Situating Teacher Talk: The Intersection of Rurality, Poverty, and Educational Discourse

• In Event: Roundtable Session 53
  In Roundtable Session: Situating Teachers: The Impact of Diverse and Changing Teaching Contexts on Teacher Practice

Abstract

Our research explores the ways in which teacher talk situates dominant discourses of rurality, poverty, and education in their particular local context. This paper teases apart the discursive threads within teacher study groups, revealing tension in the construction of rural, high poverty communities as deficient and exploring the complexities of the intersections of these discourses for teachers working in such settings. This analysis is premised on the dialogic relationship between reading the word and reading the world (Freire, 1993). Accordingly, this study explores public scholarship as the dialogue produced between and among the researcher and participants.

Authors

• Alexandra Panos, Indiana University - Bloomington

• Jennifer Seelig, University of Wisconsin - Madison