A few years ago, I had a truly game-changing ‘aha’ moment I had several struggling students in my class. The ones that never seemed interested in my content. They often missed assignments and needed re-direction, after school sessions, the concerned phone calls home… you’ve been there. I tried everything I could to engage their interest. I opened up book choice, forgoing a whole class novel. I let them write an argument on any topic of their choice, played interactive grammar games, but my bag of tricks didn’t work with this particular group of students. Then, one day I introduced blackout poetry.

I walked by this group of friends, sitting together as they worked on their poems, pausing quickly to check on their status just like any other day. I stopped dead in my tracks. I was floored. My mouth agape.  Their work could have been displayed in an art museum instead of the cement walls of my classroom it was destined for.