Not long ago, Coleman attended a panel discussion on school safety, an event that featured remarks from Alabama Gov. Bob Riley. At one point, someone asked Riley if he had actually talked with teachers and students about safety and discipline. No, the governor replied, but he sure would like to follow up with them.

That was all Coleman had to hear.

“I went up to [a Riley] aide right after the meeting and got his card,” Coleman says. “I told him I’d love to take some students in and talk” with the governor. “I think he needs to see some students—and he needs to see some teachers, too!”

A few days later, the topic came up at a meeting between leaders of the Jefferson County Federation of Teachers and Coleman. Would she be interested in joining the union’s new Activists for Congressional Education (ACE) committee? This group, Coleman learned, would meet regularly with U.S. senators and representatives in their home district offices. Hundreds of AFT affiliates were setting up ACE committees, making sure that Congress gets the real story about how important issues are playing out in the community.

That, too, was all Coleman needed to hear.

Today, you can hear the excitement in her voice as she talks about the topics she plans to address in upcoming meetings with Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), and U.S. Reps. Artur Davis (D-Ala.) and Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.). “I’d love to discuss funding for career technical education, and NCLB … how narrowing the curriculum means ignoring huge groups.”

Coleman says she’s enthusiastic about the program and applauds its emphasis on meeting with representatives from both sides of the aisle. There are many pragmatists in both parties, she believes, and they want to know how legislation is really working in their communities. “There are a lot of details in No Child Left Behind that are so difficult to work out in practice, although in theory they sound fine.”

Joining Coleman on her local’s ACE committee is Janice Grady, a teacher at Chalkville Elementary in Birmingham. She knows firsthand the power of offering just the right story to elected officials—the telling anecdote that illustrates a problem from the frontlines. Grady was among a group of teachers who met with Sessions last year before reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Their reports from the field made a big impression on Capitol Hill and helped win stronger provisions on student codes of conduct in the new law.

“A lot of things look different on paper than what really happens in the classroom, and [Congress] needs to know that,” explains Grady.

Coleman knows there are hundreds of other AFT members around the country who are “on the fence” right now: They like the ACE idea but wonder where they’d find the time. Or if a meeting with a big-name politician would be intimidating. Or if they know enough about the issues. Coleman stresses, however, that there are points on big issues in government that can only be made by the people doing the work. “If we are silent, how will they ever hear?”