Our Civic Arts Programs
The Arts Integration Programs offered by Color Me Empowered gives schools an innovative way to introduce visual arts concepts in the classroom to reinforce and strengthen children’s understanding of core curriculum subjects. Our programming provides students with a creative outlet, real-world application of classroom learning, and key problem-solving skills that foster resiliency in children. Resilient learners can learn and adjust to any learning environment, which gives them a competitive edge in school and in the workplace. Additionally, our program allows students to explore their own creativity, which fosters innovation.
Arts education provides children with the tools they need to be successful in school, work and life.. Color Me Empowered makes it easy to implement arts education into a school’s current curriculum by training teachers to use art as a way to illustrate concepts in core lessons. Since each program is designed specifically for the students at each campus, in collaboration with the faculty, schools can be sure that the arts are helping students reach their learning goals.
Wesley-Rankin Community Center
Wesley-Rankin Community Center is a long-time partner of Color Me Empowered. We’ve been working with the children there since 2011. Strong community partnerships help make the work we do even more impactful. We teach art classes and do a public art project with them bi-annually.
Seagoville Elementary Garden Mosaic
We worked in partnership with REAL School Gardens and a group of Target volunteers to complete this mosaic which is now a part of the Seagoville Elementary Learning Garden.
How it Works
Our programs provide continuous teacher training and support to ensure teachers and students experience success and have fun while learning at a rigorous level. We begin the process of integrating art into a school’s current curriculum by assessing the needs of the school. We meet with teachers and discuss where students are struggling the most. We then create lessons with an art component based on those subjects. Because we customize our curriculum to the students’ needs, we maximize our impact. The strategies and techniques we give teachers will allow for easy differentiation so that all students at varying levels are being engaged.
After we complete our initial assessment and outline a customized curriculum plan, we conduct an initial training for the teachers. In this training we go over the basics of art integration and allow teachers to do the art projects that they’ll be teaching to their students. This is a critical element of our program. We believe that all people are artists and we want the teachers that implement our programming to be comfortable with the projects and curriculum.
CME is certified to give professional development credit by the State Board for Educator Certification, so teachers will be able to count all trainings attended toward their teacher certification renewal. Once teachers are implementing the programming in their classrooms, we provide a regular presence to assist them in finding quick solutions to challenges when issues arise. We accomplish this with classroom observations, one-on-one meetings, and additional spot trainings as needed. We are also available for teachers anytime they have questions or need extra help with anything related to our programming.