What's your Gold?

I finished reading The Outsiders with my 8th grade students today and, like always, it is my most favorite day of the year because I see kids "get it". They are connected to the characters and the story in a way that changes them--like it changed me. 

At the end of the book when Johnny explains what it means to "Stay Gold" I always get a little choked up and sentimental--this year was no different. 

 "I've been thinking about it, and that poem, that guy that wrote it, {Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost} he meant you're gold when you're a kid, like green. When you're a kid everything's new, dawn. It's just when you get used to everything that it's day. Like the way you dig sunsets, Pony. That's gold. Keep it that way, it's a good way to be."

This year, I asked the kids, "What's your Gold?" 
I explained that Gold is when you see that there is still good in the world. It's a moment, a place, a feeling that holds a special purity, hope, and goodness that no matter what is going on in life or in the world, that Gold gives you what you need to keep on going. 

Some of the kids knew what their Gold was, and it was so fun to see them embrace this. Some kids didn't know what their Gold is, but I am hopeful that they will find it and when they do, they will remember to "Stay Gold" and help the world be a better place.

What's your Gold?

{Thank you to my amazing friend Hannah who gave me my awesome "Stay Gold" necklace!}