Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nothing Gold Can Stay
by Robert Frost
Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.  Recently our English 7 class read The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.  When Ponyboy and Johnny are hiding out at the church, and looking out over a sunset,  Ponyboy recites this poem by Robert Frost. This made me think about how life is ever changing. What is there in our lives that we can depend on to be there forever? People? Jobs? Technology? For the sake of narrowing my scope, I will focus on technology. One thing I have learned through the years is not to depend too much on any type of technology. Just ask anyone who has ever lead professional development seminars related to web resources and you will see how quickly session materials become obsolete. Websites come and go without notice. Right now there is an uproar regarding the impending doom of the web bookmarking site Delicious. Many of us have used Delicious for many years to house our bookmarks. And now Diigo has become the destination. What will come and go this year? Reading through commentary regarding the poem's connection to The Outsiders also suggested that to be gold is to stay innocent and not grow up too fast. We try to teach our students digital citizenship and safety. We want them to avoid misusing or abusing technology with a goal of using it appropriately. (http://www.digitalcitizenship.net). The vast offering of the internet may tarnish the “gold” quickly.  I am not saying that we should remain stagnant with technology. Every day there are new sites, programs, etc. that can be adopted in our lives. What we used 5 years ago is not necessarily the most efficient way to complete tasks. Keeping up to date enables many to be at the forefront of their career. I would like to hear from you. What is your gold?