Blackout Poetry: A blackout poem is created when a poet takes a marker (usually black marker) to already established text–like that from a newspaper–and starts redacting words until a poem or image is formed. The key thing with a blackout poem is that the text AND redacted text form a visual poem.
Lesson Note: ” Like critical thinking, newspaper blackout poetry is a process of revelation and uncovering meaning. Pedagogically, blackout poetry makes students active participants in constructing knowledge and understanding, one of the core objectives of honors education. The honors classroom then becomes a model for ‘taking intellectual risks’ “-Engaging Honors Students Through Blackout Poetry, Melissa Ladenheim, University of Maine, 2014
Below are Ms. Wright’s 7th and 8th Grade Blackout Poems. The author’s names are in the order in which the poems appear: 7th Grade: Joshua, 8th Grade: Emily W., 7th Grade: Eric Q. 8th Grade: Jason Q.
