November 2020 - Arts Leader Spotlight
Announcing November’s Arts Leader Spotlight…
In honor of the year of the woman, the MSDE Fine Arts Office celebrates the work of Krystal Williams. Congratulations to an incredible woman and arts education leader!
Krystal Williams
Band Director, Western High School
Music Technology Chair, Maryland Music Educators Association
When did you realize you were an artist?
I first realized I was an artist when I was in Kindergarten. It was the first day of school and we were watching “Peter and the Wolf” on the old film strip. We were learning about the instruments associated with each character’s theme. In the middle of class I felt compelled to conduct the film strip with my number 2 pencil. I was completely engulfed in the idea of controlling the sounds from the filmstrip. My teacher gave me a sticker and told me I would be a great musician one day! Her words spoke life into my current career.
Why does arts education matter to you?
Arts Education matters to me because in many cases the only creative outlet students have at school is from the Arts. I grew up like so many of our public-school scholars deprived of many necessities to have a good quality of life. Growing up with a single parent who often struggled to “make the ends meet” left me often bouncing from school to school and for a while without a place to call home. Music class became my second home where I could forget about the things that were missing in my life. I felt loved and appreciated and the music allowed me to put my energy into something positive. Arts and in music is that outlet and safe space for so many children.
As a leader in the Arts, what are your priorities for this coming year?
As an Arts Leader, my priorities for instructions is to create high quality lessons for my students to be able to engage in an equitable way. I am doing this by creating lessons that are accessible through many online platforms and can be completed with a variety of devices. Our students have some additional challenges when it comes to virtual learning and my goal is to make those challenges as little as possible. In addition to equitable lessons, my goal is to keep my Social and Emotional Learner practices in the front of my planning and implementation but always checking in to make sure that my students have skills to deal with the additional stressors of being in a virtual learning environment. I also as the Music Technology Chair for MMEA, have made it a priority to share any teaching practices I find successful in my own instruction. I have offered Professional Development Opportunities in Maryland and throughout the country for best practices for teaching the arts virtually and troubleshooting technology.
How does creativity show up in your day?
As an artist I have shared a motto with my students, “Create your own Reality!” This means despite what obstacles may come your way take control through your ability to create. Through this creative process you can make all your dreams a reality.
We have embarked on an ongoing music composition project in my music classes to encourage students to create their own music. This unit of study started with students analyzing lyrics from a song of choice they considered to be the soundtrack of their life or current mood around everything that’s happened in their life’s our currently in society. They submitted their song choices and we came up with this WHS "The Soundtrack of Me" Playlist. Often our students are taught to be consumers but as a minority arranger I felt that these projects were important to teach to a diverse population of students.
Share a recommendation of a book, artist, event, or piece of work that inspires you!
As a Black Female Instrumental Music Teacher, I am always encouraging other educators to dig into the bias that we all have about teaching students from diverse, underrepresented populations. I along with other educators will be holding a session on creating an anti-racist classroom. Learn more by clicking the flyer to the right!
Here is an excellent article by Lori Schwartz Reichl about sustaining meaningful music programs: Generation Next
You can follow me on the following Social Media handles:
Facebook: Diary of a Lady Band Director
@DiaryofaLadyBandDirector
@https://www.facebook.com/krystal.williams3
