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Meet the Masters Teacher Spotlight: Karen Packer

Posted on February 7, 2011

We all know that students are the most important people in the education process, however, we believe that teachers, parents and supporters of the Arts are also critical to the success of our students.

If you are a Meet the Masters teacher, parent or even former student, please contact us so we can share your story.

5 Questions with Karen Packer – Meet the Masters Teacher & Regional Manager

1.  When did you start working for Meet the Masters?

We caught up with Karen Packer on location at the Meet the Masters warehouse in Irvine, CA. Karen is holding a famous 'red binder' that contains MTM curriculum.

I began working for Meet the Masters in 1990 after I had been volunteering for four years in the program at my children’s elementary school in Lake Forest.

2.  What is your connection to art?  What attracted you to MTM?

My Master’s degree is in theater design, so the volunteer position as art facilitator was a good match for me.  I’m not an artist, but I do enjoy color, balance and most anything abstract!  Meet the Masters was presented as a very used friendly “art with non artist” program. That was enough to make me think I could do this.  My children loved it!  I believe we still have our best success with our “non artist” teachers.

3.  Who is your favorite artist to teach and why?

My favorite artist to teach is Michelangelo.  I love that we create “granite” in the project.  The architecture component appeals to the frustrated general contractor in me.  I think the Renaissance history is amazing and  it is so important and fun to integrate history, math and art in this one project.

4.  Describe your teaching style and how to get the best results from your students.

My teaching style involves humor and fun and “if I can do this, you can do this”.  The students are often quite sympathetic when my sample is not what theirs is!  I think I get the best results when children try something new and are so successful, especially if they haven’t had success in other areas that morning.

5.  Can you share a specific story of how MTM has impacted you or your students?

One of my success stories comes from my own home.  When my youngest daughter was in the second grade, our family was in a local Italian restaurant  for dinner.  She gazed at the painting next to us and said, “Mommy is that a Degas?”  She, of course, was correct.  My husband to this day, does not believe she could pick that out (probably because he couldn’t).  She is 27 now and has a great appreciation of art that carries her through school and life.

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On behalf of all the teachers and students of dePortola Elementary School, I’d like to commend you for providing an outstanding first year of Meet the Masters for our school. The quality of your program is excellent. The teachers felt their students truly learned to recognize the works and styles of the great masters that they were introduced to. We appreciated the variety of classroom art projects presented.

Our lecturer was well liked by teachers and students. She is professional and responsive to each age group of students. I also found her to be excellent as our coordinator and workshop presenter. We felt very fortunate that she was with us.

Our principal has also been enthusiastic and supportive of the Meet the Masters program. We both will always be pleased to recommend your program to other elementary schools.

Suzanne Helmstetter
Teacher, dePortola Elementary School
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