Time and Relationship: Paternal and Maternal Tensions in Teacher Narratives

Abstract

Grumet's (1988) citing of the patriarchal project to ``claim the child and teach him or her to master the language, the rules, the game and the names of the fathers{''} (p. 21) is highly reflective of today's standards-based classrooms. In fact, the outer nodes of a classroom activity system (tools, rules, division of labor) (Engestrom 1999; Engestrom and Miettinen 1999) closely reflect Grumet's patriarchal project. Meanwhile, Grumet (1988) cites the maternal project as ``relinquish (ing) the child so that both mother and child can become more independent of one another{''} (p. 21), echoing teachers' desires for students to become empowered in the classroom and to have choice and agency in their learning, creating a more fluid timeline of learning. This chapter privileges the voices of eight Kindergarten through second grade teachers, challenging this oversimplified binary. Through these teachers' narratives a complex interrelationship is presented, strongly representing this pull between forces of the patriarchal and maternal projects.