Blackout Poetry

Our final lesson for 8th Grade A.P. English was on Blackout Poetry: A blackout poem is when a poet takes a marker (usually black marker) to already established text–like in a newspaper–and starts redacting words until a poem is formed. The key thing with a blackout poem is that the text AND redacted text form a sort of visual poem.

” Like critical thinking, newspaper blackout poetry is a process of revelation, an uncovering of meaning. Pedagogically, blackout poetry makes students active participants in the construction of 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.

Lesson Note: This contemporary invention really breaks the form and takes us full circle to where we began by studying William Carlos William’s poetry inspired by art. Periods 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7 are displayed collectively. The student poets are as follows: Dyanara D., Xuanan N., Hannah G., Kacper M., Matt K., Javier P., Vedika V., Maggie P., Julian R., Juan T., Catherine G.