ABSTRACT
A teacher might feel like an insider if they are from the same community that they are teaching in—or, like Lori in the opening vignette, they might initially feel like an insider because they are from another rural community. An outsider, on the other hand, might feel new or that they do not yet belong to or fully understand the place, or have a community of peers in a place. In fact, some teachers can feel like outsiders even in the same schools and places where they grew up. Any community has its affordances and limitations that are obvious or less obvious, and any individual teacher will be comfortable or challenged by a variety of factors that are, to be honest, difficult to identify in advance. Rural places are often thought to be politically conservative and, sometimes, that is indeed true. However, even within the most conservative rural communities, many people respect people with differences.
