| This narrative inquiry explores the lives of four teachers with the purpose of developing an understanding of a rural teaching experience. The focus is the interconnectedness between a teacher's personal life and his/her professional life. The stories of three of my colleagues, and my own story, provide a sense of how teachers find a balance between working and living in a rural setting.; The data comes from multiple sources which include interviews with the participants along with their personal journals and reflections sent to me by electronic mail, facsimile and through the post-office. My personal story as a teacher in rural southern Saskatchewan provides another source of data. The study explored several issues that arose from the data: isolation, teacher voice, balancing personal and professional life and adapting to rural culture.; Findings from this study provide a sense of the complexities in living and teaching in small rural communities in southern Saskatchewan. They provide reasons why teachers chose this particular setting and how, through experience, they have come to be both accepted and accepting of the culture that exists in rural southern Saskatchewan. The study concludes that the personal lives of rural teachers are important aspects of the professional role of rural teachers. |
