Research in Action: Public Scholarship and Rural Advocacy

This paper examines how the rural identity of teachers shapes their teaching practices. It found that rural out-migrant teachers' re-storying of their (non)rural identity influenced their beliefs surrounding the inclusion of rural stories in their reading instruction. They faced challenges in recognizing rural stories as worthy of teaching, in finding rural young adult literature, and in viewing rural cultures as worthy of sustaining. Further, this paper discusses how the researcher responded through public scholarship to create a website to support teachers in overcoming these challenges and ultimately wonders about current and future efforts to effect change for rural students and teachers through public scholarship.