Produced for K-12 educators, Teach This Poem features one poem a week from our online poetry collection, accompanied by interdisciplinary resources and activities designed to help teachers quickly and easily bring poetry into the classroom. The series is written by our Educator in Residence, Dr. Madeleine Fuchs Holzer, and is available for free via email.

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Featured Poem

Classroom Activities

You will need construction paper, glue, and markers for this activity.

  1. Place your students in pairs. Ask each student to make a small gift for their partner with the materials at hand. Have them exchange their gifts.
  2. Ask each student to write a short descriptive paragraph (or poem) and to draw an image about how the gift they received makes them feel.
  3. Ask your students to read Alice Fulton’s poem “Doha Thing Long Thought and Kind” first to themselves, then aloud to their partner. What words and phrases jump out at them? Ask them to make a list together. Ask your students how their list of items helps them understand the meaning of the poem.
  4. Next, ask them to look at the definition of doha from A Poet’s Glossary by Edward Hirsch.
  5. Does Alice Fulton strictly follow this form in her poem? How does she change it?