The article analysed the thought produced in every-day urban life and the elementary school teachers´ training at the Instituto de Educação of Rio de Janeiro of those teachers who had graduated until 1948. The research is inspired by Zilá Simas Enéas' book: "Once upon a time at the Instituto de Educação" (published by CNEL/RJ in 1997). The writer is an ex-student from that educational institute. The article analysed, particularly, the memories and narratives from those girls, who today are ladies around 80 years old, their ideas about education, school, infancy and the city of Rio de Janeiro. This city was the country's capital (Federal District), then became Guanabara State and latter the city of Rio de Janeiro. The interferences produced by the images/memories/concepts with different discursive configuration about the Brazilian society all over the history were others questions important to this research. The analysis emphasised the educational, ethical and esthetical values, in a different historical period with different projects, all oriented to the country's modernization, in a feminine generation during the Estado Novo period in Brazil. In this article we attempted to understand what is/was to by a teacher.
Memory; Narrative; Elementary School Teacher