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November 18, 2005

I shared with our guests at the celebration dinner this week that Thanksgiving is my favorite season of the year. We too often get so busy, so narrowly focused, so driven, that we miss the very things that actually matter the most to us. I want to encourage everyone to take just a moment this week, collect your conscious awareness of how blessed we are, celebrate the wonder of life, family, faith, hope, opportunity, and bounty. Breathe.

Have a safe holiday.

Posted by Tim Tyson at 1:28 PM

November 17, 2005

Dr. Seuss only had two things. I have three.

Thing #1
Our students continue to impress me. On Monday, "out of the blue," I went into 6 classes and asked this question of the students, "If you were to walk into the best school in the entire world, what would you see?" I offered no clues, no ideas, no sense of context to the question at all. I did request thoughtful answers. You must hear what our students said. Watch this video podcast at Podcast Central.

Thing #2
Will came to the front office this morning. He asked our secretary if he could make an appointment with me. I was free at the time, so we chatted. This is from our conversation:

"Hi, Will. What can I do for you?"
"Dr. Tyson, I want to be the first student at Mabry to learn how to post a podcast to the internet."
"Have you been working with one of the student podcast teams?"
"Yes. I've been working on the Spanish class podcasts, and I've made some at home. But I don't know how to post one on the web."
"So, do you want to learn the easiest way to do it, or do you want to learn the 'full meal deal' which is a lot harder but far more powerful?"
"I want to learn it all."

Our students are the best. They want to learn. They are becoming ambitious learners and problem solvers that are taking the personal initiative to create their own learning. Will is an impressive young man.

Thing #3
We are beginning to have groups of guests both locally and nationally come to visit our school. Educators around the world are following what we are doing at Mabry. They want to learn from our school, and we are eager to share. Our students and our teachers are the best!

Posted by Tim Tyson at 12:15 PM

November 2, 2005

It's time for a huge celebration! Mabry has enormous things to celebrate:

• Schools of Distinction Award Winner for Technology Innovation
• 2005 Silver Statewide Accountability System Winner
• 25th Anniversary Celebration
• $8.8 SPLOST Renovations and Additions Completed

Of course, Mabry is in its 27th year of excellence. However, we really didn't have a 25th Anniversary celebration because of the construction project. So now it's time to throw a huge party!

On November 15th we will host a reception and catered dinner in the new Mabry Cafeteria. Purchase your tickets from our bookkeeper, Ms.Osterfeld. Tickets for the evening are $10.00. Tickets will not be sold after November 10th. Guests from our corporate donors, the State Department of Education, and the local, state, and federal governments will be attending. This will be a wonderful celebration. This will be a "Sunday best" dress up event. Make your plans now to join us.

Posted by Tim Tyson at 3:30 PM

I hope you are frequently visiting Podcast Central on our website. (Of course you can subscribe to the RSS feed for Podcast Central and all of the new information will come directly to you.) We are developing a growing number of podcasts. Recent posts include video podcasts which you can watch on your computer and even download to the new video iPods! Recent posts include the following:

• First Nine Weeks Student Art Work (VP)
• Spanish Podcast Debut: The Alphabet
• The National Junior Honor Society Induction Ceremony
• 2005 Best Picture Category (VP)
• Student Forum President Elections
• 5th Annual Film Festival Theme Announced (VP)
• Language Arts Research Papers
• Kid Capacity: A Podcast Interview with Stephanie
• Kid Capacity: A Podcast Interview with Stephen
• Parent Open House Podcast
• Parent Open House Podcast (EP)
• The French Jump Rope Song
• Dr. Tyson's Challenge to Students (EP)
• What Is Podcasting?

Others are posted as well. The (VP) indicates a video podcast. The (EP) indicates an enhanced podcast.

Our podcasts are a huge hit all over the world. I receive emails about them regularly. The farthest email has been from an all girls school in Tasmania. Already today we have had 620 hits to Podcast Central. We have had a over 30,000 hits to Podcast Central in the last 3 months.

Posted by Tim Tyson at 3:24 PM