A religious brother from New Orleans, USA ,with doctorate in Mathematics education who is also an expert in computer, visited Cor Jesu College and conducted a series of seminar-workshops from June 16 to July 3, 2015.
The visiting professor was Bro. Neal Golden, SC, PhD. Brother Golden is the founder, director and president of the Academic Games Leagues of America, president of the Greater New Orleans Teacher of Mathematics and Chair of the Technology Committee of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. He is the chair of the Department of Computer Science at Brother Martin High School in New Orleans. He has a long and very distinguished career in teaching. Bro. Golden was the first teacher to teach a computer course in high school with credit in the state of Lousiana. He also authored two books related to Computer programming.
In his visit to the Philippines, particularly at Cor Jesu College, he generously shared his expertise. High school students of Cor Jesu College participated in a daily Games of Equations from June 16 to July 3, 2015. Using a kit “Equations: The Games of Creative Mathematics”, students compete with one another and learned about Mathematics with fun. Thirty students from Grade 7 to Grade 10 were selected to participate
“I have learned to solve equations really fast. I loved Math even more than ever. Thanks to Bro. Neal”, said Louis Raphael Q. Lagare, a Grade 7 student. “I learned to deal with time pressure and to solve faster”, Alyssa Curazo added, a Grade 9 student.Mathematics”, students compete with one another and learned about Mathematics with fun.
He also won the hearts and admiration of the students. “Bro. Neal is a good and helpful man, and a good teacher as well. He taught us that Math is challenging but really, really good subject”, said Marc Kenneth, a Grade 7 student.
For two weeks, Bro Golden gave his best to meet the students daily during weekdays. “Bro. Neal is a good teacher. He is one of the teachers that I admired the most. I can’t write much about how good a teacher he is because I am not good with words but he is one of the teachers I have come across that I really admired”, a Grade 9 student Arlene Lou G. Cuico happily shared.
“Bro. Neal is a good teacher. He is one of my favorite teachers because I can easily understand what he is teaching us and I learned a lot in these games that we played”, commented Phea Roselle D. Carmona, Grade 7 student.
As a religious brother, Bro. Golden was not only concerned about academic excellence. He instilled values. “I’ve learned many things because Bro. Neal taught us how to play the Game of Equations and have good manners too. Thank you very much Bro. Neal. We will miss you”, Neil Joyce T. Alvior, Grade 7 student, said.
Indeed, the students of Cor Jesu College were blessed to have an expert being with them even just for two week. “Bro. Neal is one of the smartest people I’ve met”, shared Angelica Elago, Grade 8 pupil. “Bro. Neal is very kind, patient, generous, genius and knows how to please people. It is a big honor to be taught by him”, added Joana G. Amar, Grade 7 student.
Last June 17, 2015, Math major students and Math teachers of the College and Basic Education were the participants on the seminar entitled “21st Mathematics Curriculum and Instructional Design. Participants were challenged by Bro Golden to maximize the use of technology to advance students’ skills in Mathematics. The same seminar was given to graduate school students under the Master of Arts in Education Program last June 28, 2015.
“What I learned from the seminar with Bro. Golden was instead of focusing so much on manual computation on subjects like Calculus and Algebra, we can also use technology but we should first learn the basic concepts”, shared Denzel B. Aquino, a fourth year Math major student.
Furthermore, Brother Golden extended his expertise to other teachers in the province of Davao del Sur, a Mini-course for Math Teachers in using Spreadsheets last June 22, 2015. Several Math teachers from Catholic schools attended the whole day event. “I need to learn more especially using spreadsheets”, Fr. Roger Baraga said, principal of Holy Cross of Kiblawan, in explaining his participation.
Bro. Golden also gave a lecture about “Technology Integration in Education” to the faculty of the Basic Education Department last June 30, 2015. He emphasized the necessity of using available resources. He also taught them to use online resources like sharing files to students.
During the culmination of the Games of Equations last July 3, 2015, six top performing students were awarded with certificate, medals and tokens. In his thanksgiving message, Dr. Kirt Anthony Diaz, PhD, the principal of the Basic Education Department, told the students, “You are very fortunate to have Bro. Neal. This is once in a lifetime experience because we do not know if this will happen again.” He then proceeded to thank Bro. Golden and handed the certificate of appreciation.
