Blackout Poetry
In The Book Thief, Max takes Hitler’s memoir Mein Kampf, white washes the pages and from that creates something beautiful. Through this lesson plan, students have the opportunity to do something similar. Students will use printouts (in the pdf file below) of The Book Thief to create blackout poetry, creating something beautiful and different out of the book's pages. Students will then share their creations with the class.
How to create a blackout poem:
1. Scan the page first before reading it completely. Keep an eye out for an anchor word as you scan. An anchor word is one word on the page that stands out to you because it is packed and loaded with meaning and significance
2. Read the page in its entirety
3. Use a pencil to circle any words that relate to the anchor word or resonate with you
4. List all of the circled words on a separate piece of paper. List the words in the order that they appear on the page of text from top to bottom, left to right
5. Select words, without changing their order on the list, and piece them together to create the lines of a poem. You can eliminate parts of words, especially any endings, if it helps to keep the meaning of the poem clear. Try different possibilities for your poem before selecting the lines for your final poem
6. Return to the page of text and circle only the words you selected for the final poem. Remember to also erase the circles around any words you will not be using
7. Add an illustration or design to the page of text that connects to your poem.
This activity can relate to SC Standard MWH-7.1 (Analyze the relative importance of economic and political rivalries, ethnic and ideological conflicts, social class, militarism, and imperialism as underlying causes of World War I and World War II, including the role of nationalism and propaganda in mobilizing civilian populations around the world to support the two world wars) because students will have to read pages of the book to complete the activity, and the book focuses on the mobilization of the German population (with German youth movements and conscription), social class, and ethics.
How to create a blackout poem:
1. Scan the page first before reading it completely. Keep an eye out for an anchor word as you scan. An anchor word is one word on the page that stands out to you because it is packed and loaded with meaning and significance
2. Read the page in its entirety
3. Use a pencil to circle any words that relate to the anchor word or resonate with you
4. List all of the circled words on a separate piece of paper. List the words in the order that they appear on the page of text from top to bottom, left to right
5. Select words, without changing their order on the list, and piece them together to create the lines of a poem. You can eliminate parts of words, especially any endings, if it helps to keep the meaning of the poem clear. Try different possibilities for your poem before selecting the lines for your final poem
6. Return to the page of text and circle only the words you selected for the final poem. Remember to also erase the circles around any words you will not be using
7. Add an illustration or design to the page of text that connects to your poem.
This activity can relate to SC Standard MWH-7.1 (Analyze the relative importance of economic and political rivalries, ethnic and ideological conflicts, social class, militarism, and imperialism as underlying causes of World War I and World War II, including the role of nationalism and propaganda in mobilizing civilian populations around the world to support the two world wars) because students will have to read pages of the book to complete the activity, and the book focuses on the mobilization of the German population (with German youth movements and conscription), social class, and ethics.
blackout_pages.pdf | |
File Size: | 264 kb |
File Type: |