Teaching: Environment

Last Friday was conference day and I was underwhelmed with visitors. So, I had some time to clean and rearrange my room. In my room, I have 6 plants, including a poinsettia that is still surviving from Christmas!

All 6 of them live on one table near my windows. On Friday, I moved one of my plants from the table and put it on my desk. Just looking at it makes me happy. I moved another one to the top of my laptop cart that is across the room from my desk and I can see it when I sit in my comfy chair.

I think it makes a difference, at least for me. On the table where they usually are, I couldn't see them. They are wonderful, but out of the way.

From my headache yesterday, I learned that the lighting in my environment is also extremely important. We are in code yellow due to incidents in the neighborhood. This means that we have to have our shades closed. I never have my shades closed and rely on the natural streaming sunshine to make my classroom shine.

The fluorescent lights killed me.

I'm wondering what impact this has on my students. I know the effect it has on me, but what about the students that are only there for an hour?