Rec and Ed Summer baseball. My relationship with John would lead me directly to Slauson (through the kids we coached together) and another friend and mentor Ann Arbor Hockey and Coaching Legend Paul Helber.
In 1978, Slauson welcomed back 9th graders who had temporarily housed at Pioneer while the building was renovated. This meant that they needed new coaches for athletic teams and I interviewed with Barb Newell (Koshork) who had been the first female AD at Pioneer and a giant in the Title IX movement. Barb hired me to coach basketball and then when she needed a men’s volleyball coach, pressed me into service starting a procession that would eventually see me coaching Slauson 9th grade football, basketball, volleyball, and baseball. (I wasn’t married yet.)
While I was still working at CPH and coaching at Slauson—and in a whole lot of other programs—Joe Vachon, Slauson’s principal (after the beloved Harold Logan) asked me to become part of the staff teaching social studies. I was definitely the rookie among a staff that included long-time teachers Dan Burroughs, Phil McBride, and Jim Bunton, in the Social Studies department. The building was filled with teachers who dedicated decades to providing Slauson students with fantastic experiences including Parker Pennington, Dan Long, Margaret Guire, Cherry Westerman, and probably the best administrator that I’ve had the pleasure of working with, Duane Peterson.
Eventually, as the older generation of teachers left, they were replaced by an incredibly dedicated set of teachers who would become lifelong friends, including the recently honored Maria Murphy, Marci Harris, amazing teaching teammates, and Jon Strite who would become my partner (and role model) in years of running the both the Middle School Athletic Program and Slauson Athletics. Jon became a well-known Ann Arbor figure his dedication to encouraging and coaching gigantic numbers of students in athletics, especially track and field. He committed year after year of his own time and money to running school trips to D.C., Toronto, and Chicago.
I loved teaching the 9th-grade civics class with its emphasis on government and citizenship. I extended that curriculum as an advisor for a student-empowering Student Council, that not only led the school fundraising but made the decisions as to where all of the student-generated money was distributed. We had regular student representatives at PTSO meetings and speakers at Board Meetings. The culminating educational experience of that class and the 9th grader year was the week-long Washington D.C. Trip. I loved the challenge and experience of taking 200-plus students and chaperones to visit museums and monuments, meet with U.S. senators, learn to navigate a big city, and enjoy an end-of-three-year junior high celebration with friends.
The American history curriculum lends itself to storytelling and I was fortunate to have wonderful like-minded colleagues Tracy Grant and Corey Williams. We spun tales of our country’s past and challenged students in activities like role-playing the Constitution Convention and debating Supreme Court decisions.
The World Geography class allowed me to open the doors of the world to 6th and 7th graders who are yearning to explore greater horizons and new ideas. I developed an introduction to the world that involved students creating their own globes and then trying to flatten them into maps that combined math, geographical knowledge, the distortion of maps, and examining sources of information. I think the most impactful part of that curriculum was designing lessons to expose students to the variety of ways that different cultures seek to satisfy the same basic needs. Sixth and seventh graders are always on the edge of AHA moments, in the area of understanding people and the planet, creating some of the most memorable and satisfying teaching moments.
In addition to the 15 or 16 trips to Washington D.C. and Chicago that I organized or chaperoned, I am most proud of the 30-plus years of taking 7th graders to camp. In its best years, the entire 7th grade went in two groups to an outdoor adventure/education, team-building camp by teaching teams at the beginning of the school year. Not only did this provide students with the chance to experience nature and physical challenges, but it also gave all of us, teachers and students, a chance to live together, share experiences, and get to know each other. The years when we had the camp experience early in the year, gave us a tremendous advantage in working with our students and in them working with each other.
Schools have lost something very important as these types of outside-the-classroom activities have diminished. Not only did these enrich the educational curriculum, but they also provided experiences that stay with students for a lifetime. Importantly, for many students, these were the first and sometimes the only chance to be immersed in these experiences. And as a teacher, there’s nothing like taking the whole 7th grade to a U-M music performance providing some of them with their first experience in a concert/theater setting.
What made you decide to leave full-time teaching, and what led to your decision to return as a building sub at A2 Open?
As the 2020 school year approached and it was apparent that we were going to be teaching remotely, I simply couldn’t stand the thought of teaching from my basement to blank screens. I had experienced the shutdown at the end of the previous year and simply did not find myself enjoying the teaching or feeling effective. In addition, the atmosphere at Slauson had become difficult for older teachers and it felt like the right time to make a change. When my long-time friend and colleague, Jon Strite told me that he was going to retire, it tipped the “now’s the time” scale.
I spent the Covid year tutoring and enjoying high school students over Zoom, even starting a book club for a set of 9th graders who had become son-like (grandson-like? ) at Slauson. But, like a lot of people, the Covid year took a toll and was probably not the best year to jump into retirement. As the 2021 school year rolled around, I knew that I wanted to get back into the classroom and the Ann Arbor Open opportunity fell in my lap. My two kids had gone to AAO in the early 2000s and there were still several teachers in the building who had been there with my kids. In my early years subbing, I had never been a fan of the early morning substitute assignment phone call so simply knowing that I was going to be in the building every day was a stability that I wanted. The ability to walk in the door, spend the day with students, and go home each day without creating lesson plans, grading, going to faculty meetings, and meeting with parents was an attraction. I guess you could say that I fit right in, subbing in everything from young 5’s to 7th/8th grade. I’ve taken on full-time teacher responsibilities with some long-term coverage for a 1st/2nd grade teacher, middle school science, and math, a 3-4 class, and currently a 7th/8th grade humanities class.
It quickly felt like the right place both in terms of working with students and once again being with fellow teachers, something that I had missed during the year off. Since the building sub job rotates through all grades on different days, I’ve gotten to know students at all levels and the entire staff. I prefer to spend time with the 5-6 and 7-8 classes, but I go in every day ready to cover whatever the building needs. I’m not sure that I could do Young 5’s or kindergarten for an extended period. (I have tremendous respect for teachers of that age group.) My biggest problem with the younger kids is getting up off the floor after sitting down to play or teach at their level.
As a building substitute, what are some key differences you notice between the middle school and high school environments?
I haven’t taught at the high school level recently and my current experience at Pioneer is after school, but I do have thoughts on the differences between a traditional middle school like Slauson and Ann Arbor Open. AAO strongly believes that students can and should direct their education by partnering with staff. While covering the same district curriculum, classes at Open tend to be less formal and more student-centered. Everybody is on a first-name basis, so I walk around the school greeted by “Hi, Rusty” from 5-year-olds to 8th graders. There is a very specific emphasis on providing cross-age experiences and educational opportunities. I love seeing the 8th grader working with younger students on everything from daily reading and math to our focus study classes to the building-wide evening Journeys Showcase Exhibition.
In the middle school grades, students seem more accepting of differences and there is less student-to-student conflict. Lockers are unlocked and there’s a respect for individuals that is part of the building culture. Of course, no building is without struggles and student issues, but AAO focuses on student-to-student resolution of conflict. The Open philosophy also shows up outside of the classroom, such as the 7-8 canoe outing, pre covid camp experiences (in multiple grades), and the Chicago Trip that was a Stay in a Hostel, Architecture Tour, Frank Lloyd Wright flavored experience, very different from the wonderful Jon Strite run end of Middle School Slauson Chicago trips.
Ann Arbor is lucky to have strong alternative programs like Ann Arbor Open, Community, and Pathways to provide for students who may learn in nontraditional ways.
What motivated you to also take on coaching 9th-grade basketball?
I coached my first Rec and Ed team when I was 16. I took on a group of 11-year-olds from Bader Elementary and have been coaching ever since. Since that team, I’ve coached close to 100 Rec and Ed and Youth Sports teams in Volleyball, Jr. Football, Summer Baseball, and the old Ann Arbor Basketball Association.
Starting in 1978 I gradually ended up coaching straight through the 9th grade year at Slauson, football, basketball, volleyball, and baseball.
In the 80’s I took over the role of building Athletic Director and then became the district coordinator for the Middle School Co-Curricular program working with and learning from the recently passed Rec and Ed guru, Larry Dishman. He was a tremendous friend and resource during the years that I was running the Ann Arbor Jr. Football program and the Ann Arbor Basketball Association (the local recreation program for 5th graders through High School). All of these experiences have allowed me to work with young people through athletics in ways that are different from classroom teaching. There is something very special about the obvious common goals of team sports and working to mold a group of young athletes.
Kids today still love the physical challenges and sports allow them to take pride in improving their bodies and skills and working together to accomplish very measurable goals. I love being part of that growth and development, but I especially find great satisfaction in helping students gain the less tangible individual maturity and understanding of how much they can accomplish. Ultimately, putting together a team that understands and demonstrates the team values of cooperation, shared responsibility, group pride, and hard work is the most satisfying component of working with young athletes.
The public schools have lost something in allowing physical education to become minimized in the curriculum, both in the daily /year course requirements and the decrease in the intensity and opportunities of the middle school co-curricular programs. Students during these years should have regular physical education classes and a vibrant, participation-based competitive athletic program. Without a PE requirement in middle school, we are promoting inequity in the vital area of student health and well-being. Pre-COVID, the MIddle Co-Curricular program was bursting at the seams with participation, providing students with the chance to try a variety of sports and prepare them to participate in high school sports and lifetime physical activities.
We need to get back to both requiring physical education and encouraging an active student lifestyle by exposing them to a variety of athletic experiences. Over the last two years, I’ve been working with Rec & Ed to reestablish the High School Basketball League for students who love the game but don’t play on high school teams. We just finished our second season with 12 teams and a March Madness tournament.
How does coaching complement or contrast with your experience as a classroom teacher?
I love being in a Social Studies classroom, expanding students’ vision and understanding of the world around them. Classroom teaching has always given me the best ‘light bulb’ moments of students grasping new ideas and sharing the excitement of learning. Seeing student growth through a school year is less obvious than a team’s end-of-the-season record. In fact, with classroom teaching, I often feel that it is years before the feedback comes as to your success in reaching students.
The greatest joy I’ve experienced from teaching is having students come back and share their paths, successes, and struggles. Add to that the number of Slauson students from those years who are now teaching themselves and it’s a wonderful legacy for both me and the Golden Bears. There’s the obvious comparison that students are required to be in academic classes but choose to commit to playing on athletic teams. While that can seem to make the athletes more willing to buy into the learning experience, the challenge for the classroom teacher is to pull students into the excitement and joy of learning academic subject matter. It takes a different kind of approach, but both require appealing to kids to challenge themselves, do their best, learn from mistakes, and take pride in their ability to learn and grow. I know that I benefit from having players who are in my academic classes and students who are on my teams. The overlap is simply the depth of the relationship that can be developed to inspire growth and learning, either on the court or in the classroom.
Which do you prefer: Classroom teaching or coaching?
When I’m grading papers late at night I’d probably say coaching. If I’m coming off a tough loss, I might rather be in a less win-or-lose situation classroom. I love them both and have a hard time imagining doing one without the opportunity to enjoy the other.
What advice do you have for new teachers based on your classroom experience?
I’ve watched great young teachers come into the district for years and always believed that Ann Arbor is a great place to teach. I grew up with teachers for whom working with young people was a calling, a commitment, and a career. Even up until I retired, I felt surrounded by teachers who were there for the long haul because of their dedication to and joy in educating children. Teaching is a hard and very rewarding job. It requires a belief that what you are doing is important, that the results aren’t immediate, and that it will always feel like there is more to do than you possibly have time for.
My friend and Pioneer High School teaching and coaching legend, Don Packard, reflected that great teaching requires focusing on three main tasks. Teachers must create lessons and teaching material, deliver those lessons in class, and provide feedback through grading and conversations, all while developing and maintaining relationships with their students. Most days, weeks, months, and school years, it will feel like you don’t have enough time to do all of them at the same time. Keep your focus on the relationship aspect and don’t be too hard on yourself if sometimes it takes a while to get all of the papers graded. Taking on a teaching /coaching job requires sacrifices and a willingness to do what it takes to get the job done (and the ability to accept that you will often feel like you’ll never get it all done.)
These days it feels like teachers and administrators are choosing to or are being forced to not take on those extra time and responsibility commitments. It’s so difficult for young teachers now in terms of pay and workload, the difficulty in affording to live in the district, and the lack of respect for their work from administration and society. To know and understand the full joy of teaching, those conditions have to be secondary to the time and effort that we put in. I believe it is even more difficult to form those connections with students these days given social media, the isolation of the COVID years, and the elimination of outside-the-classroom learning activities. The need for dedicated teachers, who are allowed to, encouraged to, and willing to find creative ways to reach out to students is more important than any time I can remember. Being an impactful teacher demands going beyond the basic classroom connection, being involved and available in students’ lives, and allowing them to connect with you in the variety of their experiences. IT IS EXHAUSTING AND BEAUTIFUL and absolutely worth it.
What would surprise people who’ve known you for so many years at AAPS?
Except for my COVID/attempted retirement year, I have either been a student of or employed by the Ann Arbor Public School since 1960 when I walked into kindergarten at Burns Park. I’ve been a State of Michigan Social Studies Teacher of the Year and an Ann Arbor News Citizen of the Year. The first kids I coached are now in their middle 60s and the last year I was at Slauson, a young man came up and told me that I had coached his grandfather! I’m a big sap for tearjerker sports movies and well-crafted political dramas that depict the best of our democracy and good people trying to do their best to solve social problems and uplift fellow citizens. I once got two votes for Mayor of Ann Arbor when I decided to show my students how write-in ballots work. After telling students that I had voted for myself the day before, I was surprised when one of my students said “My dad wrote your name in too”.
How has it been to work as a full-time building sub at Ann Arbor Open these past two years?
Several teachers from my children’s years are still in the building, surrounding students with care and a love of teaching. They have been joined by enthusiastic younger teachers who are continuing the tradition of above and beyond effort in putting our students first. I love being in classrooms and common areas where students are comfortable with adults and peers, creating a feeling not only of a learning community but of a village raising children. There is still an increasingly important emphasis on relationships and personal interactions without screen time and on exploring the world by being out in nature and the community. I hope and believe that the current tremendous staff, administration, and parents can reassert the core beliefs and practices of an Open School philosophy that provides an alternative learning environment and style for Ann Arbor students.
Do students treat you any differently as a sub? Any advice for substitute teachers worried about classroom management?
Very quickly at Ann Arbor, I simply became one of the staff members and I don’t think that students think of me any differently than other teachers/staff. It’s a big subbing advantage to be present in the building daily and AAPS has been wise in assigning building subs to provide consistency in delivering the daily education program.
It is also a great benefit to building teachers and staff. All of the teachers at AAO know me and the other building subs, allowing them to provide lesson plans that continue the curriculum, ensure that we are aware of their classroom expectations, and the ability to provide feedback and follow up the next day. Of course, students everywhere treat subs somewhat differently, but I will say in my experience at AAO, students seem to have much less of a struggle adjusting to new adults in the classroom and behavior issues, particularly in the upper grades (which can tend to be hard on subs) seem to be much less of a problem.
I think that this is a product of the cooperative environment between teachers and students that also leads to AAO students being much more likely to connect with and seek help from teachers once they get to high school.
In terms of advice for subs about classroom management, it comes down to forming a relationship with the students even if you are only there for one day. Take a minute to introduce yourself and your background. Ask students where they are in their studies and admit you can use their help. I always, even if I’ve subbed in a class before, put “WW(M)A” on the board as class starts. The (M) varies by the teacher’s name and it stands for WHAT WOULD (MARY) ALLOW? Then depending on the age, I give a silly example of something that all of the kids know WOULD NOT BE ALLOWED and we agree that they know best what is OK with their particular teacher. If there is a question about whether or not they can or should do something, I simply ask “What Would Mary Allow?” This places the responsibility on the student and if it’s a close call, I’ll simply remind them that I will be following up with their teacher about their choices.
And yes, sometimes I have to overrule their judgment, but generally, they will make the right classroom decision. Look, I know I have a big size advantage and loud voice (both of which help) but realistically the only way to effectively substitute teach is to establish a relationship with the students which allows you to put appropriate limits in place.
Favorite books, television, movies, websites, and podcasts:
I’ve often said that my life could best be chronicled by:
- Reading Al Slote’s (Ann Arbor author) books of summer youth baseball growing up in Ann Arbor in the 1960s and 70s. (He even dedicated one book to the baseball team that his son and I played on.)
- The original Wonder Years series captured a lot of the experiences I had in junior high and high school as a baby boomer. I’m not naive enough to believe that it’s not an overly idealistic look at my childhood times, but could easily have been set in Ann Arbor, Burns Park, and Tappan Jr. HIgh.
- Absorbing Ken Burns documentaries, which reflect my interest in history and an immersive style of study. He’s two years older and I knew him growing up. I’m actually in the VietNam War documentary for about 1.5 seconds marching in an anti-war protest in D.C. as a teenager.
- The politics of Aaron Sorkin’s West Wing series, although I always took great pains to make sure that my social studies classes never knew my political leanings. I’d talk politics individually with students after school, but in class, I regularly flipped back and forth on both sides of political and current issues. The social studies teachers that I’ve most respected always found ways to have vibrant classroom environments where issues and politics could be discussed in a civil manner with everybody’s opinion respected. Great social studies teachers present all sides of an issue, prompt critical thought by challenging student perceptions from different angles and encourage students to make their own decisions using critical thinking skills.
- My desire for civil debate and intelligent problem-solving through truthful discussions shows up in Sorkin’s “The Newsroom.” I grew up with Cronkite, Huntley/Brinkley news programs that presented emphatically non-biased news. I yearn for the return of citizenship that respects the opinions and voices of everyone and expects rational discussion and problem-solving at every level from school boards to the federal government. I would love to see the state and APPS return to requiring a year-long civics course.
- NPR, which I have on continually, especially listening on the weekends to “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me” and “This American Life.” We had it on so much when our kids were growing up that they still know the Michigan Public fundraising donation phone number by heart—888-258-9866. Audio books have overtaken actual reading in my hectic schedule these days and I tend towards historical fiction and space exploration science fiction. I’m always on the lookout for good Young Adult Coming of Age Literature that speaks to growing up and I depend on the best local adolescent book source, Slauson teacher Maria Murphy—who by the way, maintains a regular West Side route to fill local Little Libraries with books she purchases.
How much longer do you see yourself continuing to teach and coach?
My spouse, Jamie, plans to work a few more years at the University of Michigan, so I’m not planning on any big changes for a while. As long as I feel that I can make a difference in the classroom, continue to connect with students, and still get up and down a basketball court, working with young people will continue to give me joy and purpose. Why stop?
How do you feel about your own children’s education at AAPS?
My two children grew up in Ann Arbor Open in the early 2000s with amazing educators and a program that allowed them to flourish as individuals with unique learning styles. At that time, the school was a model of the Open School philosophy that allowed students to explore in their own ways while exposing them to the world through vibrant experiences of multi-age learning groups, multicultural fairs, camps, and field trips. They had daily chances to interact with peers in exploring and playing before the overwhelming influence of computers, screens, and social media. Most importantly, they spent each day surrounded by teachers, administrators, and parents committed to working together to create the best possible educational atmosphere.
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