Athens Intermediate School teacher Will Priest asked his students a question Wednesday through a microphone hanging from a lanyard around his neck. His voice amplified through a set of classroom speakers.

The English teacher then tossed a blue foam ball to a student eagerly waiting to answer.

It wasn’t a typical blue foam ball. The ball, known as a Qball, houses a microphone that amplifies their answers through the the speakers allowing everyone in the classroom to understand what they are saying.

The Qball, created by inventor Shane Cox, first made its debut on the TV show “Shark Tank” in 2017.

It’s made of soft, durable foam that can be passed, thrown, rolled or even dropped without damage.

Teachers can use the Qball’s 75-foot range throughout class that day, then charge the Qball after the school day wraps up. The audio-enhanced microphones that teachers wear also have a pretty good range. Laura Dougherty, a math and science teacher at Athens Intermediate, said she can walk down the hall and still talk to her students.

“If I’m in the hall with an administrator and I hear whispering in the classroom, I can whisper, ‘Be quiet,’ and they can they all hear it,” Dougherty said.

They can also record lessons and mute the microphones as needed. To top it all off, there’s a camera in the classroom. Not only does it help with safety measures and serve as a second eye, but it also allows teachers with professional development.

“The teacher can record herself and go back and critique herself,” said Lorian Charles, an assistant principal at Athens Intermediate.

Dougherty said it’s exciting.

“I can record myself and what I’m saying and how I’m saying it,” she said.

Charles said the camera is not for public use, but administration, district personnel and law enforcement can review the footage. It’s a way to review and reflect on changes that can be made to enhance learning inside classrooms.

Amy Williams, the elementary curriculum coordinator for Athens City Schools, said the microphones, ball and cameras are part of an overall audio enhancement package for Athens Intermediate that started this year. Athens Renaissance School has also used Qball in its classrooms.

ACS thought it was a good fit for Athens Intermediate after hearing more about the package from the school’s principal, Mitzi Dennis, and Audio Enhancement, the company behind the equipment.

It’s about helping students with focus and attention, according to Williams. She explained parts of the audio enhancement package were created to help the hearing impaired, because it helps separate one voice from another. It also helps students with dyslexia who have a harder time separating certain sounds when someone else is talking.

She said teachers have loved it, adding some teachers told her it was first time their voices weren’t raspy from overextension by the end of the day.

Williams said students seems calmer, too. She can tell a difference when she walks the halls. Charles agreed.

“You can feel the difference when you walk into a classroom,” Charles said. “I can walk down the hall and hear teachers using their regular voice and being heard. It’s calming. It’s a nice, calm feel.”

More than that, students are learning in a fun and interactive way.

“My kids have been blown away with being able to hear,” Dougherty said, adding she has one student in her classroom that wears hearing aids.

Dougherty said the student had lost the hearing aids, but having microphones in the classroom meant the loss wasn’t affecting the student’s ability to hear in the class.

“There are four speakers in the room,” Dougherty said. “It projects over the whole room, not just where I am standing.”

It also helps with student involvement.

“It makes them want to participate,” Dougherty said.

Teachers have had to work out a few glitches since the school year started, but after the first day, Dougherty went to administrators to tell them how much she loves the new equipment.

“I never want to teach without it again,” she said.