Parton describes how the identities of seven educators have been shaped by their connections to their rural/rustic upbringings. She integrates theory behind place-based, place-conscious experiences and pedagogies as they relate to the development of personal and professional identities. Parton explains through the lens and artifacts of teacher participants the complicated nature of identity formation: the perceived necessity of leaving a location in order to change; the acceptance of and resistance to deficit-framed rural stereotypes; and ongoing feelings of belonging or lack of belonging. Through Parton’s use of the participants’ words and her analysis, the reader understands how complex this navigation of identity within rural, suburban, and urban contexts is, especially in a field that often focuses on identity specifically in an urban setting. Parton advocates for expanded and more effective teacher training programs and professional development for educators as they work to integrate their rural identities while enacting practices that are culturally responsive and sustaining for the communities in which they teach. Each chapter provides place-based takeaways for educators to use for themselves or with students. Recommended. Undergraduates through faculty; professionals.

Choice Reviews

This is a careful and powerful exploration of what it means to rural people to move and teach elsewhere. As a teacher-educator at a large urban university, I value this book for how it helps me understand and work with rural people who are my students. As a rural person who has moved and taught elsewhere, I value this book for how it helps me understand and retell my own story.

Timothy J. Lensmire, University of Minnesota, author of White Folks: Race and Identity in Rural America

Country Teachers in City Schools offers a set of provocative and diverse stories that examine how rurally-raised teachers manage their pedagogies, curriculum, identities, sensibilities, and sensitivities in the urban and suburban schools in which they work. These nuanced and often ambivalent accounts highlight how rural teachers interpret and respond to default deficit assumptions about their homeplaces as well as to the rural-urban spatial coding reflected in contemporary American politics. This book provides a narrative window into how teachers navigate rural urban politics in their work and in their lives.

Michael Corbett, Acadia University

By exploring the narratives of rural out-migrants and examining the influence of language, race, and stereotypes, Dr. Parton's research offers a needed and much more nuanced understanding of rural identities. Her book is a powerful testimony for developing place-conscious teachers and why visibility of diverse rural experiences is needed for sustainable rural futures.

Amy Price Azano, Director, Virginia Tech Center for Rural Education

Country Teachers in City Schools is such an important book. In addition to disrupting dominant (often deficit) renderings of rural people and places, Parton, through her detailed portraits of rural educators who have 'out-migrated' and teach in sub/urban schools, demonstrates just how significant ideas of place are to teachers’ identity development and pedagogical practices. This bookwill undoubtedly appeal to teachers, teacher educators, and those interested in theorizing the intersections between place and identity.

Robert Petrone