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Education Alumni Profiles: Jordan Neal ('13)
January 01, 2020
"I feel so blessed to have my OBU education. I’ve found that success in the biggest
challenges in the school day. Classroom management, collaborating with colleagues,
and working under an administration are all a result of relationships and hard work."
Jordan Neal came from a family of OBU Tigers. Both of his parents and his sister graduated from OBU. On a campus tour of another college, Jordan immediately knew OBU was where he wanted to pursue a degree in teaching. “I knew there was no other place that could prepare me mentally and spiritually for the challenges of teaching as well as Ouachita.”
After graduating from OBU in the fall semester, Jordan was hired as a long term substitute at Gilbert High School, his hometown. He was then hired full-time to teach Algebra and to coach the JV volleyball team. He then got a chance to pursue his dream of being a Head Girl’s volleyball coach at Highland High School where he has been for the past three years. He is happily married to his wife of 5 years, and they have an 8 month old baby boy.
When thinking of his favorite OBU Education Program memory, Jordan recalls the friendships he made. “The friendships are the things that I value most about my time at OBU. The time spent preparing for our purple portfolio interviews and the group brainstorming for our Philosophy of Education paper. I also got the unique experience my junior year of team teaching a class at Arkadelphia High with some of my best friends.”
Looking back over his years of teaching, one of Jordan’s favorite P-12 classroom memories are his math competitions and projects. “I love my annual “Math nerds can still play Kickball” game versus Mrs. Smith’s class. I am also proud of the ADA Ramp Compliance Project my class does in our Trigonometry unit each year. But I can’t forget about the spring ‘field day’ we do where the winners get to finish the hour with a water balloon fight.”
One piece of advice Jordan shared for future candidates was “to know your students well enough to celebrate a C grade with your D student, but scold your A+ student over an A- grade. Getting the best out of each kid doesn’t mean you get A’s out of each kid.”
“Be true to yourself. If you try to teach like anyone else, it will be so frustrating. I’m the fun teacher, and that has its challenges, but I can’t do it any other way.”
Thank you, Jordan Neal, for being a life changing educator!
Jordan Neal:
- Class of 2013
- BA Mathematics and Secondary Education - Ouachita Baptist University
- Algebra, Algebraic Functions, Geometry - Gilbert High School, Highland High School, Gilbert, AZ
- Most Inspirational Teacher - Gilbert High, 2013/2014
- New Teacher of the Year - Highland High, 2016
Jordan Neal came from a family of OBU Tigers. Both of his parents and his sister graduated from OBU. On a campus tour of another college, Jordan immediately knew OBU was where he wanted to pursue a degree in teaching. “I knew there was no other place that could prepare me mentally and spiritually for the challenges of teaching as well as Ouachita.”
After graduating from OBU in the fall semester, Jordan was hired as a long term substitute at Gilbert High School, his hometown. He was then hired full-time to teach Algebra and to coach the JV volleyball team. He then got a chance to pursue his dream of being a Head Girl’s volleyball coach at Highland High School where he has been for the past three years. He is happily married to his wife of 5 years, and they have an 8 month old baby boy.
When thinking of his favorite OBU Education Program memory, Jordan recalls the friendships he made. “The friendships are the things that I value most about my time at OBU. The time spent preparing for our purple portfolio interviews and the group brainstorming for our Philosophy of Education paper. I also got the unique experience my junior year of team teaching a class at Arkadelphia High with some of my best friends.”
Looking back over his years of teaching, one of Jordan’s favorite P-12 classroom memories are his math competitions and projects. “I love my annual “Math nerds can still play Kickball” game versus Mrs. Smith’s class. I am also proud of the ADA Ramp Compliance Project my class does in our Trigonometry unit each year. But I can’t forget about the spring ‘field day’ we do where the winners get to finish the hour with a water balloon fight.”
One piece of advice Jordan shared for future candidates was “to know your students well enough to celebrate a C grade with your D student, but scold your A+ student over an A- grade. Getting the best out of each kid doesn’t mean you get A’s out of each kid.”
“Be true to yourself. If you try to teach like anyone else, it will be so frustrating. I’m the fun teacher, and that has its challenges, but I can’t do it any other way.”
Thank you, Jordan Neal, for being a life changing educator!
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