Three AAPS music teachers receive prestigious leadership award

Misty Noble, Katie Ryan, and Jeffrey Willets lauded for mentoring music education teachers

AAPS music teachers Misty Noble, Katie Ryan, and Jeffrey Willets have received the University of Michigan Department of Music Education’s prestigious Phyllis Kaplan Leadership Award for Excellence in Mentoring General Music Teachers.

This award is intended to support outstanding music education students, teachers, faculty, and special programs that have the potential to improve the field of general music. It is a symbol of their outstanding contributions to music teacher education in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance over the past two decades.

All three teachers have been profiled as Exceptional Teachers in the AAPS District News.

Noble is recently retired from Burns Park Elementary, while Ryan teaches at Angell, and Willets, at Eberwhite.

“I am honored to have called these teachers my colleagues for the past 30 years, and so proud of the work they have done both in their classroom and for the continuing education of student teachers,” said AAPS Fine Arts and Special Programs Coordinator Kimberly Coulson-Mobley.

Phyllis Kaplan received her BM, MM, and PhD degrees in music education from the University of Michigan. Following a career as music educator in the public schools and faculty positions at both Kent State University and Penn State University, she was Vocal and General Music Coordinator for the Montgomery County Public Schools, MD, for 23 years. It is with gratitude for her music education at the University of Michigan that she established the Phyllis Kaplan Endowment for General Music Education.
The presentation took place Saturday at the School of Music, Theatre & Dance.