(Post)modern Teachers' Constructivist Cosmopolitan Selves: Making Sense of Soul

Abstract

This inquiry is an examination of collective narratives of early childhood teachers' writing related to theories of social participation, feminity(ies), critical perspectives of Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP), and social justice issues. The teachers' narratives are drawn from their responses to prompts provided in a Master's course: Social Justice in Early Childhood Education. After the coursework was completed, I spent time with the teachers' texts, using a dialogic approach to thinking through and responding to my own readings of their narratives. The analysis exposes the temporal underpinnings of developmentally based teaching work and finds articulations of the matter and substance of soul from the perspectives of these teachers. This paper uncovers corporeal aspects of teachers' lives that clash with a socially constructed orientation towards time. Suggestions are made for continued dialogue and "critical vigilance" (Popkowitz & Bloch, 2001) of structures of power that impact the personal and professional lives of teachers.