Florence grades her students’ exercise books on the lawn outside of Keyo SS

Ayella Florence Oroma is the kind of teacher students remember their entire lives. Teaching for over 20 years, she is seeing a shift in teaching from being teacher-focused to being student-focused. As an English and literature teacher, she prefers to make her classes as interactive as possible, helping students learn how to express themselves better. Her focus is on the learners in her classroom, on getting to know them and understand their background.

“It requires a lot of patience,” she adds.

In the classroom, Florence knows how to keep her students’ attention. She starts the lesson with ‘warm-ups’, brainteasers to get the kids interested. As she begins the lesson, the classroom interactions remain lively. Florence uses humor and funny, relatable examples to introduce the new reading material. It’s easy to see she is a favorite with her students.

Florence has participated in the Teacher Exchange in Uganda in the past, team-teaching alongside a North American educator. “You discover a lot from your partner,” Florence observes. “Identify your strengths and your weaknesses, then later build on your strengths and leave the weaknesses behind.”

She sees her role in the Reciprocal Teacher Exchange as that of an ambassador. She looks forward to sharing what she has been teaching to students at Keyo Secondary School as part of the Knowledge of Behavior and Self (KOBS) curriculum implemented by Schools for Schools. In addition, she is the matron for girl-child education at her school, and she has been training students in skills that they can use as a fallback if they are ever unable to continue their studies. One of these projects is bead-making, which she would like to teach to students during her time in North America.

Florence teaches her students a silly hand clap during the morning warm-up

Invisible Children’s Reciprocal Teacher Exchange, now in its fourth year, provides Ugandan teachers with the opportunity to spend four weeks in the United States partner teaching in a North American classroom.

The Reciprocal Teacher Exchange has proven to make a remarkably formative impact on all of the Ugandan and North American students, teachers, principals and head teachers who take part in the program.

Join us in raising support for Ugandan teachers and Head Teachers to embark on a dynamic personal and professional journey to collaborate with teachers from the U.S.

[The Teacher Exchange is a program that allows Ugandan and international educators to form teaching partnerships while exposing their students to a world outside their borders. International educators team-teach in northern Uganda each summer for six weeks, and, in a reciprocal exchange, Ugandan educators visit the schools of the international educators each winter. Learn more here.]