Friday, September 28, 2012

Friday, September 28th

Weekend Update for Mr. Harming's Blog

Saying "Weekend Update" makes me think of Seth Meyers.

As the week pulls to a close, I have completed the software installations for the Elementary School Touchscreen computers! (applause)

The electricians were able to get outlets installed for the projectors early this week, and so we will begin installing those...one room at a time.

Homecoming week seemed to be a rousing success to me.  It would have been nice to have won the game, but it was close, and entertaining.

The South Dakota State University Jackrabbits will be hosting the Missouri State Bears this weekend, in The Beef Bowl.  The Jacks played well last week in knocking out a very good Indiana State team.

The San Diego Chargers will travel to Kansas City to play the Chiefs this weekend.  Two teams with vastly different approaches this year...the Chiefs kinda stunk the first two weeks, and won last week.  The Chargers won the first two weeks, and stunk last week.  Be a big win for the Lightning Bolts if they pull this one out.

The Harming family will be making a trip out west to Chamberlain this weekend.  It will be our last trip to the "River City" for quite a while.  I hope to get a run in this weekend.  With all the moving and packing and unpacking, and the installation of services, and figuring out all the new stuff... I just haven't been able to run.  I really miss it.

Have a great weekend Everyone!  It's supposed to be beautiful, so get outside and enjoy it!

For your weekend video let's go with a little... R.E.M.

Enjoy "Pretty Persuasion"






Monday, September 24, 2012

Tuesday Teacher Tidbits: TEDTalks

Have you ever heard of TED?

No, not this Ted.
Funny Movie, but not what we're looking for.













I mean this TED:  http://www.ted.com/










Quoting directly from wikipedia:  "TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TED_(conference)

This website is a cornucopia of videos, with talks on everything from "What we're learning from 5,000 brains" to "The Power of Vulnerability".  TED probably has something that you could use in your classroom, and if not in your classroom, something you can watch and draw inspiration and knowledge from.

One of my personal favorites was the late John Wooden's "the difference between winning and succeeding", which is located here:  http://www.ted.com/talks/john_wooden_on_the_difference_between_winning_and_success.html


Lastly, I thought I'd include a shorter video here on the blog.  It's kind of a humorous look at using statistics to help you create your own TEDtalk.



This Wednesday I will be working in Lake Benton in the morning, and I will be leaving at noon to attend the CC meet in Colman.

Hope everyone has a great week.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Are you a Psychopath? Video

I found this video online, and found it interesting.

http://www.ted.com/talks/jon_ronson_strange_answers_to_the_psychopath_test.html



How many traits of a Psychopath do we all share?

Neat lesson on "labeling".

Homecoming Day!

Homecoming Day here at EHS.

Go Big.  Go Blue.  Go Elks.

Tonight the Elks will face off with the Arlington Cardinals.



Hope everyone has a great weekend!

The Harmings will be spending their weekend unpacking, and unloading, and generally getting their home in order.

Today's Friday Video:  Enjoy Madness



Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Wednesday, September 19th

This morning I will be meeting with Mrs. Erickson's JH class to discuss internet safety.

Not long after that, I will be going to Lake Benton for the morning.

I will be back sometime early this afternoon, most likely.

However, I will also be leaving around 2:30 pm this afternoon to attend the CC meet in Dell Rapids.

Run Hard Today Elkton Cross Country!


Color Day for Homecoming week.  I'm wearing my Pink tie and "off-pink" shirt.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Tuesday...Teacher Technology Tidbits

Been a very busy week in the tech office.  Between getting the touchscreen computers loaded with software, dealing with technology issues with student computers, and a few other things that have popped up, I've barely had a minute to catch my breathe.

But I think I'm starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Today's Technology Tool is a Voki.

http://www.voki.com/

A Voki is a speaking avatar that you can put into your webpage.  Kind of a neat thing to play around with, and I believe you can have students use them too.

I haven't done much with them, although this is something I do want to add to my webpage.
http://mh176.k12.sd.us/

Today is Camo Day for Homecoming week, and I normally like to dress up for Homecoming days, but I do not own a single item of camouflage... So probably the best I can do with that is an old song from Stan Ridgeway in the 80's.

Good Luck to the Cross Country Team as they travel to Dell Rapids Tomorrow!
Good Luck to the Girls Volleyball Team on Thursday as they travel to Estelline!
Good Luck to the Football Team as they host the Homecoming game this Friday against Arlington.

Tomorrow - Wednesday, I will be meeting with a few JH classes in the morning on internet safety, and then traveling to Lake Benton.

I will also be leaving school around 2:30 pm on Wednesday to attend the CC meet!

Have a great Homecoming week everyone!

Monday, September 17, 2012

Internet Safety Tips... link

Here is a link to a really good article on webmd.com pertaining to internet safety for Teenagers and adolescents.

Give it a quick read through.  There is some really good information on there.

Monday the 15th of September

Boy I am tired today.  We moved a couple more trailers of things from our home in Chamberlain yesterday.

I got finished unloading somewhere around 10:30 pm last night, and I still have a trailer to go.

On the bright side... probably 95% of our things are moved now.  And we got to bring our dogs with us.  Dexter and Jagger are very excited to be in Elkton and they are really enjoying running around in the backyard!

I've got another trailer to unload this week, so it is going to be a very busy week at the Harmings!

We will be doing Internet safety talks in the Elementary School Monday and Tuesday this week.  We'll be going over some helpful and useful information in how to stay safe online.

I am also arranging times to meet with the JH students this week as well.

Today is "Super Hero Day" for Homecoming week.  I've heard that a very bright and talented girl thought up the idea for that.  I'm looking forward to seeing all the costumes.  I didn't really have a costume, so I wore my US Army Academy Sweatshirt.  Figured I'd wearing something from a "Real American Hero".

Things have been very busy in the Tech office.  I am continuing to load the software onto the touchscreen computers.  I have grades 6, 5, 4, and Kindergarten finished.  Need to load Grades 1-3 yet.  Also, once I have all the programs installed and the computers in the classroom, We'll be installing the projectors in the classrooms where they are needed.

Also, Karla's desktop computer in the office crashed last week, so I am attempting to recover her information from the hard drive.

Good Luck to all the teams in their activities this Homecoming week!  I plan to leave a bit early on Wednesday to attend the CC meet in Dell Rapids.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Finally moved in! (partially)



Yesterday we were able to close on our home in Elkton, and were able to move in enough stuff  to stay for the rest of the week.

We'll be making another trip to Chamberlain this coming weekend to collect more of our things, hopefully the great majority.

So... the Harmings are now officially "residents".


Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Tuesday Teacher Tidbits 9-4-12

Welcome back to another wonderful week of school in Elkton and Lake Benton!  Hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend.

No real "Technology" tools today, just a quick update of things.

First of all, thank you everyone for your patience and understanding as I was gone on Thursday and Friday.  My wife's Grandmother, Arlene Grassel passed away last Thursday.  Shana was very close with her Paternal Grandparents as her Father had died in a tractor accident when she was just an infant, and so she spent a great deal of time with them growing up and throughout her life.  She was laid to rest yesterday in Artesian, SD.  It was wonderful for me to be there for my wife and her family.

In other personal news, we are hoping to close on our future home in Elkton soon.  The banker last week said they were shooting for the 5th, which is tomorrow, but we haven't heard anything since then...it would be nice to close this week, so we could move our things this weekend.  And stop mooching off our relatives!

Anyone remember the 6 Million Dollar Man?  I heard this story over the weekend, about a bionic eye being implanted.  We truly live in remarkable times.  Something to keep in mind when teaching our students, they will grow up in a world much different than the one we did.  Tremendous things are happening, and today's students will be the people inventing things like this, and working in these fields.

Student Computers - I still need to install the North Lab printer for student computers, again please send them down one at a time.  Also, the Sophomores will need Microsoft office installed.  I have some done, but there still are several to do.

Touchscreen computers - I will begin my installing software on the touchscreen computer systems today.  As I said last week, I will hope to finish one each day, and then bring it to the appropriate classroom.

I will be leaving early today (2:30 pm) to attend the CC meet in Garretson.

Tomorrow I will leave around 8:45 am to go to Lake Benton.

Congrats to the Elk Football team, for their dominating performance last Friday against ORR.

Good Luck to the CC team today, as the travel to Garretson to participate in the Jesse James Invitational.