Celebrating great teachers in rural places.

With rural populations diversifying in a variety of ways, it is critical now more than ever for teachers to be representatives and role models for the students they serve. Shawntasia Butler is a third-year educator in Morehead, Kentucky, who believes that her identities as a special education teacher and as a black woman are solidly intertwined. We talked with Shawntasia about how she helps students value the ways that diverse rural communities celebrate their differences while bonding over what makes them the same.