The paper describes a graduate course deploying innovative instructional materials (e.g., the use of novels to provide context for theoretical constructs) and learning activities (e.g., community asset mapping) to engage issues of leadership in rural settings. Prior to describing the course itself, the paper develops a rationale for the importance of leadership approaches that emphasize cultural responsiveness and attentiveness to place and context (Johnson, 2007; Johnson, Thompson, & Naugle, 2009). In addition to a review of relevant literature from various academic disciplines (e.g., sociology, anthropology, economics, political science) to provide background and develop a shared vocabulary and conceptual frameworks, the course combines academic texts engaging salient issues of policy and practice in rural education with appropriately positioned fictional representations of rural contexts to provide a common foundation for discussing the interrelationships between rural communities and rural schools. (Contains 3 footnotes.)