“Using the Master’s Tools” to Integrate Play With Kindergarten Mathematics: Creative Insubordination Through Playful Resistance

Abstract

In this study, we focused on the challenges that kindergarten teachers discussed related to curriculum, lack of teacher autonomy, and administrative control. We explored teachers' resistance using the lens of creative insubordination (Gutiérrez, 2016) to answer these questions: 1) What challenges do kindergarten teachers discuss about implementing playful math in kindergarten? and 2) How do teachers discuss navigating implementation challenges? We found that teachers used playful resistance as a way to enact “Using the Master’s Tools,” an approach to Creative Insubordination outlined by Gutiérrez (2016). This study corroborates and extends prior work on creative insubordination by focusing on early childhood mathematics and exploring teachers’ strategies to employ playful resistance.