Impressed with the Teaching and Learning 2014 plan Salisbury Township School District implemented, Discovery Education, based in Silver Spring, Md., brought a consortium of educational professionals to the high school May 2 to discuss technology in the classroom.

Discovery Education is working toward transforming teaching and learning offering digital solutions that ignite students' natural curiosity and accelerate student achievement.

Participants came from Upper Perkiomen School District, Perkiomen Valley School District, Nazareth Area School District, Quakertown Community School District, Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit, Spring-Ford Area School District, Pennridge School District, Bethlehem Area School District, Whitehall-Coplay School District, Palisades School District, Southern Lehigh School District, Lehighton Area School District, Pen Argyl School District, Lehigh Career & Technical Institute, Jim Thorpe Area School District, Parkland School District, Hamburg Area School District, East Penn School District, Pittston Area School District, Allentown School District, Lewisburg Area School District, Manarah Islamic Academy, Harrington Education Associates, Kutztown Area School District, Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Pottsgrove School District, Hatboro-Horsham School District, Montgomery County Intermediate Unit and Boyertown Area School District.

A welcome session was held at Salisbury High School. Superintendent Michael Roth explained Salisbury's TL2014 goals saying "the initiative accelerates the process of providing students with the knowledge and skills necessary for post-secondary success in the 21st century."

Further goals include "increased learning opportunities for the development of critical 21st century skills: critical thinking and problem solving, effective oral and written communication, collaboration, creativity and curiosity, adaptability, organization, initiative and entrepreneurialism; increased opportunties for student engagement in a dynamic, technology-rich learning environment; increased opportunities for project-based and challenge-based learning, mirroring real-world work force and higher education environments; increased opportunities for differentiation and indivdualized instruction through the use of technology; and increased opportunties for reading and writing in new formats and modes common in the 21st century.

Participants were then given a choice to stay at the high school or ride a bus to Harry S Truman Elementary School, Western Salisbury Elementary School or Salisbury Middle School for classroom visits to observe how students and teachers are using technology and asked questions of teachers and students on courses of study, implementation of technology into the curriculum, ability for students to master the programs and ease of use.

Various break-out sessions were offered providing information on the importance of school board and community involvement, financial issues, support for teachers and students, implementation issues, utilization of social media and the shift to a digital classroom.

Three sessions were also available involving a panel of teachers, a panel of parents and a panel of students where visitors could ask questions.

Visitors were most impressed with the students and their answers to questions posed.

Students explained how they use Google Apps to take notes during lectures which all in the group can share. If a student does not understand something, they can research the unknown and place comments in the margins for all classmates to see.

Marrying traditional lesson plans with new technology, students said the teachers have found ways to engage them. One student said their project was taking MacBeth to Twitter and another said they created a movie trailor for Antigone using iMovie.

Knowing students learn differently, students said the teachers use the resources and programs available on the laptops to provide opportunities for them.

Another student said in physics class they hook up sensors to the laptop to measure light while doing the labs and then type up the lab report.

Visitors to the district told The Press they were impressed with what they saw in the classrooms, sharing how the middle school students in Beth Prokesch's classroom were skyping their pen pals in different countries. They also said they were surprised at how articulate and open the students were.

As one student said to the visitors during the panel discussion, "students are curious about learning again."

Student Ian Carey ended the student panel by saying, "The biggest change in the role of the teacher is it shifts from a person who is simply instructing to more of a catalyst for personal growth, exploration and learning."