How can school leadership maximize student engagement and academic achievement? How can leaders encourage teachers and students to collaborate with peers and professionals around the world? In this presentation and workgroup session, Dr. Tim Tyson, former principal of Mabry Middle School, will share lessons learned and philosophical frameworks gleaned from that school's exploration of best practices and ways to leverage technology through school-wide blogging and school-wide student/teacher/administrator digital media creation in their efforts to make learning irresistible.

Under Dr. Tyson's leadership, Mabry received Scholastic and Intel Corporation's prestigious Schools of Distinction Award for Technology Innovation. He set up MabryOnline.org, a collection of over 100 blogs which served as the school web presence and features students', teachers' and administrators' digital media creations, serving up over 1.5 million files a month to users all over the world. Educators from around the country and several foreign countries visited Mabry to see firsthand the innovative ways technology is used to maximize student achievement. This session will outline a philosophical framework, plus provide participants with concrete examples of how to build community, and engage staff and students in meaningful and creative ways.