Two Suffolk teachers jumped at the recent opportunity to immerse themselves in a day-long “unconference” centered around education.

Sabrina Hayes and Lauren Rubash, both eighth-grade English teachers at John Yeates Middle School, took a trip to Yorktown for Edcamp Eastern Virginia. Edcamp touts itself as an “unconference” to give educators the chance to learn and share what they believe will be valuable.

“When you get there, there are sticky notes, and if you want to learn more about something you post it on the board,” Hayes said. “From that board, they create a schedule, and they were fast about it. It was shocking. Basically, you do what you want to talk about what you want.”

The pair dove into multiple topics but found themselves focusing on project-based learning. As English teachers, the two don’t have the opportunity to do much project-based learning, and they wanted to change that in their school.

“I wanted to talk to other English teachers and get great ideas on that. It sparked us what we could do. I ended up having a book of ideas,” Hayes said.

The unconference gave the two an opportunity to network and mingle with other educators. Most of the educators came from the Williamsburg and Yorktown area.

“I think probably the best thing about it was sparking ideas and the networking aspect. I was talking with teachers I wouldn’t normally interact with, and we found teachers that have the same goals as us,” Rubash said. “Listening to their experiences and opinions helped us spark our own ideas and how can we adapt the things we learned to John Yeates.”

Attending the unconference was something the pair enjoy doing. Both like to go out and find other ways to do things in their classrooms and make Suffolk Public Schools more innovative.

“We were looking for ways to improve the ways we use technology, co-teach and use social media. We want to improve and build off of other ideas,” Hayes said.

Coming back from the event made Hayes and Rubash want to bring something similar to the Suffolk area. Anyone can start an Edcamp, and Rubash believes more Suffolk teachers would be interested in attending if there were an event closer.

“We would love to have more Suffolk teachers come with us, and it’s an awesome experience. You aren’t going to have the same thing, and it’s always new, and you always meet someone new,” Rubash said. “The topics are not decided until the day of the event. It kind of allows teachers to take charge and allow them to learn about what they want to learn about.”

While attending the conference, Rubash was lucky to come home with a prize that not only was fun for her but also will benefit her classroom. She won a subscription to Flip Grid, which allows students to create video responses for the classroom.

“I’m excited to play around and get to know the technology,” Rubash said. “It’s something different and something new to play around with.”