Lesson plan based on "Newspaper Blackout Poems."

1. By Sean Ziebarth
English Department
Mountain Valley High School
Mountain Valley, CA

2. What are Novel
Blackout Poems?
• Poems,sentences,
or phrases
created from the
words of an
existing novel.
• Inspired by
Austin Kleon’s
Newspaper
Blackout Poems.

3. How to Create a Novel
Blackout Poem
• Underline
(in pencil)
words you
think you
might like
to use in
your
poem.

4. More How To
• Circle the
words you
know you
want to
use in the
poem.

5. The Easy Part
• Black
out
every-
thing
else.

6. The Fun Part + Tips
• Be creative.
• Scribble, draw.
• Can’t find the exact
word you need? Use
letters from several
words to create the
word you need!
• Try to go back and
forth between the
pages.

7. More Examples

8. Close up

9. Famous & cool
People like
Green Day
Make em
(sort of)
Smart People get
Paid to make them.
Like Austin.

10. Your Turn

11. Catcher in the Rye
Create a Novel
Blackout Poem
that represents
Holden’s world-
view.
In other words, boil down
what Holden thinks about
life into a sentence or two.

12. Fahrenheit 451
Pretend you’re Montag and
Thirty
you’re just about to be
million
captured by the police.
people
could be
What could you say
watching!
that would sear all
their faces and…
WAKE THEM UP !?!