Flexibility is the key to Sarah Williams’ success. The Band Director at West Junior High School in Pocono Summit, Pennsylvania, has been a K-2 general music teacher, junior high choral director, junior high band director and assistant with the high school marching band.

“Working at different levels and in different buildings in the same district has given me the opportunity to connect with students of all age levels,” Williams says. “The biggest challenge has been teaching new content three years in a row. Although all of these positions have been music, elementary music is different than middle school music, and choral is very different from instrumental.”

Every time Williams felt like she had a handle on what the content and class structure should be, a new position was handed to her. Last year was her biggest challenge when she taught both 7-8 general music and 7-8 chorus. “My background is primarily instrumental, so teaching vocal music at this age level meant asking my high school colleagues a lot of questions and going through my resources from workshops and conferences,” she explains. “I also had never taught guitar and other middle school general music topics. There was a lot of planning and learning for this position.”

Now, Williams is back to being a band director at the middle school and high school level. “Remembering the little tricks and techniques for all the band instruments has been a challenge, but like the old saying goes, ‘it’s like riding a bike,’” she says with a laugh.

Because of her varied experience working at different grades and ages, Williams takes a proactive role in building a stronger, more connected music program across the district. She plans to have some of her middle school band students perform for elementary school students who are thinking about joining band. She also organizes an “underclassmen night” where junior high band members can tag along with high school band students for a football game.

Williams played a key role in revising the K-12 music curriculum for the Pocono Mountain School District. “Some of the major changes that I helped with were to change the curriculum from leaning heavily into teacher-led instruction to more student-led instruction. We added more creative opportunities and proposed activities that the students could lead. For the junior high general music curriculum, the biggest change was the curriculum that focused on specific techniques on piano and guitar to more focus on the performance aspect of playing an instrument.”

Another district-level initiative has been adding more modern band opportunities. Williams is working with the Tri-M advisor at the high school to have some high schoolers come help middle school students during the after-school jazz band and rock band rehearsals.

In 2016, when Williams first started teaching elementary music, she was encouraged to learn Orff-Schulwerk, a child-centered approach that blends music, speech, movement and drama. She is now Orff certified and is a regional representative for the National Board of Trustees of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association. “I am hoping to advocate for using Orff-Schulwerk at the secondary level,” Williams explains. “Guided experiences, imitation, exploration and improvisation have a place in middle school band as much as they do in an elementary classroom. This is definitely a work in progress!”