My student desks at school have been getting gradually dirtier and dirtier. I’ve wanted to clean them, but lesson planning and grading have taken priority. But since I came in at my usual time on Sunday before church, I was sufficiently caught up that I could take all my before-school time yesterday to clean my desks.
First I used a really strong chemical cleaner that I got in the clearance aisle at a hardware store. It didn’t just clean the desks; it made them CLEAN. But it couldn’t remove the pen marks. Nothing seems to. After that cleaner, I used my regular Lysol wipes on them. I figured that would remove any remaining traces of the chemical cleaner. The desks were beautiful.
Only two were written on during the course of the day. I cleaned them after school. Maybe I can keep up with it this time…
So, is there no crummy task you won’t attempt in your good clothes? Gardening…. scrubbing with chemicals… You need your own show: Dirty Jobs – Formal Style.
HA!
I’d watch it, too!
Hair spray takes ink out of clothes…maybe it would work on desks too.
(btw: Do you call the desks slates in class…because maybe that confuses the kids & think they’re supposed to write on the them…like in the Little House days.)
The desks in the room next to yours (used by multiple age groups and teachers) looked far scarier the day I subbed last week. I couldn’t stand it – had to get the wipes and put in some elbow grease. Also got some 7th graders to help attack desks in another teacher’s room when I went there for advisory one morning. Regretfully, the Mr. Clean Erasers were not with me – they are GOOD at this ink-removal thing.
Maybe desk cleaning can become part of our PE health curriculum now? You use upper arm muscles…can work up a sweat and breathe more heavily if you’ve had to scrub well more than a handful of them…
A Mr. Clean Magic Eraser gets Sharpie pen marks off of my desk at work – no, I’m not sloppy, I was just bored one day. I would give it a try for the ink marks on your desk.