Finding Success in Small
Communities
Clayton
Parobec
Principal of Three
Lakes School
Three Lakes School Community
Council Chair 2012-16
2.5% of the student population
Looking at our world from the
outside in.
With the right credentials...
• farmed actively for sixteen
years.
• my mailing address,
Gwynne AB, population 100
• SW21 T46 R22 W4 was
home.
• Making the transition to
Middle Lake would be easy!
Expectations
and Reality
First Clues That This
Wouldn’t Be Easy
I knew the roads
were bad but....
Nuts, Bolts, Logistics
My Way in a New Environment
•
•
•
•
•
Humboldt was NOT Camrose
New stores or no stores.
A doctor’s appointment please.
Small town housing market.
SGI and insurance would be cheaper
right?
Nobody can tell me the rules
but I know they have them.
Three Weeks With No Garage Door
Peeling Back the Layers and Finding
That It’s Rotten Underneath
Confusion
Fear
“HOW DO YOU LIKE IT
HERE?”
What was happening to
me?
Cross Cultural Encounters
• When we leave our group and current
environment we discover two basic things.
–The rules or methods that we follow to
get desired results as we engage the
world no longer work.
(Method)
–The results that we desire are not desired
by the people around us.
(Ideals)
Pure
Rural
Type
Open
Country
Pure
Urban
Type
Small
Town
Agricultural
Village
Rural Urban
Fringe
Community
Small
City
Metropolitan
City
More
population
immigration/migration
prosperity
education
Less
The Cultural Scale
LOW CONTEXT CULTURE
• The group tends to
have a fluid
membership.
• Majors on explicit
instructions.
• Expect to find
instructions, manuals,
and other written
material that outline
tasks and behaviours.
HIGH CONTEXT CULTURE
• Marked by extremely
stable group
membership
• Meaning is supplied by
context.
• Information is
transmitted orally and
held in memory.
• Direct communication
may be considered
rude.
The first months in a new
culture and new community
are critical for long term
success.
What did I need?
Culture Shock is Normal
• I needed to understand that my emotions and
experiences were normal.
• The community needs to understand that it is
normal for newcomers to find adapting to
their community a challenge.
Local Knowledge
GPS and
Google
don’t
have the
same
value
here!
Make sure
newcomers
have the
practical help
they need to
survive and
thrive in their
new
environment.
…
Explicit Information (or the
assumption that I was a little slower
than the average local)
• Take time to explain what should happen
every year and the details that are involved.
• Check for understanding and explain purpose.
• Let newcomers experience first, and
participate second.
• Explain the history and fill in the time
lines.
• Be patient and forgiving.
• What do we all know that they
don’t? – check your assumptions
LISTEN
LISTEN
LISTEN
LISTEN
In a place where things happen slowly
quick moves are a dangerous thing.
Some Help With the Community
Calendar
• Seeding and
harvest.
• swimming lessons
• plant shut downs
• major community
events.
A safe place to reflect.
• Someone that is going through the same
things.
• Get out of town.
• A friend to talk to.
• A hobby to enjoy.
Hospitality
Safe
Inclusive
The right answers to the
questions I was being asked.
“I love it here.”
The right answer to the question that
everyone’s asking.
How long are you going to be
here?
The better I like it, the longer I’ll stay.
Why do we ask these questions?
• We are looking for
affirmation.
• We are looking for hope.
• We are gauging are our
relationship risks and
investments.
What should we be asking?
• Ask questions that highlight the things that
you like about the community.
• Ask what they like about the community.
• Ask what they miss about their previous
community.
Surviving, thriving, and seeing
the opportunities that others
overlook.
Could this be a place with more
opportunities than you imagined?
A Lack of Opportunity
or a Lack of Competition?
• Rural school divisions are a teachers best
chance for their first job.
• If there is nobody else doing it, you have an
opportunity to be the expert.
• Minimum standards create professional
development opportunities.
• Potential for career advancement
Two ways of thinking of the fish bowl.
Everyone is looking at me.
I can see everyone.
A Two Way Street
• While I am watched I am watching.
• Knowing your audience is crucial in
teaching.
• Buzz words like differentiated instruction
might come out of Saskatoon, but they
really work in small settings.
In Little Places, Little Things Matter
• Establishing credibility and respect with parents
can be as simple as being at school early.
• The good you do, will be noticed.
• "If you can't do great things in your little rural
school, do the necessary small things in a great
way"
Opportunities to forge lasting
relationships with students
• K-12 means 13 years of influence and
interaction.
Class of 2027
Leading by Example
• Real live demonstrations are
the best way to explain
abstract concepts.
• The teacher in a small
community has a
tremendous opportunity to
shape the character and
future of their students
through the power of their
personal example.
Seeing the Classroom as an extension
of the Community.
Experience
Expertise
Exploration
The challenge that’s an
opportunity.
• It takes a long
time to change
anything.
• Changes last for a
long time.
“It is not necessary to be in a big
place to do big things.”
Billy Sunday
Middle Lake... a community that has
made it hard for us to leave.
Bibliography
Barley, Z. A. (2009). Preparing Teachers for Rural
Appointments: Lessons from the Mid-continent. The
Rural Educator, 30(3), 10-15.
Barley, Z. A., & Beesley, A. D. (2007, January). Rural
School Success: What Can We Learn. Mid-continent
Research for Education and Learning, 22(1), 1-16.
Charyk, J. C. (1986). Syrup Pails and Gopher Tails:
memories of the one room school. Saskatoon, SK:
Western Producer Prairie Books.
Elmer, D. (2002). Cross Cultural Connections: Stepping
Out and Fitting In Around the World. Downers Grove:
InterVarsity Press.
Goodpaster, K. P., Adedokun, O. A., & Weaver, G. C.
(2012, Spr-Sum). Teachers Perceptions of Rural
STEM Teaching: Implications for Rural Teacher
Retention. Rural Educator, 33(3), 9-22.
Klassen, R., & Koessler, J. (2002). No Little Places:
THe Untapped Potential of the Small Town
Church. Grand Rapids: Baker Books.
Player, D. (2015, March). The Supply and Demand
For Rural Teachers. Boise: Rural Opportunities
Consortium of Idaho.
Ralph, E. G. (2003). Promoting Teaching in Rural
Schools. Journal of Teaching and Learning, 2(2),
23-39.
Randall, W. L., Clews, R., & Furlong, D. (2015). The
Tales that Bind: A Narrative Model for Living and
Helping in Rural Communities. Toronto:
University of Toronto of Press.
Roza, M., & Heyward, G. (2015). Highly Productive
Rural Districts: What is the Secret Sauce. Boise:
Rural Opportunities Consortium of Idaho.