Teacher Identity in a Multicultural Rural School: Lessons Learned at Vista Charter

In this paper, we describe a 30-month qualitative exploration of diverse teachers' identities in a high-poverty, bilingual, K-8 public charter school in rural eastern Oregon. First, we use the perspectives of saberes docentes and a situated view of teacher development to document the life histories of monolingual and bilingual teachers at Vista Charter. Next, we identify five core beliefs shared by Vista teachers, and we attempt to trace the links between representative teachers' biographies, beliefs, and their views of themselves as teachers. We examine the role of the school context on teachers' practice and on their constructions of identity in a multicultural rural school. We conclude our paper with some implications for school leaders and teacher educators who support and prepare teachers for work in increasingly diverse rural schools. (Contains 2 tables and 3 footnotes.)