It’s Monday morning and Janelle walks into her classroom after having a lovely weekend off where she relaxed, cooked a fabulous Sunday brunch, and did some quiet grading (she IS a teacher after all and rarely do teachers not have to do some weekend work, right?).
She was feeling pretty great actually.
Lesson plans and copies for the week were done on Friday, grading is caught up and entered, and she is excited about a new novel the class will be starting today.
Janelle greets her students as they enter and they get started working on their morning work until the bell rings.
Everything is going great until mid-morning, when Janelle suddenly feels a HUGE headache coming on. By the end of the day, it is pounding, and she spends Monday evening in a dark, quiet room trying to get it to subside.
So much for starting out the workweek feeling productive.
Does this sound like your typical Monday?
There have been some lengthy discussions on the Organized Classroom Facebook page about how the fluorescent lights in your classroom could actually be causing headaches. Not only for you, but for your students too.
I am certainly not a doctor, nor claim to be one in any way, so take this suggestion simply as a suggestion: many teachers are trying out light filters in the classroom and are having good results.
After seeing many discussions about light filters on our FB page, Educational Insights sent me over a pack of 3 Pete the Cat filters to check them out for myself.
How adorable are these?
They are super lightweight fabric which has magnets around the edges – so they are super easy to attach over the metal lights along the grid!
The covers don’t completely darken the room at all, and all that horrible white blaring light is no longer shining and reflecting off every classroom surface.
I do know some of you are not able to use light covers due to fire code regulations. For anyone wondering, according to the packaging, the fabric contains a flame retardant coating. Not sure if that will help you to “sell your case” to your fire marshal, but it might be worth a shot if they have been banned in the past.
Check out my lights before:
And after:
Here is another image from the EI website:
You can check out these Pete the Cat Decorative Light Filters HERE if you need a solution ASAP.
If you have used light filters in your classroom, let us know in the comments how they worked for you.
~Charity
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Oh my the light is just too bright and students don’t work well. I have three lamps in my room to help when we turn off the big lights. My room is small but I have 9 lights overhead toooooo many need some light filters
I don’t like the lights either — but I do not like the rooms where the lights are off — it is too dark even with lamps for them to read adequately. I have to remind myself to eat and drink or I will get a headache. More often than not Im too busy to eat.
After suffering a brain aneurysm in August, I’ve just realized in the past few weeks some of my lingering symptoms are related to the horrid flourescent lights in my office. I tend to work with 2 of the of the lights off and 2 of the 3 windows covered. This has given me minimal relief and allowed me to stay at work a bit longer each day.
What a great idea! I have students that complain all the time. this sounds like a better solution than just turning off the lights.
I absolutely love these filters! We have only one light switch so I can’t control the lighting in my classroom. I have had migraines over the years and I try to stay really hydrated. Thanks for the opportunity to win!
These are so awesome and would make a huge difference in my classroom.
I turn off the overhead lighting (ohhh mannn the hum of the ones RIGHT over my reading group table! :/ ) and use 3 lamps placed around the room. I also use Sunbreeze Balm on my temples to help!
I have lamps around my room and am lucky enough to have a wall of windows so we work a lot with the overhead lights completely off. Filters would be awesome because on overcast days it can get a little dark.
I haven’t had headaches, thankfully, but can definitely see how these light filters would help reduce student’s sensitivity to them.
One of my colleagues uses the filters and swears by them. I’d love to try them!
I could really use these in my classroom. I have a variety of students with different sensitivities in my classroom and I think these would benefit them greatly.
I only turn on half of my lights. My last year of teaching kindergarten I never turned on the overhead lights. I collected floor lamps and put several around the room. It was amazing how calm it was.
I keep dark chocolate in my room. I get migraines almost everyday so I always have Excedrin migraine and dark chocolate at the ready. I have really been wanting to try getting light covers like these for awhile now. I would love to get migraines less often!!!
Glaring light is a trigger for me so when the sun is shining bright I keep the shades drawn and we often work with the lights off on nice days. I also make sure I always have a big glass of water and my prescription handy if needed.
I try and leave shades open and at least one light off, the glare
Can be overwhelming.
We try to work with the lights off in the afternoon if possible, but it’s tough. I would love these for my room because I have no real windows – just a door that leads out to the playground!
I had the custodian remove one bulb from the light right over my desk to avoid migraines. Other times, I only turn on half the lights in the room. Teachers and students like the low light much better. I would try the filters, however, there’s a good chance the fire marshal will toss them.
I hope that some day there will be better ways of lighting classrooms and more without these horrible lights!
I don’t get headaches but I have a few children who do. i’d love to see about trying these out. Not sure about the fire regs though.
I have light filters and they have been a game changer! My are plain cream colored. They give the room a cozy glow with plenty of light for working but not glaring. I have had significantly less headaches. Also, according to research, flourescent lights can be triggers for students with a myriad of health issues. Calming, meditative music is also a staple in my classroom. It is for both students and teacher, we love it!
Love that! Thanks for sharing Laurena!
Also, they are flame retardant. I keep the package just in case there is a question or commentary.
Interesting! My chiropractor is also a headache specialist, I will have to ask her what she knows about fluorescent lights. We are lucky to have windows that lets in natural light, so I don’t have this problem as much. I’m grateful for that, because I know either my district and/or the fire marshal would give a thumbs-down to the light filters. I do occasionally get migraines, but they are always the result of stress or are weather related. (Here in the SF Bay Area, we can go from completely sunny days to cloudy days overnight, and that change in barometric pressure is what gets to me.) The lights may not help, but they aren’t a cause in my case.
Thanks for sharing Karen!
Im surprised that so many people use lamps. The fire marshal doesn’t allow them where I teach.
It always amazes me too how different districts are across the US (and the world) and what is allowed.