"The poet and the people get on generally very badly, and yet they need each other. The poet knows it sooner than the people do. The people usually know it after the poet is dead; but that's all right. The point is to get your work done, and your work is to change the world.” James Baldwin
Split This Rock Youth Programs dedicates itself to schools and educators who are interested in using poetry’s power of art and testimony to cultivate creative outlets, give young voices platforms on which to be heard, create a sense of camaraderie between students of varying economic and social divides, and foster opportunities for students to contribute back to their schools and communities.
Our services offer students a variety of opportunities to become more academically and socially engaged, so we strive to make these opportunities available to any and all schools and educators who express an interest in incorporating poetry into their curriculum. Split This Rock Youth Programs is staffed and associated with a wide array of dynamic teaching artists, including nationally ranked performance poets, award winning educators, and published authors who are dedicated to making poetry as accessible as possible for both educators and students alike.
Our services include:
School Visits: Workshops, Presentations, Assemblies, & More
Our teaching artists can come to your school to guide and facilitate workshops directly with you and your students, host a poetry slam or open mic, or host an assembly displaying the transformative power of spoken word. Split This Rock is staffed and associated with a wide array of dynamic teaching artists, including nationally ranked performance poets, award winning educators, and published authors. For a complete list of our teaching artists, please click on the link below.
If you would be interested in working alongside one of our teaching artists or bringing someone in to speak with your school, please click the link below to contact one of our representatives.
Professional Development and Support
poetryN.O.W provides professional development opportunities for schools seeking to incorporate classic, contemporary, or spoken word poetry into their classroom curriculum. These sessions are facilitated by one of our professional teaching artists and focus on providing educators with the necessary support, tools, feedback, and guidance to successfully incorporate poetry in their classrooms.
We also hold bi-monthly writing workshops (sponsored by Split This Rock and The DC Beltway Slam Team) on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of every month. These workshops are geared towards writers of all skill levels and are a wonderful opportunity to acquire and practice new skills that can also be used in the classroom or after school. These workshops are free to the public and held at 1301 Connecticut Ave NW Suite 600 Washington D.C., 20036. Please follow us on social media to be notified of any cancellations or changes.
Teaching Materials and Resources
We want to ensure that anybody who wishes to incorporate poetry into their curriculum (whether that be inside of the classroom or through an after-school program) finds the process is as seamless as possible. so we have developed an extensive set of standards-aligned lessons and workshops.
This curriculum, which consists of over 50 writing and performance workshops, is free of charge, but all we kindly ask of you is to fill out the following form so we can keep you updated with all of the exciting opportunities that arise for both you and your students throughout the year.
Please click on the first link to receive the password to access the curriculum. If you already have the password, please click on the second link.