Musings in the Concrete Jungle

So here I have been . . . reading Walden, by Henry David Thoreau, taking breaks to stare at the parking lot outside of my office.  I am surrounded by irony.  Everywhere I look, I am a direct affront to Thoreau's preachings.  It's hard to come to terms with it.  Granted he babbles and rants half the time, so I'm not sure just how much I agree with his thinking. But here are some phrases that have resonated with me thus far.

"Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things.  They are but improved means to an unimproved end  . . . "

As I look about my room, I see these "pretty toys" and think how indispensable they have seemingly become in my own life.  And I wonder, to what extent have they led me to an unimproved end?  Take for example . . . actually as I scan the room I see I have been simplifying and purging and thus am under the delusion that everything I have that is not a gift is critical to my existence . . .Ah, yes!  Bigfoot!  When I purchased Bigfoot from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, I told myself, "Yes!  It's what I've always needed!"  Now he sits in my classroom, a fun little game of sorts I like to play with my students. 

"Mrs. Speedy!  Why do you have Bigfoot in your classroom?" Cry the children, bursting with excitement curiosity at their discovery.

"Bigfoot?  Now, now dear children, you know Bigfoot isn't real."  I reply, stern-faced and practical.

"But Mrs. Speedy!  He's right there!"  They point to the white board from their desks, more and more children joining in the fray.

I move to where they are pointing and look up and down, side to side.  "Where?  All I see is a wall and books."  The students huddle closer to the whiteboard, some jumping up and down, as if that will help me see directly, but instead I follow their bobbing fingers.

"Right there!  He's wearing yellow shorts and a wrist watch!"

"A bigfoot wearing clothes?! Now you have really lost your minds!  Oh dear!  What shall I do with you?  Is this the payoff of all my hard work?  Sit down before your imaginations carry you up and away from this necessary, and important, math we are trying to learn."

"But!!!!!!  Mrs. Speedy!"

"Enough!  Games are over.  Sit down."

There, now what is the end of all this?  Is it fun in the moment?  Yes.  Does it waken some of my students who have fallen into the trap of daily drudgery that is education to so many of our students?  Yes?  But what is the inevitable end?  Are they more engaged in my math lessons?  No!  This magical moment lasts maybe a couple of minutes and occurs, perhaps, twice a year.  So why have the Bigfoot?  This brings me to my next quote from Mr. Thoreau.

"The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately, or in the long run."

Cost vs. Reward.

Cost
$22 = 40 minutes of my day (pre-taxes)
Paper
Labor
Shipping Materials and Energy
Waste

Reward
Smiles
Laughter
Good Humor
1-2 minutes

All this makes me wonder, while anyone could argue that you can't put a value on smiles, aren't there numerous other ways to illicit good humor in the classroom?  One that doesn't have such long-term impacts on the environment, but creates longer-lasting memories?  All of this is to be determined.