Chapter 12: You Are One Of Us: Forging the Development of Dialogic Communities of Practice in the Bahamas

”You are one of us,” are the words one of the teachers at the Bahamas Primary School (BHS—pseudonym) ardently said to me as she grasped both of my hands and looked me earnestly in the eyes. I had just completed my first professional development session after having left the school 19 years earlier. There are many educators engaged in professional development practices and research outside of their home bases. I am one of those educators who left home but came back to do this work, and the significance of the teacher’s words were not lost on me. She welcomed me as a returning daughter of the soil—someone who had worked in the school, comes from the area, and knows the cultural context. It does not matter that I have lived outside of the country for a long time. What matters is I have returned. In my mind, I have returned to engage in work I had not completed and, above all, to continue my contribution to making a difference in the lives of the students and teachers in my home country as I do and have done in other places I have resided. This was a welcome homecoming for me.