Blackout Poetry in Google Slides

A blackout poem is when a poet takes a marker (usually black) to already established text, like in a newspaper, and starts redacting words until a poem is formed.

The term "Blackout Poetry" was made popular by author Austin Kelon who wrote a book of his blackout poems. The ideas is if you are at a loss for words then find words that have already been written and create something new from them.

I've done this with children in a classroom and it is quite messy when you start dealing with newspaper print and black sharpies.

You can make a digital version using either Google Slides or Google Drawings - much cleaner and neater!

The way to create this type of unique "found" poem is to start with a wall or slide of text, start highlighting words of interest, from there develop a poem, and then change the color of the background so only the highlighted words show through (I am over simplifying but that is the basic premise).

This is a VERY tricky type of poem to write. I have done it twice with two different groups of fourth graders (one using paper and one digitally) and they struggled. I did have success with a fifth grade gifted and talented group of students. They were able to grasp the concept of the assignment. The fourth graders tried to read the text for meaning and then summarize it by highlighting key words and phrases when the idea is just to look at the words and develop something new (a poem) from that.

I put together an instructional video of how to create the poem using Google Slides. I would recommend that teachers try it themselves first before attempting with students.

I also put together a "how to" Google Slideshow. All the instructions can be found in the speaker notes. I set the slideshow to prompt you to "make a copy" when you initially open the link. Once you have a copy in your Drive you can edit and share as needed.