Seven Rural High Achieving Students’ Educational Experiences: A Narrative Inquiry
Location
Preston 1
Session Format
Presentation
Abstract
This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study of the narrative identities of seven high-achieving rural secondary school students. The narrative inquiry approach was used to focus on the participants' educational life stories and themes. The narratives were co-constructed after using Seidman’s three-phase in-depth interview approach with participants. Timelines of each story were created and reviewed with participants, allowing them to elaborate on or correct researcher misunderstandings. The narratives display fully formed stable and choice narrative identities with high levels of meaning-making and redemptive narrative themes. A cross-case thematic analysis supports the theory that rural students with floater identities can translate their broad understanding of the world beyond their rurally isolated home into academic achievement. Participants displayed various levels of detachment from local culture, experiences with a rural gifted program, participation in creative activities, and mental health struggles. Participants developed imagined future life plans and worked to overcome financial and logistic barriers to opportunity pathways. This study offers a way to understand the educational experiences of marginalized rural adolescents.
Keywords
rural education, rural-gifted, critical rural theory, narrative identity
Professional Bio
Damaris Holt is a recent graduate of the Valdosta State Curriculum and Instruction Doctoral Program. She has been a teacher at Banks High School for 16 years and currently chairs the English department. In conjunction with the Schmertzings, who have been professors at VSU for over 20 years, their combined passion for creating equitable education for all was foundational to this research.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Holt, Damaris; Schmertzing, Lorraine C.; and Schmertzing, Richard, "Seven Rural High Achieving Students’ Educational Experiences: A Narrative Inquiry" (2024). Georgia Educational Research Association Conference. 38.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gera/2024/2024/38
Seven Rural High Achieving Students’ Educational Experiences: A Narrative Inquiry
Preston 1
This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study of the narrative identities of seven high-achieving rural secondary school students. The narrative inquiry approach was used to focus on the participants' educational life stories and themes. The narratives were co-constructed after using Seidman’s three-phase in-depth interview approach with participants. Timelines of each story were created and reviewed with participants, allowing them to elaborate on or correct researcher misunderstandings. The narratives display fully formed stable and choice narrative identities with high levels of meaning-making and redemptive narrative themes. A cross-case thematic analysis supports the theory that rural students with floater identities can translate their broad understanding of the world beyond their rurally isolated home into academic achievement. Participants displayed various levels of detachment from local culture, experiences with a rural gifted program, participation in creative activities, and mental health struggles. Participants developed imagined future life plans and worked to overcome financial and logistic barriers to opportunity pathways. This study offers a way to understand the educational experiences of marginalized rural adolescents.
