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THE TEACHER EXCHANGE PROGRAM
Summer 2009: Applications due November 15, 2008
Download application
The Teacher Exchange - an initiative under the Schools for Schools umbrella - allows international educators to volunteer in northern Ugandan through a six-week summer program. Created to enhance present educational models, and to establish long-term learning opportunities for both western and Ugandan teachers, educators engage in team teaching, information sharing, and skill building conferences - all with the purpose of generating collaboration among teachers from around the world.
Invisible Children developed the Teacher Exchange to support our Schools for Schools partners as they work to bring their classrooms in northern Uganda to a competitive standard, from the inside out. Teachers in northern Uganda have limited opportunities for personal and professional development. Classrooms in the north are typically characterized by huge student numbers and often complicated by a lack of space, a lack of furniture, a lack of textbooks and resources. As the Schools for Schools Program works to address problems with space and supplies, the Teacher Exchange provides a dynamic opportunity to boost the morale and build the capacity of both the international and Ugandan participants.
Invisible Children seeks dedicated educators whose skill-sets include work in the core subjects of Mathematics, Life Sciences, Earth Sciences, Geography, Social Studies, and English Language Arts. Applicants should have (or be in the process of obtaining) a teaching credential and/or a Master's degree. We are specifically interested in teachers with expertise and experience working alongside youth ages 12 and up (the secondary system in Uganda begins at the US equivalent of 7th grade).
For further questions, email Amy at acordileone@invisiblechildren.com. For information about previous trips and details about the upcoming summer trip, see below.
SEE THE IMPACT - WORDS FROM TEACHERS IN THE PROGRAM
“My greatest inspiration has been learning to do things differently through team teaching. My students’ confidence in me has risen and I now see myself as a global teacher.”
— Okidi George, Awere Secondary School
“During the program, opportunities for cultural exchange gave me exposure to look at the world from a wider dimension and a sense of acceptance. I was also able to share my experiences in the war with someone who was always there to listen and this gave me great relief. I felt honored to be chosen to participate.”
— Abwot Helen, Gulu High School
"I definitely believe that I learned more from my Ugandan students and my co-teacher Irene than I think they will ever learn from me. I joined their community as the outsider and they welcomed me with open arms. I was constantly learning new facts about the students, their culture and different teaching strategies on a daily basis. It is not an easy task to teach one hundred and twenty two 12-year old girls, but Ugandan teachers make it possible and that is something I truly admire. They astounded me how they creatively stretched their resources and managed to do accelerated work, despite their lack of resources. The students, teachers and the school as a whole is an inspiration!"
--Margot Fitzsimmons, American Teacher
TEACHERS' CURRICULUM
We have developed a free, downloadable curriculum available for anyone wanting to further illuminate the “dark continent” of Africa. The curriculum includes three weeks worth of lessons that can be used independently, or as three one-week units. We believe our curriculum, when coupled with the film, will aid teachers’ efforts in creating a generation of life-long, globally aware learners.
REFLECTING BACK: 2007 AND 2008
In 2007 the Teacher Exchange began by bringing 16 international teachers to pair with 18 Ugandan educators in three of the Schools for Schools partner institutions. In 2008, the numbers grew to include 27 international teachers and 32 Ugandan educators at 9 of the existing Schools for Schools partner institutions. Over the course of the last two years the Teacher Exchange has been focused on developing programming in the following three areas.
• Methods Exchange - Teachers from across the globe build community through their professional discussions and classroom experiences. Team-teaching in Ugandan secondary classrooms, international and Ugandan educators work together to plan lessons, explore curriculum, examine multiple teaching techniques, and build friendships.
• Annual Teaching and Learning Conference - For two years Invisible Children, in collaboration with New York University, has hosted an education conference at which all Teacher Exchange participants, in conjunction with educators, administrators, education officials, and school stakeholders across northern Uganda, gather to participate in workshops, panels, and think tanks. In 2007, the initial 2–day conference, "From Real to Ideal: Transforming what is into what might be", was centered on issues of access and implementation. In 2008, the 2-day conference, "Participatory Teaching Strategies: Generating knowledge through culture and collaboration", examined the possibilities and problems inherent in the use of teaching methods geared toward active learning. Each of the conferences included workshops and presentations from Ugandan educators and officials, international teachers and teaching artists, and team-teaching pairs from the Teacher Exchange, who shared their research, methods, and experiences.
• Cultural and Cross-Cultural Exchange - The Teacher Exchange aims to support a teaching and learning community on local and global levels. In facilitating collaborations between individual teachers on institutional, regional, and international fronts, the program provides educators the opportunity to teach, plan, de-center, imagine, and learn with like-minded professionals.
LOOKING FORWARD: SUMMER OF 2009
Moving into its third year, the Teacher Exchange is looking forward toward expansion based on the following four ideas.
• Team-Teaching in all Schools - Schools for Schools will add an eleventh partner (Keyo SS) to the program in September of 2008. The Teacher Exchange hopes to have 3-5 international teachers paired with Ugandan instructors at each of the 11 institutions. The Teacher Exchange has been scaffolded to bring 2 groups of international teachers to Uganda in waves of time, usually 2 - 3 weeks apart. With the addition of nearly 20 teachers in 2009, the program will add a third wave of participants.
• Reciprocity - The Teacher Exchange will seek outside funding to provide Ugandan educators the opportunity to travel to classrooms in the US in an effort to facilitate another unique team-teaching experience and complete a cross-cultural exchange.
• Expanding the Timeline - So as to provide teaching pairs more time to develop, implement, modify, and rethink strategies, the Teacher Exchange will expand its timeline in the summer of 2009. Teachers will be afforded one week of observation and planning with four weeks of instruction. The dates are listed below (travel days are excluded)…
o Wave 1: June 1 – July 13
o Wave 2: June 15 – July 27
o Wave 3: June 29 – August 10
• Research- Teams will be comprised of the Ugandan/International teaching pairs placed at each of Schools for Schools partner institutions. Alls team will be responsible for both carrying out a designated research agenda and projecting possible programming within the limitations of the Teacher Exchange for the coming year(s).
EXCHANGE DETAILS
The initiative will take place over a period of six weeks.
Week 1: Initial travel into Africa will begin this week. Teachers arrive at the airport in Entebbe, Uganda, one hour from the capital city of Kampala. Because the north and south exist in such dichotomous educational conditions, an important part of the assessment process will begin in Kampala. International educators will tour a secondary campus in Kampala before heading up to Gulu. The initiative will not be framed as a comparative experience; however, scaffolding the trip in this way will provide the necessary underpinnings for a primary understanding of education standards within the country, and how those are manifest in both regions. Once in Gulu, educators will be immersed in exploration of the city and in workshops, led by the staff of Invisible Children.
Orientation workshops will include, but are not limited to:
1. Cultural Exploration
2. Language Training
3. Historical Foundations of the Ugandan School model
4. Education in and around conflict
Week 2: The end of week one, and the beginning of second week of the initiative will involve a continuation of the workshop series and the initial introduction of school placements. Teachers will create residency groups: each residency group will be placed at a school for the duration of the trip. Groups will be comprised of one or more teachers for each of the following disciplines: English, Science, Mathematics, and Social Studies. Each teacher will be paired with a Ugandan instructor at the school that teaches within the same field of exploration. The in-school experiences during this week will be focused on observation, relationship building (with teaching partners and students), and dialogue with the school community. All participating educators will have an opportunity to roundtable with one another at the end of this week, affording each school’s teachers the opportunity to ask questions of one another, cast vision for the remaining weeks, dialogue about specific needs/desires, write an initial self-assessment, and create a method of evaluation and documentation that will benefit all parties once the initiative has concluded.
Weeks 3-6: The third week marks the continuation of the team-teaching that will be manifest for the rest of the trip. Within this, teachers will work with one another and the student body on the given curriculum, exploring student-centered methodologies, while focusing on the material needed for the exams in August and November. Throughout the experience, educators will engage in support groups with one another.
This collaboration enables teachers and administrators at different schools to brainstorm, develop strategies, relate work to the texts, create lessons together, and crystallize concepts, working toward holistic learning for both students and teachers. All participants will also attend Invisible Children’s second International Teaching and Learning Conference in Gulu, Uganda.
