On Friday, I decided to do something a little different. I only turned on half the lights.
It was something I had noticed earlier but hadn't done anything about. The classroom has a projector, and most of the lessons utilized this piece of technology. The students could see just fine, but I figured if it was a little darker, it would be easier to see what was projected on the screen.
Most of the classrooms have two light switches. Each switch controls about half the lights, but not front and back or side to side. The lights each switch controls are staggered. So, I made sure to leave the switch off for the light that was nearest the projector.
And I waited for someone to notice.
The co-teacher came in shortly thereafter, but she said nothing. No one in period 1 noticed (or at least said anything). Or period 2. Or any of the classes. By the end of the day, I had forgotten I'd done it.
Then in 6th period I had a technical problem...
The class was being difficult, as usual, so I switched things up. But I screwed something up. (Which I discovered later--after they left--how to fix. The "esc" key. SMH) So, I went "old school" and started writing the problems on the whiteboard. But it was kind of hard to see, so I went and turned on the other set of lights.
"We only had half the lights on?" someone asked.
No one noticed. I didn't point it out, so they just assumed that the light level was normal. Interesting.
That is interesting! Did the co-teacher ever say anything throughout the day about it? Could be good though to only use half the lights when able to; think of the savings on electricity.
ReplyDeletebetty
Nope, the co-teacher never said a word. Some teachers do use only half lights all the time.
DeleteMaybe they're just used to writing in the dark? I doubt many of them go outside so they probably don't know what full lighting even is.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Alex. Kids spend most of their lives in dim light!!
ReplyDeleteThey actually have to go outside. There's no other way for them to get from class to class. (All the classrooms' doors are to the outside.)
DeleteThat's how my elementary school was when I lived in California. There was a huge inner courtyard and all the classrooms opened onto it.
DeleteOn a bright day in a room with big windows, it's usually easy enough to see without all the lights so of course they didn't notice. And I don't think kids stay inside in dim light more than any adult does...
ReplyDeleteHmmm interesting how that can happen.
ReplyDeleteToo bad you can't use a dimmer switch to more gradually reduce the light in the room. That'd be a fun experiment to conduct...
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, installing dimmer switches is beyond my capabilities.
DeleteThis probably shows that this much hydro may not be needed at that time of the day
ReplyDeleteI turn all the lights out when I use the projector and the kids love it for some reason. It's strange that no one noticed though!
ReplyDeleteI know! If I offer to turn out all the lights for a video or for any reason, they beg me to do it.
DeleteWe quite often turn half the lights off at work to make the room a little darker. Sometimes with the glare from computer monitors, light coming in from the windows and the overhead lights we don't need all of it. We obviously need the computers and can't do much about the daylight, so it's the lights we choose to turn off. :-)
ReplyDeleteWell, if you have daylight and computer monitors, you probably don't need all the lights on.
DeleteI can actually see why no one would notice with a projector running. And many stores you go into now only use half the lights at a time, but they're on a rotating circuit. Everyone probably did thnk it was normal.
ReplyDeleteSunni
http://sunni-survivinglife.blogspot.com/
Probably.
DeleteHaha! Real observant people you have over there.
ReplyDeleteI know. *snort*
DeleteThat's surprising since most of their other classrooms probably had all lights on. I like to think I would've noticed that the classroom was dimmer.
ReplyDeleteYou'd think, right?
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