Monday, November 5, 2007

Colored Lighting in my Classroom?

At the convention this weekend, I attended a workshop about setting up the physical environment of your classroom. We spent a good bit of time talking about the benefits of natural vs artificial lighting in your classroom--for the mood and mental functioning of your students. I work with high school students with emotional disabilities, and I often find that my students are less agressive when we work with the lights off. I have some big windows in my room, so on sunny days, I put them over near the windows and shut off the fluorescent lights. I find this helps everyone to mellow out a little and be friendly. I am interested in trying some colored lighting in my room--maybe putting some light blue tulle or tissue paper over the lights? I know that red is a bad choice because it promotes aggression. I'm thinking blue or green. I asked if anyone had tried this in the workshop, and all I got were comments about being sure I use flame-retardant materials. I will certainly be careful about this, but I want to know if anyone has tried it and noticed a difference in their students emotionally. Is this worth a try?

1 comment:

Mrs4444 said...

Hey there. One thing I have tried is bringing in table lamps and using those now and then when the daylight is low (cloudy). I find that not only does it relax the kids, but it relaxes ME; I become more conscious of my voice tone and find myself feeling calmer.

Thanks for the comment earlier :)