This document summarizes an autobiographical essay about the author's experiences growing up in rural West Virginia and how it has shaped their cultural identity and teaching philosophy. The author discusses their family history working in the auto industry in West Virginia. They also describe hosting foreign exchange students and learning about other cultures while sharing their Appalachian culture. The author expresses a desire to teach in rural or urban schools due to similarities in challenges faced. Their Appalachian values of community, family, and hard work inform their teaching identity and goal to combat stereotypes of the Appalachian region.

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Country Roads, Mountain Folk, and the Appalachian Traditions: Construction of a Teaching
Identity
Rob Schupbach
The College of William and Mary
EDUC F11-01, Dr. Gail McEachron

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Country Roads, Mountain Folk, and the Appalachian Traditions: Construction of a Teaching
Identity
In his book, The Thread That Runs So True, Jesse Stuart recounts his experiences as a
teacher in the rural mountains of Kentucky from teaching in a one-room rural school to being a
county school superintendent. While working at Landsburgh High School, a new teacher, Miss
Helen Kirsten, came to the school from New York City. A native New Yorker coming to rural
Appalachia town was a major culture shock for both Miss Kirsten and the entire school and
community. Mr. Stuart reveals how Miss Kirsten soon became an accepted and beloved member
of the community. Stuart concluded that, “having Helen Kirsten, with an entirely different
background, added to our school. It gave me this idea: That there should be an exchange of
teachers in schools of America. That teachers from different parts of America gave pupils a
broader outlook on life, gave them better background and preparation for the future” (1958).
Mr. Stuart’s book, written in 1949, is an excellent example of how Appalachian culture is
defined by the intersections of family, community, hard work, and an overall appreciation for
culture and traditions. Being born and bred in West Virginia, the only state entirely within the
Appalachian region has helped shape my identity in various ways. Appalachia is rich in its
beautiful landscape and natural resources, history, folklore, arts, music, language, and literature.
Yet, poverty, stereotypes, and bias continue to plague my dear homeland. The following stories
will highlight how my diverse experiences living in Appalachia have constructed my strong
sense of cultural identity and how that translates to constructing my teaching identity.
Family, Cars, and Culture at Schupbach’s Valley Motor Co., Inc.
I was born June 28, 1980 in Wheeling, WV to Ronald and Monette Nichols Schupbach.
We lived in New Martinsville, WV. According to the 2010 US Census, New Martinsville, WV

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has a total population of 5,984. I attended New Martinsville Elementary School and graduated
from Magnolia High School in 1998 with high honors. Affectionately referred to as “Robbie”, I
often describe my parents as the modern-day “Ma and Pa Kettle”. It is an amazing experience
when your parents become your friends. I am fortunate to have their solid work ethic, support of
my goals, and unconditional love. I have a brother who is seven years older than I am. Sadly, due
to a deep and ugly family feud, my parents and I are estranged from my brother and his family. I
have a niece and nephew that I have never met. Although the Appalachian culture is usually
defined by strong family ties, some disagreements just cannot be resolved.
My paternal grandfather, Amos Schupbach, Jr. or “Jun”, was a veteran of World War II
and a recipient of the GI Bill. He attended the GMI, the General Motors Institute, now Kettering
University, where he graduated at the top of his class. With his knowledge of mechanics and
business, he and my grandmother, Alma, started Schupbach’s Valley Motor Co., Inc. in 1951. A
hometown Pontiac and GMC Truck dealership that was described by “selling our service,”
Schupbach’s was committed to their customers and their needs. A proposal in the late 1990s
from General Motors radically changed our small family business. GM was proposing that we
diminish our service department and increase our sales department. This shift in corporate
culture did not align with our values. My father never wore a suit, rather he wore jeans and
flannel shirts that were usually covered in oil and grease from working on cars. My grandfather
and father were mechanics, not salesmen. We were not going to sell someone a car that they
couldn’t afford when the one they had was perfectly fine. We severed ties with GM in 1999
when we sold our Pontiac and GMC franchises.
Appalachian scholar Richard Straw writes that, “Mountain people in Appalachia have not
been strangers to change but that Appalachian people have sometimes struggled over the past

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three centuries to adapt to the best of the new while working very hard to keep their feet planted
firmly on the ground of tradition” (2004). My small family’s struggle with the corporate giant is
a prime example of how we base our values on an Appalachian culture of honesty and respect
and not on monetary motivations. Since my grandparents have passed away, my father and I are
now the sole corporate members of Schupbach’s Valley Motor, Co., Inc. Dad continues to work
as a master mechanic and retains his used car dealer’s license. Mom, while disabled by her
advanced coronary artery disease and Type I diabetes, fights to stay busy with her multiple civic
and political groups. We are together a strong family with Appalachia values and traditions. We
farm our own garden every summer, and can the fruits of our labor in Mason jars for the winter.
This tradition is just one of many examples of my strong Appalachian cultural identity.
Helping a Stranger in a Strange Land
In 1989, when I was in fourth grade, my family played host to a foreign exchange student
from Switzerland named Claude. The Schupbach family descended from the Germanic part of
Switzerland and arrived in America in the early 1800s. Although Claude was Swiss-French, we
still had a lot to learn about our ancestral homeland and culture. Along with Claude, three other
foreign exchange students completed their senior years at Magnolia High School. Brent was
from Australia, German from Chile, and Maya from Germany. Each of them brought their
national identities to everything they did. My family tried our best to learn about their cultures,
and to show them about our Appalachian and American cultures.
A common thread throughout our relationships was that we were all amateur radio
operators. Once during a trip to Dayton, OH for a “ham” festival, a life-long learning lesson
occurred. My father and brother, Claude, Brent, and myself were carrying heavy boxes filled
with books and radio parts back to the RV in which we were staying. German, however, was

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laughing and jumping with the amusement of a young child. When we returned and were settled,
my father gathered everyone around and asked German a question: “What did you bring back
with you today?” German responded, “Nothing.” My father then went on to explain to German
that while everyone took part in helping complete a job, he did nothing more than fool around.
Dad pointed out to German that he didn’t even ask any of us if help was required. German was
quite shocked, and he explained that his family was part of the upper-class in Chile and that
servants did all of the work. Dad continued to explain a simple, yet poignant Appalachian and
American value: “When we see someone that needs help, we help them.” Dad went on to
describe how sharing in the workload can get the work done faster, and how participation in the
community can be personally rewarding.
I have held this memory in my heart for years. I took my father’s teachings about helping,
sharing, and being a part of the solution instead of part of the problem very seriously.
Volunteering, work with civics groups, and even holding doors for people are a vital part of my
cultural identity. The day before I moved to Williamsburg, I was selling poppies for the
American Legion in order to raise money for the local veterans and current military men and
women. (We raised over four-hundred dollars!) Susan E. Keefe writes in Participatory
Development in Appalachia: Cultural Identity, Community, and Sustainability that the
“Appalachian people are hard working and resourceful, generous and neighborly, and honest and
trustworthy. They are rooted in the land; they respect their cultural traditions; and they cherish
the memory of family members who have passed on” (2009). At times I feel like I’m losing
those values, in this modern, technologically enhanced world. Still, at other points of my life I
feel like I am being consumed by constantly giving and helping. This continues to be a struggle
to achieve equilibrium. I find that Keefe is correct in her assertion that, “people have the capacity

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to envision and lead their own social change. This requires reframing the development process
with a new narrative in which Appalachian communities are cast as the plucky and hardworking
self-starters,” (2009). I am ready for this challenge, yet I am assured of my strengths and aware
of my weaknesses.
You’re from West Virginia…Does Everyone There Wear Shoes?
On my first day of class in Foundations of Education at the College of William and Mary,
the class conducted a meet and greet. Upon hearing that I was from West Virginia, someone
asked me if I had seen the film The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia. I replied no,
but that I had watched the PBS documentary Dancing Outlaw on the mountain dancer Jesco
White many years ago. Jesco and his family are natives of Boone County, WV. The Whites
struggle with domestic violence, drug abuse, alcoholism, troubles with the law, and an overall
generational cycle of poverty. Their actions are appalling; their language is vulgar. They are
clearly the most inappropriate example of Appalachian culture.
It is sad that I wasn’t asked about the beautiful mountains or about my feelings about the
controversial mountain-top mining proposed at Blair Mountain. I would have loved to answer a
question about whether or not the “Moth Man” was real or just folklore (he is real). Straw writes
that, “The region has been characterized by and labeled with inaccurate and negative stereotypes
about its history, culture, and people” (Straw, 2004). “Li’l Abner” cartoons, The Beverly
Hillbillies, and more recently the documentary about the White family have all played a part in
sullying the image of West Virginia and the Appalachian culture. Because of these
representations, I continually find myself justifying the actions of the few, explaining media
images, and defying stereotypes about Appalachian community. Is Williamsburg, VA or any

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other town or city in America immune from the problems facing the White family? No, but
somehow the Appalachian bias persists. “Appalachian communities must create a new narrative
to counteract the destructive narratives that others have imposed” (Keefe, 2009). I hope to be
able to combat the Appalachian stereotypes though my work as an educator.
Confident in Self-Identity—Composing a Teaching Identity
“Culture consists of the meanings shared by members of a society and the practices by
which shared meanings are produced. Cultural competency requires an understanding of a
group’s way of life as well as how group members might be mobilized in the struggle to interpret
the social meaning of their life” (Keefe, 2009). Understanding the meaning of culture, cultural
competency, and the fact that my Appalachian culture lays the foundation, I have been able to
see the intricate crossroads at which my self-identity collides.
Although I have loved living in urban areas (Orlando, FL; Columbus, OH; Washington,
DC) I am still drawn to the allure of the Appalachian mountainside. When I decided to become a
teacher, I resolved to teach in either rural schools or urban schools. Poverty, lack of resources,
and less than ideal living situations are just a few of the similarities between these two
geographical regions. In 2009, Brown, Copeland, Costello, Erkanli, and Worthman found that,
“if rural areas actually share many of the characteristics that ‘translate’ community context to
individual outcomes in urban areas, then one would expect that area effects in rural regions
might operate in a similar way to area effects in urban locales” (p.796). Their study concluded
that, “despite differences in population density and other parameters, it appears that area effects,
originally demonstrated in urban areas, may work similarly in rural areas on diverse outcomes
and behaviors” (Brown, Copeland, Costello, Erkanli, & Worthman, 2009, p.767). I take this

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research into consideration when constructing my teaching identity. Also, I am reassured by the
idea that Appalachian folk, “typically have the habit of offering help and trust in others when it is
needed” (Keefe 2009).
Jesse Stuart writes in the preface of his memoir that, “Teaching is something above and
beyond teaching lessons and facts from books. It is this but more too. It is helping a youth to find
a path of his own that will eventually lead him through fields of frustration and modern pitfalls
of destruction until he finds himself” (1958). I heed the words of Mr. Stuart and am
incorporating them into my teaching identity. My Appalachian culture and self-identity are
helping construct my teaching identity. Based on hard work, family, and tradition, I know that I
will succeed as an educator with my fierce Appalachian cultural background.

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References
Brown, R., Copeland, W.E., Costello, E.J., Erkanli, A., & Worthman, C.A. (2009). Family and
community influences on educational outcomes among appalachian youth. Journal of
Community Psychology, 37 (7), 795-808.
Keefe, S.E. (Ed.). (2009). Participatory development in appalachia: Cultural identity,
community, and sustainability. Knoxville, TN: The University of Tennessee Press.
Spradlin, L.K. (2008). Diversity matters: Understanding diversity in schools. Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Straw, R.A., & Blethen, H.T. (Eds.). (2004). High mountain rising: Appalachia in time and
place. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Stuart, J. (1958).The thread that runs so true. New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
United States Census. (2000). Profile of general demographic characteristics.[Data file].
Retrieved from http://censtats.census.gov/data/WV/1605458684.pdf