Teacher Collaboratory

A teacher and three students inside a classroom lab

Education depends on context, and for that reason, what works well in one community might not impact other learners in the same positive way. Rural teachers know better than anyone what their students need to be successful, but sometimes, due to geographic and funding challenges, they may feel isolated in that they are the only person in their school or district who teaches their particular grade level or subject.

With this collaboratory site, we hope to provide a place for rural educators to share their favorite lessons with one another and to build a valuable resource they can draw from again and again. We intend to have a collection of lessons in various disciplines searchable by subject, approximate grade level, and topic (e.g., Science, Grades 3-4, erosion).

Concrete vs. Abstract Nouns

Featuring Poems from Washington State

Language Arts, Intermediate elementary (3-5)

FEW Nexus Case Study Project

Science, Middle school (6-8)

Sourcing Cultural Foods:

Where do the Ingredients for Traditional Appalachian Recipes Come From?

Science, Intermediate elementary (3-5)

Have a Lesson?

First, though, we need your help! If you have a lesson plan you’d like to share with other rural teachers, please let us know! To do so, please complete this form to give us a bit of information about you and your lesson. You can attach a PDF or Word version of your lesson right to the form. Someone from our team will read it over, contact you if any clarification is needed, and post it for other teachers to download.

Need a Lesson?

Perhaps you’re looking for ways to incorporate place into your writing lessons, or you need new ideas for teaching about historical figures in your social studies class. Please join our Facebook group to post a need, and hopefully other rural teachers will read it and share their ideas!

Email us at Rural@vt.edu with any questions.