I Am a Rural Teacher: Christian Pellatz – Douglas, WY

Christian studied education at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, where he was a founding member of the Wyoming Rural Teacher Corps, designed in partnership with the University of Wyoming and Teton Science Schools, which serves as the lead for Rural Schools Collaborative’s Northern Rockies Hub. The Wyoming Rural Teacher Corps offers pre-service teachers immersive experiences that connect teacher preparation directly to the communities they may one day serve. The work is co-led by Alison Mercier, Assistant Professor of Elementary Science Education and Leslie Cook, Head of Professional Learning at TSS and RSC Hub Lead. The program was established with support from a Rural Schools Collaborative Catalyst Grant, the George B. Storer Foundation and the University of Wyoming College of Education Dean’s Office.

At the center of the program is a commitment to place-based learning, an approach that connects classroom instruction to local culture, environment, and community life. Now, Christian credits his advisors and the university's placement coordinator with landing him a student placement back in one of the rural schools of his home county. There, at Moss Agate School, he trained under two teachers, Becky and Morgan, whose example, he says, lit a fire in him for what a rural school can offer its students.

Today, Christian teaches the upper classroom at White School, one of four small rural schools in his home district, working alongside his former mentors, his mother, and a small team of rural educators he sees only once a month. 

Christian is quick to point to the other teachers around him as models of rural leadership, especially his co-teacher Lindsay, who has taught at White for a decade, many of those years alongside her mother-in-law Shelly, a legendary local teacher whose retirement opened the door for Christian to join what he calls "this awesome educational family." He's proud to carry forward the traditions Shelly and Lindsay built: a Thanksgiving readers' theater and pie social for the community, pumpkin carving at a local ranch, end-of-year student presentations, and Halloween parties hosted by local families.

That sense of community runs through everything at White. The school's parking lot, Christian says, is a community all its own: a place where families linger a few minutes before or after school to chat, sell eggs, or trade news. The school sits amid ranchland, the Medicine Bow National Forest, and Laramie Peak, and many of its students come from families with roots that run generations deep.

One project stands out to Christian as capturing what rural, place-based learning can do. Last year, his co-teacher Lindsay and his former mentor Morgan led students through a unit built around the feared failure – and eventual controlled demolition – of a local dam. The lesson is now being adopted across all four rural schools in the district, giving students a chance to explore real science and engineering questions tied to their own community. Traveling specialists in music, art, and P.E. add to that collaborative spirit, teaching lessons that bring together students from kindergarten through eighth grade. "Our students look out for each other," Christian said, "and all learn and grow from the efforts of their classmates as much as from the staff."

Rural teaching comes with real challenges, and Christian doesn't shy away from naming them. Many classrooms in his district span three or four grade levels with just five to ten students in each, a setup that takes enormous creativity to cover every required standard. Planning time is scarce: teachers do not get a planning period every day, and only about 3 hours a week total to plan. One of his colleagues, Kayla, is the sole teacher in her building; his mother, Karla, teaches a span from third through eighth grade. Meeting with his fellow rural teachers just once a month makes it difficult to function as a true professional learning community, but Christian says those same teammates have become his lifeline, sharing resources and putting in extra time to support one another and each other's students.

For anyone considering rural teaching, Christian's advice is to go in ready to invest fully. Find a community, he says, and then embrace it: learn its roots, take the wisdom of the generations who came before, and bring your own new ideas and enthusiasm to the table. His advice is simple: find the place you're willing to dive into, lean on your team, your parents, and your community, and enjoy the work.

Thank you to Christian Pellatz for sharing his rural teacher story with Rural Schools Collaborative. Christian is a member of the Wyoming Rural Teacher Corps and part of RSC's Northern Rockies Hub. Would you like to nominate someone or share your story as a rural educator? Fill out our online submission form here.

I Am A Rural Teacher shares the stories, experiences, and aspirations of America’s rural teachers. By highlighting the narratives of veteran, new, and future teachers, I Am A Rural Teacher strives to support an education ecosystem where rural teacher-leaders are front and center. This project is supported by the Rural Teacher Corps: A Community of Learners.