The Community-Word Project (CWP) is a New York City based arts-in-education organization that inspires children in underserved communities to read, interpret and respond to their world and to become active citizens through collaborative arts residencies and teacher training programs.
A 2ND grade girl beams with pride after reading aloud her original poem about the sights, smells and sounds of her neighborhood of Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Children in Community~Word Project residencies create original poetry based on their own life experiences, and learn how metaphor, simile, and descriptive language can make their poems powerful expressions of their ideas.
In this Community~Word Project residency, 7th grade students prepare to write poems about who they really are as opposed to how others seem them by discussion common stereotypes people have of teenagers from the Bronx.
In a Community~Word Project residency, two professionally-trained Teaching Artists and two trainees from CWP’s Teaching Artist Training and Internship Program work in collaboration with the classroom teacher, creating a 6:1 student-teacher ratio, so every child receives individual attention.
When students perform their original poetry, they are encouraged to use facial expressions, gestures, and body movements to strengthen the impact of their words.
Students had studied the poem “Where I’m From” by Willie Perdomo (far right) and then wrote their own “Where I’m From” poems, which they performed for the poet and their classmates.
Poet Willie Perdomo (at the right of the screen) visited a Community~Word Project residency in the Bronx; our residencies at this school include classes for special needs children. Perdomo read his poetry and students asked him questions about his writing process.
