Teachers must consider what it means to work with students in an increasingly diverse global community. Classrooms increasingly comprise of students and teachers of different social, cultural, language, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, needing to adapt in order to accommodate for differences, both expected and unanticipated, that each individual brings to shared classroom contexts.

Smudging Composition Lines of Identity and Teacher Knowledge uses a comparative narrative inquiry approach grounded in long-term research to learn about experiences and complexities of cross-cultural teaching. The chapter authors identify and explore differences in the structure of schooling, student experiences, teacher education, school partnerships, parents, and members of the community, and the ways in which diversity is addressed in school practices and curriculum. Gaining insight into complexities of teacher identity formation and development in cross-cultural teaching contexts, they explore ways in which teaching goals might be achieved using practices commonly used in the host country not often used in one’s home country.

The dilemmas and tensions uncovered directly from the perspective of teachers and teacher educators develop narrative inquiry as a methodological approach to examining teacher knowledge in cross-cultural teaching, providing invaluable findings for teachers, teacher educators, and educational researchers internationally.

Elaine Chan is Professor of Diversity and Curriculum Studies in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education of the College of Education and Human Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA. She specializes in the areas of teacher knowledge, teacher education, narrative inquiry, multicultural education, student experiences of schooling.

Vicki Ross is Professor at Northern Arizona University, USA. She works with pre-service teachers in the Elementary Education Program in the Department of Teaching and Learning, and with doctoral students in the Curriculum and Instruction Program. Her interests include: teacher knowledge, education and development; mathematics education in the elementary school; narrative inquiry. She is a recipient of the Emerald Publishing Literati Award.