Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

• Describe at least one example of a microaggression which you detected this week or remember from another time. In what context did the microaggression happen? What did you think and feel when you observed the microaggression or when you found yourself as the target of a microaggression?

As a teacher working in an Early Head Start school, we work mainly with low-income families and i had one teacher who is from a temp agency who was coming out to help for just week. She stated,"why don't you get the summers off, you need it with these families and kids, and how is it working with low-income children".

I felt that this was a type of microinvalidation in which we means i need a break because i deal with low-income families and the kids are bad, all teachers need a break not just early head start teachers. She also made it seems as if low-income children are so much different from "normal children", all children have behavior, and developmental concerns.

• In what ways did your observation experiences this week affect your perception of the effects of discrimination, prejudice, and/or stereotypes on people

After hearing another teacher say that i feel that we should really consider who we are letting come into our early head start or even early childhood programs to work with our children because it still seems like more and more teachers are here just for a pay check and not for the kids. I feel that i have a genuine passion to work with low-income families and children because just like others they need an head start just like other children.