I N T ERR UP TING MICR OAGGRES S I O NS
Continued from page 11
message to students that each piece of who
they are is valuable and belongs, and that the
classroom would not be complete without
every last piece. But what does this process
look like in a classroom of young children?
Let me tell you a story...
Before becoming an administrator, I had
taught in early childhood and elementary
classrooms for 14 years. Six of those years
were spent teaching third grade.
One afternoon, my third grade students
were enjoying a few minutes of quiet time
in order to reflect and decompress. I needed
to step out for a moment so I asked another
teacher to stay with the students while I
was away. She was new to the school, and
so I asked her if she would introduce herself.
What is important to know in this story is
that this teacher identified as Asian Ameri-
can. She also taught Mandarin in the lower
school, but not to my students. As she in-
troduced herself, one of my students said,
“Wow, you sound American.”
Words are powerful, and they can hang in
the air, sucking the oxygen out of the space.
The teacher was stunned, and I quickly said,
“Ouch.” “Ouch” is the word that we used in
our classroom when someone’s words or
actions made an impact. The ouch may
not be immediately defined, but it lets the
class know that we must stop to address
an important matter. I followed the ouch
by saying that I needed a few moments to
gather my thoughts, take a break, and that
Page 12 Summer 2020
“... we are explicitly sending the
message to students that each
piece of who they are is valuable
and belongs...”
we would address what I was feeling when
I returned.
I took a few minutes to gather some re-
sources that would support a third grade
conversation regarding microaggressions,
and in particular, the impact of this child’s
comment. In the case of my student, his
statement reflected his understanding of
this teacher’s Asian American identity as per-
petually foreign. She could not be from here
because her Asian identity contradicts his un-
derstanding of what it means to be American.
I invited the students to the meeting area.
I introduced the students to the concept
of microaggressions, sharing the definition
and some examples. I then shared stories
regarding moments during which I experi-
enced these “paper cuts.” Some of the stu-
dents made connection signs with their
hands as I shared my stories, and then be-
gan to recount their own stories of margin-
alization. One student who also identified
as Asian American named how frustrating
it was for him to be confused with another
Asian American child by the adults who
taught him in the building. “I don’t even
look like him,” he noted. One of my white
CSEE Connections