The Elements

Dear Friends,

Today, I’m going to share with you a compelling story of 80 amazing students, teachers and staff of Claret School of Isabela Basilan. They came to Claret School last February 14 , 2006 for a 3 day performance for a musical play entitled “The Elements”. The elements is the story of Basilan presented in a unique way. Combining dance, music, myth, actual events, dazzling costumes, and modern technology all rolled into one. It caught everybody by surprise. Who would ever expect that a group of students from the remotest and perceived to be the most troubled spot in the Philippines could come up with such a world class play, and to think that the students were all amateurs is just so inspiring. Basilan was a battlefield for more than 30 years between Christians and Muslims and here you are, a musical play with both Christians and Muslims in the cast, not only that, the students speak in several native dialects such as Chavacano, Visayan, Yakan and Tausog and yet they were able to unite and come up with a superb performance. Isn’t that a lesson for us adults? My web team came up with this website in three weeks time to show our appreciation for the cast of “The Elements” and also as an entry to a web contest. We actually finished a different entry for the contest and my students have worked on it for 8 months. I asked the boys if they are willing to drop it in favor of “The Elements” since the people involved were more closer to our hearts. They will also have to make a lot of sacrifices since we have to start all over again and finish it in 3 weeks. When I heard all of them saying a resounding YES!, I knew we were on "something different, something special” just like what Megan, the "goddess of water" said in her closing speech in the play. We were no longer after winning any contests, we were after something bigger. We want to tell the world, the story of Basilan. We hope that this website will change even just a little bit about the people’s perception of Basilan. We want people to invest in Basilan and provide job opportunities and not mere dole outs.
If you are going to view the site, I suggest bring your snacks and drinks, it’s just like watching a movie, well, it’s not that long. Please start from the beginning. you won’t understand the whole thing if you start in the middle. Go over the links one by one starting from the top. And when you are finished, please say something nice to the students of Basilan, inspire them to follow their dreams in spite of the hardships that they have to overcome. They will be reading every peace of information coming from you. The future of Basilan belongs to these kids. I don’t cry easily but when I started receiving text messages (they do have cell phones and internet too) from the cast who are now back in Basilan saying “SUPER THANK YOU FOR THE WEBSITE” tears just flowed in my eyes. I knew then that this site will make a difference in their lives too.
So here it is: http://elements07.125mb.com/



Megan
The goddess of water
a grade 6 pupil who gave
an awesome curtain
call speech



Danielle
"The goddess of Wind" and myself




Crizel
"The goddess of fire"
sets the whole stage
ablazed with her
performance.

Youth Radio

Here's a very inspiring letter I got from one of my favorite teachers abroad, Ms. Sol. Thank you so much for your appreciation. Rest assure we will do our best to put the Philippines on the web community map.

Hi ROX,

I wanted to cry when I listened to this: http://youthradio. wordpress. com/ . You made me feel so special Rox.

I am proud of you, and your students. You probably have no idea yet what kind of network of education leaders Kevin and I are in here in the US. The National Writing Project is the premier effort to improve writing in America. Through its professional development model, NWP builds the leadership, programs, and research needed for teachers to help their students become successful writers and learners.

This is a National initiative and there are 180 sites across America. I am a Teacher Consultant to the DC Area Writing Project and Kevin is a Teacher Consultant to the Western Massachusetts Writing Project. This model of "Teachers Teaching Teachers" is what I really want to adapt here in our Pinoy Teachers Network. We are focusing on the teacher training and professional development, just like what we're doing in PTN.

ROX, the podcast you did with Youth Radio http://youthradio. wordpress. com/ will go a long way! Kevin presents his innovative projects in National Conventions of teacher leaders and this Youth Radio project is one of his great ideas. This is model of interacting with Filipino student back home with our students here abroad is what I want to propose to Gilas and SYNERGEIA, which is cost effective and very feasible. Keep going... please do this for our students, let the world know how globally competitive Filipino students are! I hope more Filipino teachers here in PTN could join Youth Radio with their students...

ROX, Please tell your students I am very proud of them! This write up os from the Youth Radio site:

Cheers!

MARISOL
http://teachersol.blogspot.com


And here's another sweet one from Giselle Bombay from the University of the Philippines Open University

Hi Rox,

My husband is a Claretian (elem to high) and I had been telling him stories about you and your projects. I told him that few teachers are like you - swerte claret sa iyo, ah.

Me and our kids are all UP bred from elem to college (husband ko college days lang ang UP) and we get a kick out of lovingly kidding him whenever we have reunions because he the only "different" one. But when I told them about you, syempre, my husband is proud because his alma mater is still a good school after all.

Keep up the good work!

Giselle

Here's the blurb about the Philippines. (I learned what a blurb is from Kevin Hodgson's Youth Radio) Pag di mo alam hanapin mo ang meaning, teacher ka pa naman he he!

More about the Claret School and the Philippines:


Claret School of Quezon City is located at the heart of Quezon City, Philippines. It is an exclusive Catholic school for boys with a population of 3000+ students from pre-school to high school. The school’s website is www.claretschool.edu.ph The Claretian’s main website is http://missionaries.claret.org/ The Claret Robotics Team is one of the many extra-curricular activities offered by the school to its students. It is made up of 15 members from the grade school and high school department. The boys enjoy constructing lego robots, programming and competing with other schools. Their adviser is Mr. Rox Cosico. http://roxclaret.blogspot.com/



The Philippines is made up of 7,101 islands . http://www.wowphilippines.com.ph/ The capital of the Philippines is Manila and Claret School is just 30 minutes away from Manila by car. Quezon City is a highly urbanized area. The Philippines is a tropical paradise. Many of the islands in the Philippines are great tourist destinations. Among them Boracay, Bohol, Palawan and Siargao These places are known for their white sand beaches, tropical fruits and friendly people. There are many islands that are yet to be visited by travelers. In Panglao island in Bohol alone, thousands of new marine species which were never been seen before were discovered by a worldwide team of marine scientists in 2004 and 2005. http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/talkofthetown/view_article.php?article_id=51459

http://www.experiencephilippines.ph/Global/traveljournal.php.