"Stay Gold..."

We've done it. My 7th graders have reached the epic Robert Frost appearance in The Outsiders. Do they have any idea how hallowed this poet is? No. But even they are struck by his epic-ness.

Yes. New word.

Yesterday we focused on the term symbolism. I'm really trying to have my students come up with their own definitions for these literary terms so they can grasp it more readily than I could for them. And, so far, it's working.

I started with a themed prompt about colors: "Pick a color and list everything you think of when you imagine that color in your mind." Were some of my students stuck on a particular object? Yeah. Purple meant Barney and Green meant a frog. But some of them were absolute rockstarts: "Blue is kind of like sadness," one student remarked; "Green is fresh. It's like life," another added. So, when I inevitably turned the discussion to the color Gold, we were ready. I had students do a mini research project on gold - how it's mined and how it's refined until all of the impurities are taken out. We talked about how gold symbolized perfection and one way-too-smart-for-his-own-good student added, "That's why olympians get GOLD medals. They're perfect. Or the very best in the world at least." It was great.

So today, we talked about what this poem means for the novel as a whole. Started with a White Board Discussion (since on student response sheets many students remarked that they wished they could get a break from writing in their journals), and students responded to the question: What did Ponyboy mean when he said "Nothing gold can stay?"

It was probably one of my favorite classes to this point. They talked about how things that are precious to us won't always be precious because we'll grow and change and people will leave. They talked about how nothing good lasts forever. They talked about how nothing and no one is perfect and so our "perfect" moments are always stolen by the imperfections of others. I'm serious. All them.

So we reviewed the poem and broke it down. Talked about seasons, made personal connections, talked about Christian theology (which was tricky and I was sure to say several times that the reference to Eden was an allusion to Christian beliefs and that I wasn't teaching Christian doctrine but explaining how "Eden" relates to this concept or symbol of "gold." Hope that was clear!)

It was beautiful... We made some connections and looked forward in the novel, made some predictions, etc.

I had a 276 student from another class come into my room to observe for a period and she came up to me afterwards and remarked, "You do a really good job asking guiding questions for discussion." Why thank you, kind soon-to-be-teacher. It's true - today was a beautiful day for discussion.

As we talked about what it meant to "Stay Gold..." I realized that my experience at Dixon has been a golden one - I've learned so much and grown so much and it's hard to accept that "Nothing gold can stay..." But with the end of every golden dawn comes the promise of an even brighter day... and inevitably, I will see that golden dawn again. It's just a day away.

So I sent off 5+ requests for letters of recommendation. I've requested a Sub for Teacher Fair days. I've started revising my resume and researching other school districts in the area.

And I'm looking forward to the end of something gold, so I can look forward to something maybe less precious, but just as beautiful.

P.S. Might have developed a fever around 2:30pm today. Chills and all. I think I'm going home. ;)