Reaching out into the rural English teaching and learning environment led to compiling these chapters that exemplify the possibilities and achievements of teachers worldwide. Often with overly large classes, isolation, and few resources, English instruction leads to extrinsic success for their students with future educational, professional, and economic outcomes. In other instances, the fruits of teachers’ labor become intrinsic motivators for learners who value learning and critical thinking. English in the international curriculum has perceived value for developing human and social capital, as indicated in these authors’ personal and professional journeys. This volume was originally begun by Paul Chamness Iida, who sadly passed away in June 2021. The editors have done their best to complete this project as he envisioned and share this work in his honor. Contributors are: Mary Frances Agnello, Md. Al Amin, Naoko Araki, Monica A. Baker, Xingtan Cao, Mary Coady, Florent Domenach, Lee E. Friederich, Arely Romero García, Maribel Villegas Greene, Janinka Greenwood, Dongni Guo, Paul Chamness Iida (deceased), Irham Irham, Munchuree Kaosayapandhu, Wuri P. Kusumastuti, Di Liang, Carla Meskill, Erin Mikulec, Piotr Romanowski, Leticia Araceli Salas Serrano, Fang Wang, Emilia Wąsikiewicz-Firlej, Jing Yixuan, Jing Zhiyuan and Dai Chang Zhi.

Showcasing the voices, perspectives, and experiences of rural English teachers and students, Teaching English in Rural Communities promotes equity, diversity, and inclusivity within rural education. Specifically, this book develops a Critical Rural English Pedagogy (CREP), which draws attention to issues of power, representation, and justice related to rurality. Based on the assumption that “rurality” is a social construct, CREP critiques deficit-laden stereotypes and renderings of rural places and people that circulate in media, popular discourse, and even education at times. In doing so, CREP opens up possibilities for educators and students to use the English classroom as a space to better understand the complex issues they face as rural people and ways to promote more nuanced and comprehensive representations of rurality. In particular, this book highlights English rural classrooms whereby students examine representations of rurality in literary and media texts; decenter dominant settler-colonist narratives of rural spaces, places, and people; develop understandings of Indigenous perspectives and cultural practices, particularly related to land stewardship; and engage in local outreach to promote inclusivity within rural communities. This book also gives special attention to ways race and racism may factor into literacy education in rural contexts and possibilities for rural educators to attend to these issues.

This teacher education textbook invites preservice and beginning teachers to think critically about the impact of rurality on their work and provides an overview of what it means to live, teach, learn, and thrive in rural communities. This book underscores the importance of teaching in rural schools as an act of social justice—work that dismantles spatial barriers to economic, social, and political justice. Teaching in Rural Places begins with a foundational section that addresses the importance of thinking about rural education in the U.S. as an educational environment with particular challenges and opportunities. The subsequent chapters address rural teaching within concentric circles of focus—from communities to schools to classrooms. Chapters provide concrete strategies for understanding rural communities, valuing rural ways of being, and teaching in diverse rural schools by addressing topics such as working with families, building professional networks, addressing trauma, teaching in multi-grade classrooms, and planning place-conscious instruction. The first of its kind, this comprehensive textbook for rural teacher education is targeted toward preservice and beginning teachers in traditional and alternative teacher education programs as well as new rural teachers participating in induction and mentoring programs. Teaching in Rural Places will help ensure that rural students have the well-prepared teachers they deserve.

This text covers all the aspiring or busy teacher needs to know about the basic methods of primary teaching and provides more besides. There are sectioins on basic principles, organization, planning, working with children, teaching strategies, methods, resources, assessment and working with others. Individual topics range from being gender aware, to lesson planning, giving explanations, managing large classes, using the school compound and keeping records. All contain pratical suggestions. Student teachers in training and newly qualified or unqualified teachers should find them helpful. Experienced primary teachers should also find the book a resource to improve their professional practice, either working on their own, or in groups for in-service training.

This book examines the educational gaps that multilingual students in rural communities experience. It argues that responsive, successful relationships between schools and multilingual families are a crucial aspect of all educators’ work and that no single strategy will work for all families. Rural multilingual family engagement involves building meaningful partnerships and relational trust, based on significant knowledge of families' cultures and language repertoires. Educators can reframe their work by learning from families and building on the strengths of multilingual families, which are too-often overlooked in school policies and educator practices. This is the first book to focus specifically on rural school settings. However, the conceptual framework of equity and linguistically responsive pedagogy are applicable across settings for educators who wish to support their multilingual students and families.

The literature on rural America, to the extent that it exists, has largely been written by urban-based scholars perpetuating out-of-date notions and stereotypes or by those who see little difference between rural and agricultural concerns. As a result, the real rural America remains much misunderstood, neglected, or ignored by scholars and policymakers alike. In response, Emery Castle offers The Changing American Countryside, a volume that will forever change how we look at this important subject. Castle brings together the writings of eminent scholars from several disciplines and varying backgrounds to take a fresh and comprehensive look at the "forgotten hinterlands." These authors examine the role of non-metropolitan people and places in the economic life of our nation and cover such diverse issues as poverty, industry, the environment, education, family, social problems, ethnicity, race, religion, gender, government, public policy, and regional diversity The authors are especially effective in demonstrating why rural America is so much more than just agriculture. It is in fact highly diverse, complex, and interdependent with urban America and the international market place. Most major rural problems, they contend, simply cannot be effectively addressed in isolation from their urban and international connections. To do so is misguided and even hazardous, when one-fourth of our population and ninety-seven per cent of our land area is rural. Together these writings not only provide a new and more realistic view of rural life and public policy, but also suggest how the field of rural studies can greatly enrich our understanding of national life.