In this portrait, Jeffrey Golub provides insights into his involvement with NCTE, why he doesn't consider it to be volunteering, and why he keeps doing it!
Jeffrey works as an Associate Professor of English Education at the University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, preparing students who wish to teach English in the public schools. For 20 years previously, he taught English, speech communication, and writing classes at both junior and senior high schools in Seattle, Washington. He has presented sessions and conducted workshops for teachers and school districts throughout the country on such topics as “Making Learning Happen,” “Constructing an Interactive Classroom,” “Infusing Technology into the Curriculum,” “Developing Students’ Speaking and Listening Skills,” and “Responding to Poetry and Other Literature.” Dr. Golub is the author of Activities for an Interactive Classroom and Making Learning Happen, two English Methods texts; co-editor of Reflective Activities: Helping Students Connect with Texts; and the editor of Activities to Promote Critical Thinking and Focus on Collaborative Learning. In 1990, while teaching at Shorecrest High School in Seattle, he won the State Farm Insurance Company’s “Good Neighbor” Award for innovative teaching, and in 1994 he was named one of the winners of USF’s Teaching Excellence award. And he loves chocolate!
What motivated you to volunteer for NCTE service?
Strange, but I don’t think of my work with NCTE’s committees and projects as “volunteering.” Instead, I see it as “getting involved” and “contributing to the profession.” I got involved with NCTE as an active contributor early in my career, seeing it as a way to learn from others and connect with my colleagues around the country. Such connections have led to countless opportunities, valuable insights, and lasting friendships. It has always been work well worth doing…and so I do it.
What has kept you interested in volunteering your time over the years?
I have gained so much more than I have given: knowledge, information, ideas, insights that have energized and improved my instruction. And it is such a privilege to work with my respected NCTE colleagues. They are bright, dedicated, gifted educators whose company and conversation are a pleasure.
What does your current role entail?
I am currently working with both the CEL and CEE conference groups, serving as a liaison between their two Executive Boards. In addition, I am assembling and editing an anthology of articles titled More Ways to Handle the Paper Load – Both on Paper and Online. This text will be an updated, “new and improved” version of the 1979 NCTE volume, How to Handle the Paper Load.
What key roles have you played and what did you find most satisfying in carrying them out?
I have served the Council in so many roles: co-editor of the “JH/MS ‘Idea Factory’ column in the English Journal; Chair of the JH/MS Assembly; Representative-at-Large on the Executive Committee; Secondary Section member; “Classroom Practices” Editorial Committee member; program co-chair for two NCTE Spring conferences; member of the CEE and CEL Executive Committees; manuscript reviewer for English Journal and English Education; session presenter at countless NCTE conferences…and the list goes on and on for mega-miles. The most satisfying part of all this involvement is the privilege and pleasure of working with so many outstanding colleagues. They are among the best and the brightest in the profession…and I get to work with them. Pretty cool!
What satisfactions do you derive from volunteering?
Besides the pleasure of meeting and talking with such stimulating colleagues in the profession, I sincerely believe that I am making a difference—that I am giving back to the profession some of the insights and leadership that I benefited from early in my own career. We owe this kind of work and involvement to our colleagues, especially to the beginning teachers in our professional community. I want to do what I can to keep those beginning teachers alive and growing.
Why would you recommend volunteering to another NCTE member?
Volunteering, as I mentioned above, is a way to contribute to our colleagues in the profession and, at the same time, keep one’s own self alive, enthusiastic, and growing, both as an individual and as a teacher. One of the real hindrances in our daily work is a sense of ‘isolation,’ an inability to connect with like-minded colleagues. Volunteering enables these crucial connections to happen, and I just don’t see how one can survive – either in the classroom or in the profession – without those connections.
How or has your affiliation with NCTE and improved your professional development and career?
I believe that “Good teaching is knowing the options that are available to you,” and I have been able, through my work with NCTE, to greatly expand my range and repertoire of worthwhile instructional options. We HAVE TO attend to our own professional development – our school administrators and school board members certainly aren’t going to do this job for us. My affiliation with NCTE, then, has allowed my own professional development to happen through my attendance at the conferences and my committee work with colleagues. Through my NCTE affiliation, I have learned so much that I can use in my teaching. The Council makes learning happen for its members in wonderfully engaging and eminently worthwhile ways.
Do you have a favorite NCTE publication?
Well, I always look forward to the next issue of English Journal, of course, since I taught middle and high school students for 20 years, but Voices From the Middle also promises insightful articles and valuable information with every issue. I wouldn’t want to miss out on either of them.
What is the one book, article, or professional development experience you would recommend to other educators?
Everyone should read, and even memorize, the texts by such outstanding authors and educators as Kylene Beers, Jim Burke, Carol Jago, Judith Langer, and Jeff Wilhelm. These are the authors whose books will make teachers significantly “new and improved.”
How has being part of an educational community like NCTE improved your abilities as a teacher and as a leader?
I see myself as having become “new and improved” in my teaching because of my having gained so many valuable insights from colleagues. And these insights would not have come about if I hadn’t worked to become an integral part of NCTE’s doings and thinkings. In addition, if you wish to join in on the professional conversations that are happening among your colleagues, you need to learn first what they are talking about, and then you can make your own, welcome contributions to the discussion. I have been a part of NCTE’s conversations for several years now, and it has helped me make some crucial decisions about where I want to go in my teaching and why I want to go there.
For more information about volunteering with NCTE, please visit www.ncte.org/about/over/vol.
