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When TCTA member JoLisa Hoover learned there were more than 1,100 applicants for the 25 Teaching Ambassador Fellowships of the U.S. Department of Education, she sent a note to her principal to thank her for writing a recommendation letter and to apologize for wasting her time.

When JoLisa received an e-mail a few weeks later saying she was a finalist, she was stunned but moved quickly to round up additional references and participate in a follow-up interview with USDE staff, all during the last week of school when she was helping to pack up an entire campus to move to a new school. In June, she got a call saying “Congratulations, you’ve been selected,” and a long list of instructions of what to do before she and other selected Fellows traveled to Washington, D.C., in July to participate in a one-week orientation and policy conference.

From left, JoLisa Hoover, First Lady Laura Bush and Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.

“The trip to Washington, D.C., was packed,” says JoLisa. “Each day, we were briefed on a different section of the USDE, and every lunch was a working lunch. One day, we participated in a roundtable discussion with Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, and the next day we met with First Lady Laura Bush.” JoLisa was told that she’d be sitting next to Laura Bush and was asked to greet her. The fact that her school is right down the road from Laura Bush Elementary made for an easy icebreaker. She also talked to the First Lady about one of her favorite things - the Texas Book Festival - which Mrs. Bush started in 1995 while serving as First Lady of Texas.


The Fellows spent about an hour with Mrs. Bush. “We were nervous,” JoLisa says, “but she was chatty and laid-back and very interested in what we had to say. You could tell she was looking at it, knowing her daughter was going into teaching and that she had been a teacher. It was an honor talking to the First Lady, especially since she had so much experience in education.”


JoLisa spent an extra four days in D.C. sightseeing with her best friend who now lives in Omaha. They had made the trip together 10 years before and had always said they would go back.


Inaugural year for Teaching Fellowship Program
As one of 20 Classroom Fellows, JoLisa remains in her school under her regular teaching contract and is paid an hourly rate to perform Fellowship duties. She is a federal employee with a federal badge, and was sworn in and fingerprinted. She applied for the Classroom Fellowship because she liked the idea that you could stay in the classroom but still be connected. “Leaving everything to be in D.C. sounded appealing, but not as appealing as being able to keep teaching while being a Fellow,” JoLisa said.

While she gets paid for 10 hours of work a month, she usually exceeds the 10 hours because she gets so interested in what she’s doing. Throughout the year, the Classroom Fellows engage in policy discussions, work with USDE officials in various program offices, and participate in a variety of education projects. JoLisa’s policy focus is on teacher mentoring, which she has experienced from both sides – as a new teacher with an inspiring mentor and now as a teacher mentor herself.


There are also five Washington Fellows serving as full-time USDE employees in Washington, D.C., who participate in policy discussions and work alongside staff on education programs and strategies aimed at educational improvement. The 25 inaugural Fellows, representing 22 states and a wide range of subject, grade level and demographic areas, began work in July 2008 and will finish up in June 2009, when the second group of Fellows will be selected, if funding is approved.


“The perspectives provided by our current 25 fellows - five working here at the Department and 20 in their home districts across the U.S. - have been invaluable,” said Spellings. “I know the Department, and ultimately students and their families, will continue to benefit from the insights of these excellent teachers in working to improve education for all Americans.”


Teaching Ambassador Fellows are selected based on their record of leadership, impact on student achievement and potential for contribution to the field. State certified prekindergarten-grade 12 public school teachers of all subjects who have spent at least three years in the classroom are eligible to apply, and teacher applicants must have the full support of their school administration to ensure collaboration at the school and district levels.

While the application deadline for 2009-10 Fellows has passed, JoLisa encourages teachers to consider this program in the future because she has gained so much from the Fellowship: “I not only have a better understanding of federal policy, but personally all 25 of us have gained leadership skills that have given each of us more of a voice in our district.”


Still her heart is in the classroom
Besides collaborating with federal policymakers on multiple issues impacting America’s students outside of the classroom as a federal employee, JoLisa impacts 20 students in her 4th grade classroom on a daily basis at Grandview Hills Elementary School as a Leander ISD employee. And the classroom is clearly where her heart is. “I love to read my students’ stories and I love their sense of humor,” JoLisa says. “When I taught 2nd grade, I found that they were experimenting with humor but didn’t always have great results, but 4th graders get it. They see what’s funny about things, they’re interested, and they’re not too cool to get excited.”


With 16 years in the classroom, JoLisa has taught 4th grade since 1997. She graduated from McMurry University in Abilene and began her teaching career in Bryan, where she taught middle school reading, grades 2 and 4, and served as an at-risk specialist. While teaching in Bryan, she earned a master’s degree in educational psychology from Texas A&M University. In 2005, she returned to the Austin area to be closer to family in Georgetown and to teach in the Leander ISD.


JoLisa integrates her experience with the Servant Leadership program while at McMurry University into her classroom. The program is based on the idea that the best leaders are those who serve others. Her students now research and select a service project each year to celebrate the holidays rather than sharing gifts at a holiday party. In the last two years, the students have helped animals at a “no-kill” shelter in Leander and donated items to help foster kids through LifeWorks. JoLisa also tries to teach her students that if you’re upset about something, there’s usually something to do about it. Over the years, her students have participated in many service projects, sending care packages to soldiers in Iraq and creating posters offering sympathy and support to students after the bonfire tragedy at Texas A&M.


She also encourages her students to write letters about issues that matter to them. When the nutritional guidelines were released, the class wrote persuasive letters to then-Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs on why they should be allowed to have cupcakes for birthdays. Combs responded twice – first to tell them why they should “eat healthy” and second to let them know when the cupcake law passed allowing an exception for birthdays.

Another of JoLisa’s students corresponded with Gov. Rick Perry to the extent that she began to think of him as a pen pal. She gave the governor her opinion, explained what she thought about testing, what she liked about school, and what she didn’t like about school. “By the fourth letter, I think they might have lost track that she was just 10, because they were sending her policy packets,” JoLisa said.


When the class had its annual Holiday Readers event, where special guests read favorite holiday stories, JoLisa invited a Washington Fellow and a Classroom Fellow to participate long-distance by phone. The Fellow from Georgia read Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, “The Bells,” and the students listened to the poem, analyzed it with her, and then shared a song. The following day, the Fellow from Alaska called and presented a PowerPoint of an Alaskan Santa Claus tale and the students lined up to wait their turn to ask questions about Alaska.


Outside of teaching and Fellowship duties, JoLisa enjoys singing in her church praise band, reading, stamping, playing with her white miniature schnauzer, and spending time with her brother and sister-in-law’s adorable foster children. She also assisted young writer Noah McCullough with two books on U.S. presidents.


“TCTA is quite the voice for teachers”
JoLisa credits her aunt, longtime TCTA member Belva Sikes of Slaton, with introducing her to TCTA. The retired Roosevelt ISD teacher and wife of the former mayor of Slaton told JoLisa, “It’s just what you do!” JoLisa reads The Classroom Teacher magazine from cover to cover and thinks it’s important to keep in touch with what’s going on. “We don’t have time to keep track of things, to analyze what the implications of each policy could be, to determine the differences between local, state and federal policy” she says. She describes TCTA as “quite the voice for teachers.”


What she hopes for her students
Perhaps, what makes JoLisa special is best represented in a one-minute video filmed by the U.S. Department of Education. In describing her hopes for her students, JoLisa says: “I tell my students that I want them to be remembered as a person of character – someone who’s a lifter and not a leaner - that you pull your own weight and the goals you reach aren’t necessarily related to an occupation you achieve, but the type of person you become. I want them to become lifelong learners who can dream the big dreams and can reach them.”


Whether she’s wearing her Fellow hat or her teaching hat, JoLisa Hoover is a “lifter” with a dedication and passion for education. TCTA is proud to call her a member.

Posted: 03/31/09 (from "The Classroom Teacher" Spring 2009 edition)