Cebu Blogging Community turned a year old and so we partied!

  

I met a good bunch of strangers online, followed through with a meet up IRL and we became a family of bloggers in less than a year.  What started out as a quest to find inspiration to revive this blog has now become a commitment to blog beyond the personal and the vain.  

Cebu Blogging Community is spear-headed by impressive individuals who have been relentless in building CBC to what it is now and to what it is yet to become.  

Energies were so high during CBC's first anniversary party held in F Cafe.  Cebuano bloggers who you would assume to be resigned to oneself, had shown prowess in the latest dance craze.  Writers can dance and dance the night we did.  I lost count as to how many writer cliches were negated during the event.  

CBC's 1st Anniversary Party (c) KiatCebu

We had so much fun, we forgot our gadgets - our precious blogging paraphernalia.  The company of Cebu Blogging Community is THAT great!

We thank our sponsors for helping CBC's first ever anniversary!

MAJOR SPONSORS- Yamba- Capdase Official Page & Aerophone Cebu- Turtulele- Globe Telecom- Kublai Khan Mongolian Restaurant
MINOR SPONSORS- Yoyi's Pastries & Desserts- Giga Naturally Cebu- Global Hub Serviced Offices- Static Data Hosting 
VENUE- F Café & Bar 

Productive individuals are consequences of productive teachers.

Fact: Public elementary and highschool education in the country are facing challenges. Philippine education is far from fine.  47,000 public elementary and highschools, a meager government budget, a thankless teaching salary and classrooms without walls.  Coalition for Better Education dropped a lot of  reality-check-bombs during the Blogger's Forum hosted by Philippine Information Agency.  

From left: CBE President Jeffery Tarayao, CBE Executive Director Marilou Flores and PIA Cebu Information Center Manager Rachelle Nessia.

While sitting down trying to drink in all the introductions it struck me hard that I am clueless. Education issues I only hear about in the news are one by one becoming vivid and real to me as we got served with the hard facts from mouths of the people who have seen - firsthand the state of our education system.

I cringe, because in my own bubble, education is fine.  I was, for a long time, under the impression that once you get in school you immediately get served your buffet of ABC's and 123's.  When you digest them well, these are all you need to make good in life.  

The issues keep coming but so are the many ways to lift things up for better education.  Although our teacher's salaries and education budget are how much the government says they are, groups such as the Coalition for Better Education materialized to be education's other set of arms to hold on to for strength.

Since 2001 CBE has gathered education stakeholders, unite other groups, individuals and companies to take part in thrusting for better education in the Philippines.  Their vision is to CREATE EMPOWERED LEARNING COMMUNITIES.  They believe, and I agree, that education is a shared responsibility.  We cannot solely blame the government for poor education.  Everybody has to have a hand to lend.

During the Blogger's Forum, CBE introduced to us modules on Project Based Learning Energy Flashcards and Do Energy Flashcards.  This is developing teaching tool that is K12 ready which innovates the standard way of learning.  Personally, I find the method very interesting and engaging.  We all learn in different ways, and I think Energy Flashcards have something to offer for all types of learners.  Imagine giving this resource to our teachers, it is going to change things for the better.  

CBE empowers our teachers, our main educators to produce better ways of teaching.  They get introduced to teaching tools and methods that are attuned with the demands of the present and flexible for what lies ahead in the future.  

For the why's and how's of joining CBE go HERE.
Follow PIA on Facebook and Twitter 

This blog joins the thrust for better education. #iBLOGforBetterEducation

Yamba.rocks is calling for beta testers! As an awesome treat, they are raffling off three iPHONE6!  Im not kidding.

To join the beta testers list, simply go to www.yamba.rocks and fill out the sign up form! Form is only open from June 30 - July 5, 12mn. There will be no extensions.

Between July 6 - 17, you can go explore the site and its features and be one of the cool kids who got to evaluate and give feedback on whether or not yamba indeed rocks.

The following people will get to win the prize:

• First winner is the one who has the most views post in yamba.rocks
• Second winner is the one who has the most followers by the end of the test.
• Third winner is the one who uploaded the most number of post (photos, links, quotes, texts, etc).

An evaluation form will be sent out to all beta testers on July 20, to mark the end of the testing period.

So sign up today, invite your friends to sign up and follow you, and make sure you’re online from July 6 - 17 to post, post, & post and WIN an iphone 6!

All winners will be announced through Yamba on July 25, 2015. The prizes will be given by the management of Yamba.rocks. Winners need to CLAIM their prizes in Cebu personally.