When Cleaning Solutions Go Wrong

I am moving out of my apartment and into my dream home. So excited! What I am not excited about is fulfilling the list required cleaning items to make the apartment better than professionally cleaned as I was instructed.

That's where the trouble begins. We had been told that the apartment could be lived in, when we moved out, normal wear and tear. But that wasn't the case. The apartment had to be in better condition than it was when we moved in. As a Christian and someone with OCD, that sounds great. But you have to remember, I have paid $25,000 over the last two years to live here. Why exactly do I have it so clean that it is "better than professional"?

One of the projects that I am most concerned about is the grout in our bathroom. I have kept the bathroom clean and in working condition at all times. The tile floor gets swept frequently and moped regularly. I have spent many weekends on my hands and knees scrubbing stubborn stains. On most occasions (except for a few particularly busy or lazy weeks), you can come to my apartment and find a squeaky clean, sparkling bathroom.

Despite all of this, the grout has noticeably changed from sparkly white to a strange shade of gray. It doesn't look horrific or extraordinarily dirty. It just isn't white anymore.

Like any modern twenty-something, I scoured the internet for multiple ideas on how to clean grout, made a shopping list, and headed off to Target. A grout brush, gloves, sponges, vinegar, a spray bottle, baking soda, and bleach.

Then I proceeded to test a combination of vinegar and water. No luck.

Test #2 - A combination of baking soda and water. No dice.

Test #3 - Bleach. A minuscule difference. This set of tiles was slightly whiter than any of the tiles around it. I thought I might not have let it sit long enough and planned to try again on my next day off.

So this morning it was time to try this again.

Test #4 - Bleach on a much larger section of the bathroom floor than the previous day off. This time I let it sit for a half hour, scrubbing at the 15 and 30 minute mark. Minuscule difference, so I repeated the steps, and one tiny section of grout is almost white. When I finally moped up, the tile section was definitely lighter but not impressively so.

Before

After

I ended up spending almost the entire day cleaning the shower, baseboards, and grout in my bathroom only to find that there was no significant difference in shade. Certainly not enough to impress my landlord. My husband might have stopped home and caught me nearly in tears of frustration.

I may have also tried scrubbing the floor with toilet bowl cleaner (as suggested by pinterest) and Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (which worked impressively well, but took quite a bit of elbow grease).

Moral of this story: Find out how much it will cost from of your security deposit to skip cleaning the grout. It isn't worth trying to change its color while working, moving, setting up house, and getting out of your old place. We decided it was worth the cost to just skip it.

In the end I ended up with a super-clean, but still awkwardly gray grout and a brand new huge crack in an entire section of grout. In the end it wasn't worth the entire day of cleaning.

Teacher Binder: Individual Units

My Teacher Binder

Last week I told you about my teacher binder. It is a great system and works really well for me. It has saved me from carrying pounds of materials home each night. As a first year teacher, I was grateful to only carry a small stack of tons of work home... rather than large stacks to accompany the hours of work ahead of me.

I also mentioned that I include one test-unit worth of material for each course in the binder. That is my way of keeping all of the work I carry home under control. With one test-unit, I might have two or three chapters worth of material for each course, so it gives me a chance to look ahead or review. Then once we take a test, I just swap the unit out for the next one.

Each course tab contains a few materials that stay there for extended periods of time. They just help me stay on top of life a little better.

Student List - I always have a list of the students enrolled in my class as well as any info about them as the first page in this tab. It is a great reference for attendance and seating assignments, homework checks, etc. You can put whatever info you need to on this list. I have my book numbers on it as well, but you could do addresses, birthdays, or whatever is useful to you. Because I use this page or flip past on a daily basis, I put it in a page protector to keep it nice. For the security of my students & my school, I will not be showing pictures of these.

Syllabus - Usually the first half of the year or so, I will keep the syllabus directly behind the student list, especially if it has dates on it. This is a nice reminder to keep myself on track, but also a good reminder for the students if they claim "But you never told us!" (I did probably seventy times, but they are teenagers. They forget.)

Long Term Project Requirements & Rubrics - Just like the syllabus, I keep long-term project requirements and rubrics handy in the front of my course tab as a reference. If a student has a question, I can pull out this sheet (and direct the student to it), then tell the student exactly what I told them before. It is a great reminder for myself and for them. When the project is finished, I can just take it out of the binder.

If you opened my binder on any given day the next thing you will see is a numbered tab to coordinate with the chapter number. Avery sells numbered tabs 1-36 and I use these to keep all of my chapter materials separate. I end up with so much in my binder that it helps to know exactly where I am in my binder.

Chapter Overview

After that is a page that I call my Chapter Overview. This single page tells me everything I need to know about the chapter - what materials I use throughout the chapter, upcoming assessments, Biblical integration, games or activities, and additional resources. Throughout my first year teaching, I would sometimes forget to give a quiz or study a map because it wasn't written right into my notes, and I had mountains of materials to sort. This summer I added Chapter Overviews to each of my chapter plans in hopes that it will help me out.

A page from my Teacher Notes

Following the Chapter Overview is a copy of my Teacher Notes for a given chapter. Basically my teacher notes are the student handouts but expanded and amplified. It has little notes to myself, colors to help me know what material is on an assessment (that is really helpful for review), and blocked out material that indicates when to mention certain things or identifying opportunities for Biblical integration or something extra in the powerpoint. The Teacher Notes were a lot of work, but beyond worth it!

Student Notes

Next up is a copy of the Student's Notes, in case I need an extra or want to make copies without locating it on my computer. It's just handy.

Then any other handouts, like worksheets, primary source copies, or maps.

Quiz key

The next major item I include is any assessment specific to that chapter, usually a quiz or two. I normally put these in page protectors. The front will be the key and the back will be a spare blank copy of the student version.

I will duplicate the order until I hit a test and the final thing in the unit will be a test key and spare student test.

Test Key

My binder is almost always full, but once you have it figured out, it is always easy to locate something. My fellow teachers have commented on the fact that I take home my laptop and my binder every day and that's it. They are carrying around a rolling case for all of their books.

Organization is worth it. :)

Book Review: Dreams and Visions

In America, we do often live in a Christian bubble. I know that sin has rampantly infiltrated our bubble, but the reality is most people have access to a Bible preaching church down the street or through the internet. We have an idea of how witnessing and salvation will go and we seek to accomplish it through various but predictable means.

Tom Doyle blew up all of my pre-conceived ideas about Christianity, witnessing, salvation, and outreach by revealing that my American way is not the only way. In fact, God sometimes does the work entirely by Himself.

No one doubts that the Middle East is dangerous place, and Doyle did an excellent job revealing the reality that even seeking God is a punishable-by-death offense. Let alone actually going to church, talking about God, owning a Bible, or questioning Islam.

You will be blown away by how God is reaching people in the Middle East. And if you are a skeptic, I assure you, Doyle will settle all of your questions throughout the book. This is a can't miss! Run, don't walk, to get this book anyway you can.

Parent's Notice - This book is intense, but appropriate for most audiences. I don't know that I would read as a bed-time story to my little ones, but a mature 7th grader could certainly read it. Also this would make great required reading for 9th grade students or higher who might be studying current events or the Middle East.

Forgiveness Reigns, Part 1

For this particular lesson, I am providing you with only the most basic information. Using this information, I inserted personal stories and expositions as well as plenty of class discussion. Not my best work, but this lesson was foundational. I really got to the meat and potatoes of the lesson in Part 2. That lesson will be posted in early September. 

Background:

1 Samuel 16:1-13 Samuel anoints David king

1 Samuel 16:14-23 Saul seeks out a man to play the harp; David is chosen.

            He is described as an excellent musician, a brave warrior, wise and pleasant, and the Lord was with him.

1 Samuel 17:1-15 Goliath rises up against Saul and blasphemes God. Everyone is too afraid to fight.

1 Samuel 17:16-55 David kills Goliath to the praise of all the Israelites

Describe the relationship with David & Saul.

Describe the encounters the David had with Saul.

1 Samuel 17:56-18:9 – Saul sees David kill Goliath, brings him to the palace (a place of honor), then sees the people fall over David as opposed to their king.

1 Samuel 18:10-12 Saul through a javelin at David twice while David tried to play music to calm Saul’s spirit.

1 Samuel 18:13-19 Saul makes David captain and promises him a wife, but gives the woman to another man on David’s wedding day.

1 Samuel 18:20-29 – Saul gives David his other daughter to marry to trip him up but only after testing him in a dangerous situation.

1 Samuel 18:8-12 Saul tries to kill David with the javelin once then in his bed the next morning.

·      What did Saul do?

·      How did David respond?

·      How does the Bible instruct us to respond in this type of situation?

·      What can you learn from this?

·      List three ways that you can apply this to your life this week.

Describe the encounters that David had with Jonathan.

1 Samuel 19:1-7 – Jonathan smoothes things over between David and Saul.

1 Samuel 20:1-17 – Covenant between David & Jonathan

1 Samuel 20:35-42 – Jonathan informs David of the fact that Saul will kill him

·      What did Jonathan do?

·      How did David respond?

·      How does the Bible instruct us to respond in this type of situation?

·      What can you learn from this?

·      List three ways that you can apply this to your life this week.

So with this in mind, toleration of Saul, friendship with Jonathan… how do you think things will be when Jonathan and Saul are both dead?

What would your long-term reaction be?

Teacher Binder: Getting Started

Being a new teacher can be a bit overwhelming, especially as a teacher in a Christian school. Christian school teachers are often tasked with teaching multiple courses to smaller groups of students, whereas public school teachers often teach a single course to multiple groups of students. We both have plenty of prep and challenges, but the unique aspect of Christian school teaching is managing a whole variety of courses, without duplication.

On that first day of employment at my Christian school, I walked away with five courses worth of teacher's edition books, test answer keys, quiz answer keys, and student activity book keys for each of the courses. Oh, and interactive editions of my textbooks, PDF copies of my textbooks, discs of coordinated art, graphs, maps, and images, and and an armload of software. I don't know if that is normal, but it was beyond overwhelming. I was also expected to create some sort student handout for each lesson, a powerpoint for each lesson, as well as rewrite most of the tests as they didn't fit with our time constraints. We are officially referring to armloads of materials. I was just trying to figure out how to carry all of these materials around with me each day. You know what I am talking about, right?

My students all know that I like owls.
I wonder how they figured that out?

What I ended creating was a teacher binder for myself. I bought a cute 2" binder at Target and a
sturdy set of 8-tab dividers with pockets. This lovely little binder is my life. I simply carry one test-unit's worth of materials for each class around with me. This usually allows me to see what's coming up and not take mountains of materials home each night.

To get started on my teacher's binder, I took the 8-tab dividers and established the most important materials that I would need. Then I labelled the tabs according to my needs.

1. Lesson Plans (usually one to two weeks worth)
2. School documents (my schedule, student list, locker assignments, lunch menu, phone lists, and other often used school docx) 
3. Master documents (reproducible documents that I use in all of my classes, like current event forms, missing work forms, report requirements, etc)
4. Class 1
5. Class 2
6. Class 3
7. Class 4
8. Class 5... in order of teaching schedule

Already this is clearly an important binder. Because of the details, I will explain what I include in each class tab (#4-8) at a later date. For now, find yourself a binder and get working!

Book Review: Killing Christians

Before I picked up Dreams and Visions by Tom Doyle, I was inspired to read Killing Christians by Doyle. Something about this book stuck out to me, but I didn't like the title and kept ignoring it. After several weeks, this book popped back into my personal recommendations list and I decided to go for it.

Having read this book before Dreams and Visions and not even knowing the full background, I was plunged into the dangerous but lively world or the Middle East, where God is at work in the hearts and lives of so many people. I could not put this book down. I was amazed at all that God is doing and the faith that these people have in the face of threats such as ISIS and guaranteed death. I was surprised but thrilled by the connections to the Bible through prophecy and simple locations. My faith was humbled and challenged. Killing Christians is definitely a must read! I will definitely be referencing this book in my history and Bible classes. 

This book is like a sequel to Dreams and Visions and written in the same manner. It has additional stories and follow-ups to the previous book. Something that I particularly liked was this book is very current. The stories are as recent as 2013 and 2014 and deal with people, places, and terror groups that we hear about in the news today.

Parent's Notice - Recommended reading for 9th grade and up or equivalently mature. 

I Hate Taco Bell

Does anyone actually like Taco Bell? I mean the food is greasy. It's not even real meat. The sauce and cheese and shells all taste like plastic, and the Taco Bell near my house literally takes 20 minutes at the drive through (even if I am the only person in sight)! I don't just dislike Taco Bell. I truly hate Taco Bell. If Taco Bell ceased to exist, I wouldn't miss it. I wouldn't shed a tear and I wouldn't feel bad for the people who worked there. Now they are free to go get new jobs at places far less disgusting. Oh, and did I mention that I have never eaten at Taco Bell and walked away feeling well? I literally get sick every time I go there (maybe once every five years).

My ration was probably more like once every twelve years - for real! But all of that changed when my husband became a youth pastor. I discovered that there was this crazy, strong-stomached or maybe taste bud-less genre of people in society today who eat at Taco Bell, and actually enjoy it!! Teenagers!! Who knew? I thought that Taco Bell would eventually go out of business, but I discovered that it was teenagers who keep the place open. Several times we went to Taco Bell with teenagers and discovered that they loved it. Sitting down at a table in Taco Bell with teenagers miraculously opened them up to these strange new adults who wanted them to talk about God. And amazingly they did! Suddenly being thrown into their world and eating their food opened the flood gates and created a bond. Taco Bell - the great equalizer.

I did eventually convince my husband that Dairy Queen was equally effective, but Taco Bell reminded me of something key while working with teenagers. I don't have to water-down God's Word or child-proof doctrine to talk to a teenager, nor do I need blinking lights, comfy seats, and mood music. I just need to do something or be somewhere that levels the playing field. All of my best teen conversations, counseling, and discipleship times have been in their environment - a gym, a outdoor patio, in a ball-field, at Taco Bell or Dairy Queen, in a coffee shop, in my car driving to or from an event. A place where it isn't distinctly the church auditorium, the intimidating youth pastor's office, or even my classroom.

Teenagers are usually smart and thoughtful. They want to mull over hard questions and discuss deep topics, but they want to be comfortable doing it. Keep that in mind next time and consider enduring Taco Bell.