The stories of your home matter.
We engage teachers and their communities with a deep sense of connection to the places where they live. By exploring the rich history of where we live, we help foster a profound understanding of the past and its ties to the present. Together, we uncover the history that shapes your community and inspires a shared sense of pride and belonging.
The Rural Experience in America
Though a Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources project, NCHE provided teachers in rural school districts a series of free, professional development opportunities. Support was provided throughout all three parts of this project with built-in additional collaboration opportunities with other teachers and the NCHE staff.
Valencia Abbott
History Teacher
As my students and I continue to uncover the undertold story of our past, we become closer to understanding who we are today.
One of the first things shared in the NCHE’s Rural Experience in America was that rural areas differ in time, geography, and perspective. This was the first time I found teacher’s professional development curated around rural. Being a Black Southern female teacher who has lived and taught in rural spaces for over 20 years, I have come to know that my students and my professional pedagogical practice require a different understanding. As my 3 years with this project have shown me, it connected me with the profound legacy of resilience, culture, and community in my rural spaces, shaping my understanding of who we are as a community. As my students and I continue to uncover the undertold story of our past, we become closer to understanding who we are today. It’s a powerful reminder of the untold stories of Black laborers, builders, and visionaries (such as those who camped about along the Dan River during the American Revolution). The uncovering shows us the dignity and determination of those in the place we call home, which makes a difference in how we look at our home. This experience has enriched my understanding of our collective history and inspires me to teach with a deeper sense of purpose and pride.
Celebrating Rural Maine: Community Civics and Place-Based Inquiry
This project is tailored to support Maine’s educational mandates and initiatives, with funding available for community civics and place-based inquiry projects.
Teacher Comments about Year 3 Rural Project
Read about teachers transforming rural education—building lasting connections, deepening student engagement, expanding community partnerships, and inspiring new opportunities through the NCHE Rural Experience in America project.
…thanks for 3 incredible years as part of the NCHE Rural Experience in America project. I’ve grown so much as an educator during this time, and I’ll be carrying this experience with me always. I still remember those early conversations—me trying to put words to the isolation I felt working in a rural district, and how deeply I wanted to connect with other passionate history educators. Those feelings honestly feel like a distant memory now. I’m overwhelmed (in the best way) with so many meaningful relationships, and I’m strengthened daily by the deep sense of purpose I’ve gained through this work…
I am so grateful for this experience as an educator, but most of all, I am grateful for the teachers and students. Words cannot express the impact this project has had on this school and community. Many, many thanks.
…This has been one of the most meaningful and rewarding parts of my career! I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with so many amazing people, traveled to new places, and gained experience and knowledge to share with my students and colleagues.
…This journey didn’t just shape me as an educator—it deeply inspired me. It transformed my classroom into a place of exploration, where both my students and I uncovered stories and perspectives we never imagined possible. The opportunities this project created opened doors for my students to see themselves in history, in place, and in purpose—something truly powerful. Over the past three years, this mission—to bring rural voices and places out of the shadows and into the light of meaningful, rigorous learning—has been more than fulfilled. It’s been a movement. And to have played even a small part in it has been one of the greatest honors of my teaching career.
…It’s been so great to be the outsider on this and watch where the real work happens – with the teachers – and also see all the support our educators have from organizations like NCHE and Library of Congress. It also helped our museum develop a great relationship with both Jean and her entire school. This project has so many great consequences with more projects coming with our partner school and our upcoming involvement with the Smithsonian Rural Education initiative. It spurred me to spur our staff to work harder at our rural outreach and programming. And it’s working! We are out in our most remote places telling stories, gathering stories, and just showing up to provide experiences for the communities. We also wrote a grant to a local foundation specifically for rural outreach and it got funded by double the ask. And we’re only getting started.
Thank you for your kind words and for the opportunity to be part of The Rural Experience in America project. These past three years have been an incredibly meaningful chapter in my professional journey, and I’m deeply grateful for the chance to collaborate, learn, and grow alongside such passionate educators.
Across our rural programming, we’ve had:
Revolutionary Educators: Student History Historians
Collaborate with the W&M School of Education (W&M SOE), the National Council for History Education (NCHE), a master teacher, and museum educators to create a set of professional development opportunities with a focus on the history of the American Revolution in Virginia. Modeled after NCHE’s The Rural Experience in America Community Civics through Historical Inquiry program, teachers would engage in a phased professional learning program, culminating for some in a student-created public history project.
Other Opportunities for Rural Educators
Explore NCHE’s vetted list of further opportunities for rural history educators.
