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who:
Mr. Daniel J. Berger
where:
Cardinal Pacelli School
what:
Algebra/Math7/Religion8
contact:
(513) 321-1048
Spotlight on Mr. Berger
Daniel John Berger was born on 26 May 1975 (he suggests you do the
math if you’d like to know his age) and grew up in the small town of
Versailles, Ohio, approximately 150 miles NNE of the middle of nowhere.
Throughout school, he was heavily involved in both the academic and the
music programs offered in the Versailles schools. Particularly during high
school, Mr. Berger often found himself surrounded by other students, helping
them to understand their calculus, physics and chemistry homework before
school. It would be a couple more years before he realized what exactly this
meant.
Mr. Berger graduated valedictorian in 1993 and left home to study in
the big city (but only compared to Versailles) of Toledo, Ohio, at the
University of Toledo. His revolving cast of majors included Mathematics,
Engineering Physics, Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical
Engineering and Mathematics. It was again in helping others to understand
their math both as a tutor for UT’s Office of Accessibility as well as
helping friends with their calculus that a realization came to Mr. Berger:
he had a knack for explaining material, money was overrated and he wanted to
be a teacher! So, he finished his last two years as a secondary education
major (adding an extra year for all the changes of major) and graduated from
the University of Toledo with a Bachelor’s of Education (with a specialty of
Secondary Mathematics) in 1998.
His teaching career started at a public school in Toledo teaching
eighth grade math on a teaching team that dealt with a number of students
identified SBH (severe behavioral handicap) along with the rest of the
eighth graders. Classes were large and support was little, and at the end of
a long and difficult year, Mr. Berger resigned and decided to make a change
of venue, not just school, but city as well. During the summer of 1999, he
moved to Cincinnati, Ohio.
As luck would have it, Cardinal Pacelli still needed a junior high
math teacher for the upcoming school year in early July when Mr. Berger
moved to Cincinnati. After an interview with Mary Lottenville and a job
offer, he turned down the other offer on the table (in the Oaks vocational
schools) and came to work for Cardinal Pacelli School!
Since beginning his tenure at Cardinal Pacelli, Mr. Berger has
advanced his education in a myriad of ways. Besides the normal workshops and
inservices from which all the Pacelli teachers are able to benefit, he has
also earned the first and second level certifications in cathechesis and is
only one class away from permanent certification. At the deadline for this
article, he is a mere two classes and a completed thesis from his Masters of
Secondary Education at Xavier University (to be finished this summer). He
has also discovered a love of philosophy and has taken two courses at the
University of Cincinnati and two more at Xavier on subjects including
philosophical anthropology, the theory of knowledge, ethics and ancient
Greek philosophy. The habitual student, Mr. Berger hopes to continue taking
classes in philosophy as well as in literature and teaching
reading/literature in the future.
In the classroom, Mr. Berger tries to keep a sense of humour and fun
about math while still pushing the students to gain the most knowledge and
understanding they can. In his third year at Cardinal Pacelli, with much
support from the administration and parents, he led a reform of the math
program at Cardinal Pacelli School and moved the eighth grade math from a
more general course to an algebra course for all students. In his sixth
year, an accelerated group was added to the algebra course for students who
were motivated and able to push farther ahead in their mathematical
explorations. In his religion classes, Mr. Berger tries to balance knowledge
with spirituality, studying Church history and understanding Catholic
teachings while also introducing students to prayer forms such as Taize and
lectio divina. A particularly moving liturgy that Mr. Berger plans along
with Mrs. Knight and the eighth grade class, is the Holy Thursday stations
each year which really set the tone for a prayerful and meaningful Triduum.
Besides his work in the classroom teaching seventh and eighth grade
math and eighth grade religion, Mr. Berger has been able to use his other
talents to enhance the experience of Pacelli students. He has been assistant
director and a pit musician for a number of Cardinal Pacelli musicals. He
sings and plays guitar accompaniment for liturgical music practices for
seventh and eighth grade and sometimes at mass on Tuesday mornings and at
all school masses. This year, Mr. Berger has joined Ms. Framptom in leading
the music at the new 5:00 pm Sunday evening mass for Our Lord Christ the
King.
When he’s not teaching or taking classes, Mr. Berger enjoys
participating in community theatre productions, playing guitar in his band,
walking and playing with his dog, reading (philosophy or fiction), playing
racquetball and running (poorly). He and his longtime girlfriend became
engaged over Christmas, and both are looking forward to preparing and
celebrating a wedding in the fairly near future!
As next year is Mr. Berger’s tenth year at Cardinal Pacelli, he has
been fondly remembering all the students he has taught, the good and the
challenging moments, good times with colleagues and the way in which he has
grown as both a person and as an instructor over the years at Cardinal
Pacelli School and in Cincinnati. He looks forward to many more
opportunities to touch the lives of students as they touch his as well.
To learn math and religion!
To learn study and work habits that will serve the students well
throughout their lives as learners!
To understand that math is our friend!
To know that faith is vital in our ever-changing world!
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