Showing posts with label artificial lighting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label artificial lighting. Show all posts

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?