Pacific Palisades resident Carol Jago has been elected to a four-year term on the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) board, including a year as NCTE president. Carol is the author of nine books on the teaching of English and is the editor of the scholarly journal California English. Since moving west from Chicago and graduating from UC Santa Barbara, Carol has lived in Pacific Palisades for over 30 years. Since 1975, she has taught at Santa Monica High School, where she twice served as chairperson of the English department. She and her husband Michael have a son, James, who learned to play soccer and baseball in Pacific Palisades’ leagues, later representing the state at the Olympic Development regional soccer camp. ‘Naturally, I am delighted with the outcome of the election,’ said Carol. ‘NCTE is the leading professional body for teachers of English in this country. My mission will be to work to help the Council speak with a voice that is heard and respected, and which is influential in all matters that affect literacy and learning.’ She is also realistic about the obstacles that face literacy teachers in the 21st century. ‘In this era of instant access and communication, it is not always easy to convince students–and sometimes teachers–of the value of the rich currency of the written word,’ she commented. ‘But I believe that this is one of the greatest challenges facing me and my colleagues in the classroom.’ The thrust of Carol’s work has been to re-establish the primacy of worthwhile literature in the teaching of English both to native English speakers and to students learning it as a second language.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
