JHS 13, Central Park East Middle School, Spanish Harlem, Manhattan, District 4

Willie Perdomo, Where a Nickel Costs a Dime

Visit 1: June 4, 2010

During a unit on poetry, an eighth grade class read Where a Nickel Costs a Dime by Willie Perdomo, a regular spoken word performer at the Nuyorican Café. To prepare for Perdomo’s workshop, students wrote poems about their block, in the style of Perdomo’s 123 St Rap. During the poetry workshop, Perdomo performed his poetry for the class and then guided the class in creating a poem together. Using the class poem as a model, students then took time to write a poem on their own. Then the classroom was turned into Open Mic Night at JHS 13. Hosted by Perdomo, students performed their poetry for their classmates.

Willie Perdomo performs poetry from Where a Nickel Costs a Dime.		A student performs her own poetry in front of her classmates.
Students read along as Wille Perdomo reads his work.		Willie Perdomo meets the students and autographs copies of their books.

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