Teaching in Rural Areas

Jalisa Mathis

Learning Targets

After reviewing this lesson students should be able to:

Define key challenges that rural schools face.
Identify how traditional teaching materials can lack relevance for rural students.
Describe why it is important for teachers to understand and incorporate students' community and cultural backgrounds into their teaching.

Pictured: An AI image made with Google Gemini featuring a teacher teaching a class of diverse students in a rural area classroom.

What does it mean to teach in rural areas?

Teaching in rural areas involves educating students in geographically isolated areas with low populations. Teachers who work in rural areas often experience many challenges due to staffing shortages, inadequate salaries, lack of relevant resources, and a lack of funding. Rural schools frequently are dismissed and forgotten by school officials, leaving teachers to struggle on their own. It is important that as future educators we are aware of the challenges rural schools face, the lack of relevant materials they are given, and why it is important to teachers to incorporate students community and cultural backgrounds into their teaching.

How do traditional teaching materials lack relevance for rural students?

Traditional teaching materials often lack relevance for rural students because they do not reflect their daily lives and communities. Most teaching materials such as textbooks do not fit into a rural school model and often use examples that cater to urban settings that do not take advantage of the diversity in rural classrooms (Carrete-Marín et al., 2024). This causes a disconnect between the students and the material by not allowing them to connect lessons to their own lives and experiences. In order to support students and teachers in rural areas, we need to support creative and significant conversations to get the right resources to these areas (Mcardle, 2019).

Pictured: An AI image showcasing the disconnect between traditional curriculum and rural students.

Pictured: An AI image of a teacher using relevant materials to incorporate students community and cultural backgrounds into the lesson.

Why is it important for teachers to understand and incorporate students community and cultural backgrounds into their teaching?

It is important for teachers to incorporate and understand students' community and cultural backgrounds into their teaching because it makes learning more meaningful, relevant, and engaging. Rural areas often provide a huge sense of community that is very important when looking at student success (Mcardle, 2019). Recognizing and showcasing students cultural and community backgrounds helps them feel seen and valued, therefore engaging them in their education. Rural areas provide a strong sense of community that should be incorporated into classroom teachings (Shikalepo, 2020). An example of showcasing students cultures and backgrounds in the classroom would be to have students create "community voices" booklets that include parts of their backgrounds that they would like to share. Students would then be able to showcase and share this information with their classmates. Connecting community and cultural backgrounds can enhance both academic and personal growth.

Conclusion

There are a multitude of challenges that rural teachers face, but there are also incredible benefits to working at rural schools. Teaching in rural schools can be incredibly rewarding and offer a sense of community that urban and metropolitan areas may lack (Mcardle, 2019). It is important to understand the challenges that rural schools face in order to better understand and combat them. Overall, as someone who grew up in a rural area and went to a very small rural school, I believe there is an incredible importance to valuing and advocating for these areas that offer such a rich educational experience.

Review What You Have Learned

All of the following are challenges rural schools face EXCEPT:

a.) Higher pay

b.) Lack of Funding

c.) Lack of Resources

d.) Staffing Shortages

Ms. Mathis is starting a science unit on weather patterns in her rural area classroom. Her textbook features pictures of tidal flooding and hurricanes near major coastlines. To increase this lessons relevance to her rural students, the most effective action Ms. Mathis can take is:

a.) Require students to write a report on the weather history in major U.S. cities.

b.) Skip the weather unit completely because the textbook examples are irrelevant to their area.

c.) Tell students to just imagine they live on the coast to understand the textbook examples.

d.) Use a local news website and historical data to analyze common severe weather events specific to their region.

How I Used AI

The AI programs that I used to help me create my content are ChatGPT and Google Gemini. I used both of these tools to help me generate ideas for my content and how to lay out my information concisely. I also used both of these tools to help me brainstorm ideas for my learning targets. Google Gemini was the tool that I used the most, as I used it to generate the images I used on my page as well as help me brainstorm ideas for my multiple choice questions.

The process of using AI for this assignment made it a lot easier to generate ideas and get the process of my topic started. The use of AI tools like Google Gemini and ChatGPT to help me start the research process and continue to brainstorm content ideas helped me immensely with the creative and educational parts of my page. I typically do not use AI to specially help me with my writing ability, so I do not think it had an overall affect on the strength of my words. Although, I did use the tools to help me learn about my topic and summarize some of the longer references which made it easier to understand. Overall, I think the use of AI did benefit my performance on this lesson topic and enhanced my own ideas.

Generally, I enjoy using AI and see that it is a very useful tool for many aspects, especially in the education field. I think when used correctly AI can be an amazing tool that can be a great asset to educators when developing lessons and classroom content. AI can allow us as educators to find new ways to engage students in the curriculum that we may not have thought of on our own. For myself, I see AI as a tool rather than a cheat code. I think it is important to use these tools wisely and never become dependent on them, but to use them as an effective pathway to fostering better ideas and more creativity.

References

Carrete-Marín, N., Domingo-Peñafiel, L., & Simó-Gil, N. (2024). Teaching materials for rural schools: challenges and practical considerations from an international perspective. International Journal of Educational Research Open, 7, 100365.

Mcardle, E. (2019). The middle of somewhere: The unique strengths of rural communities and why more teachers should consider working in them. Harvard Ed Magazine

Oyen, K., & Schweinle, A. (2020). Addressing Teacher Shortages in Rural America: What Factors Encourage Teachers to Consider Teaching in Rural Settings?. Rural Educator, 41(3), 12-25.

Shikalepo, E. E. (2020). Challenges facing teaching at rural schools: A review of related literature. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, 4(5), 211-218.

Truscott, D. M., & Truscott, S. D. (2005). Differing circumstances, shared challenges: Finding common ground between urban and rural schools. Phi Delta Kappan, 87(2), 123-130.

Answer Key: 1. A, 2. D

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