# Presentation: 835138

## The Teaching Ambassador Fellowship Teacher Leadership“from classroom to country”

**Notes:**
Format of presentation: 
Slide 1  - Cover slide
Slide 2 – Secretary Spellings quote and picture from summit  - Why the program was started.
Slide 3 – Mission and Vision of the program
Slide 4 – Selection Process
Slide 5 & 6 – Collective descriptors of fellows
Slide 7 – Program goals
Slide 8 – Classroom Fellow Duties: Individual presenters should feel free to insert slides of their work on projects, programs or add  pictures.
Slide 9– WTAF duties: Individual presenters should feel free to insert slides of their work on projects, programs, or add pictures
Slide 10 & 11 – Summer Summit – more pictures and stories can be added by presenter in additional slides
 As the year goes on we will add slides following the summit of events and other pertinent information
Slide 12 – Hyperlinks to the TAF home page on ED and link to the video.
We hope to add more links to this as the year goes on.
Conclusion of presentation

## “Nothing helps a child learn as much as a great teacher. This Fellowship is a terrific opportunity for educators to share their voices directly with policymakers, and I look forward to hearing from them.” ~ Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings 

- July 15, 2008
- TAF Summer Orientation
- Roundtable with Secretary Spellings

- Pictured: Secretary Spellings and WTAF- Steven Hicks

- Teacher Leadership – *from classroom to country*

_**Teaching Ambassador Fellowship**_

**Notes:**
"This program was inspired and designed by a White House Fellow and former teacher (Jocelyn Pickford ) -- someone whom I wish I had met and hatched this idea with years ago. I believe this program will be successful, and I hope it becomes part of the fabric at the U.S. Department of Education for years to come."  Secretary Spellings (July 10, 2008 news release, ed.gov)  

## Mission

- 	The Teaching Ambassador Fellowship empowers teacher leaders from our nation's public schools to contribute their knowledge and experience to the national dialogue about public education, and provides them an opportunity to learn more about education policy.

_**Teaching Ambassador Fellowship Program Details**_

- Teacher Leadership – *from classroom to country*

_**Vision**_

- 	Teachers will collaborate with colleagues in schools as well as the education community at the district, state, and federal levels to explore the most effective strategies and policies for educational improvement.

**Notes:**
This is the WHY, of the program

## Selection Process

- Teaching Ambassador Fellows were selected based upon their record of leadership, impact on student achievement and potential for contribution to the field
- Over 1,100 applications were received by the U.S. Department of Education from K-12 public school teachers across the country
- Over 20 Department of Education employees participated in the selection process

- Teacher Leadership – *from classroom to country*

_**Teaching Ambassador Fellowship Program Details**_

**Notes:**
1.100 applications were received from Feb 8 – April 7 

Personal experience with the application process –
  This would be the best way to talk about the details of the application 

## Teaching Ambassador Fellows

- 25 Teaching Ambassadors Fellows were selected:
- 20 Classroom Teacher Ambassador Fellows
- 5 Washington Teacher Ambassador Fellows
- A distinguished group of teachers from Elementary to High School and across all subject areas, representing:
- 22 states
- Rural, suburban and urban schools
- Over 300 years of combined teaching experience

- Teacher Leadership – *from classroom to country*

_**Teaching Ambassador Fellowship Program Details**_

**Notes:**
Broad representation (but of course Texas has 2 teachers....)
Equal distribution of rural, suburban and urban
Represented grade levels
8 high school teachers 
10 middle school teachers 
7 elementary school teachers

Varied content areas:
3 general elementary
6 math
5 reading and language arts
5 science
3 social studies
1 art instruction
1 critical language instruction
1 physical education 

List of awards: see matrix

## Program Goals

**Recognize** and retain motivated and innovative public school teachers and provide them the opportunity to expand their leadership roles outside of the classroom
**Improve** education programs and policies by strengthening the connection to practical knowledge about classroom realities
**Highlight** teacher voices within the education community and the country at large
**Encourage** principals to work with teacher Fellows to foster continued collaboration at the school level

- Teacher Leadership – *from classroom to country*

_**Teaching Ambassador Fellowship Program Details**_

## Summer Summit

- July 14 – July 17, 2008
- All Fellows attended a four-day orientation in Washington, DC at the Department of Education
- Fellows had roundtable discussions with Secretary Spellings and
- 	First Lady Laura Bush
- Department of Education program offices presented and participated in discussions with the Fellows
- Each Fellow shared a personal presentation introducing themselves, their schools, and their communities
- Principals were invited to attend and participate in the final day of the Summit
- At the conclusion of the Summit, Washington Fellows began full-time Fellowship work and Classroom Fellows returned home to their schools to begin part-time Fellowship work

- Teacher Leadership – *from classroom to country*

_**Teaching Ambassador Fellowship Program Details**_

## Duties for Classroom Fellows

- Serve regular teaching contracts and perform additional Fellowship duties for the Department of Education
- Provide feedback on the teacher perspective directly to the Department of Education
- Participate in activities designed to increase their knowledge and understanding of federal education policy in relevant activities within the education community in their state and/or region

- Teacher Leadership – *from classroom to country*

_**Teaching Ambassador Fellowship Program Details**_

**Notes:**

This goes under 2nd bullet:
communicating with government liaisons and other Department of Education employees
collaborating with other Fellows
completing written assignments
working on a class project

Classroom Fellows can insert a slide following this one to discuss their work.

## Duties for Washington Fellows 

- Serve as full-time employees of the Department of Education in Washington, DC  (July 08 – June 09)
- Use previous classroom experience to contribute knowledge and insight to Department projects
- Participate in activities designed to increase their knowledge and understanding of federal education policy and program management.

- Teacher Leadership – *from classroom to country*

_**Teaching Ambassador Fellowship Program Details**_

**Notes:**
WTAF’s can insert slide following this to discuss their work:

working in one or more Program Offices
contributing expertise on project, program, and policy matters
collaborating with ED employees and other Fellows
Facilitating class projects

## The class of 2008 – 2009 

**The class of 2008 – 2009 **
**Teaching Ambassador Fellows at the White House**

- Teacher Leadership – *from classroom to country*

## For more information

- Teaching Ambassador Fellowship Home Page on ED
- _[www.ed.gov/programs/teacherfellowship/index.html](http://www.ed.gov/programs/teacherfellowship/index.html)_
- Teacher Video Highlights
- _[www.ed.gov/news/av/video/2008/teacherfellowship.html](http://www.ed.gov/news/av/video/2008/teacherfellowship.html)_
- Email us at:    TeacherFellowship@ed.gov
**Additional Questions about the Department**:
- Gillian Cohen-Boyer
- _[Gillian.cohen-boyer@ed.gov](mailto:Gillian.cohen-boyer@ed.gov)_; 202-401-1259

- Teacher Leadership – *from classroom to country*

**Notes:**
Check your internet access and hyperlinks!