Black Out and Found Poetry Activity for High School Creative Writing

Add some fun to your creative writing unit or provide enrichment options for excelling students with black-out and found poems. These classic poem types are more hands-on than traditional pen-on-paper writing, making them a great way to bust up boring classroom routines!

Black-out and found poetry are highly flexible activities. These can be "filler" activities for half-days or can take days to finish. I usually give my students one day for each poem type plus a day to make sure both are finished. Then, I hang all of them up in the hallway for an easy, beautiful display of student work.

The great thing about black-out and found poetry activities is that they can be "shrunk down" or "stretched out" to suit your time needs! Keep these on hand for weeks before breaks or during testing!

NON-EDITABLE PowerPoint Slideshow (step-by-step directions with examples)

Suggested Lesson Plan

Student handout with directions (so you don't have to repeat yourself!)