“I Don't See Color, I Grade on Content”: An Approach to Addressing Embodied Microaggressive Behaviors in Preservice Teacher Programs

Claire is a great young lady, whose parents are very proud of her. She lives in a quaint suburban neighborhood where she has attended a Montessori elementary school and a private middle and high school. Claire’s mother is a high school teacher and her father is the local dentist. Her parents are very nurturing to Claire and her younger brother. Claire’s home has always been her sanctuary where she has everything she needs to feel secure and to succeed: food, clothes, her own room, books, and technology. Claire has always enjoyed reading and her parents have bought so many books that Claire has outgrown the bookshelf in her room and has already filled one of the shelves in her parents’ home office. Claire and her brother have been immersed in a variety of fun and challenging activities such as French classes, ballet, piano, Cricket and gymnastics. Her family has also travelled extensively. When Claire was a fifteen year old sophomore in high school she was given the opportunity to work with a community school in South Africa where she helped mothers read to their daughters. She returned home with a newly sparked interest in teaching and decided this would be her major in college.It was critical to help children from poor communities have access to books. Claire knew the pleasure she found in reading and wanted to help others learn to read.

Chiesha is a great young lady who works hard in school. Chiesha lives with her mother and her grandmother in a 3 bedroom apartment in the Anderson Homes community. Chiesha’s family has lived in the same neighborhood for three generations. Chiesha has one younger sister and two younger brothers; she has never met her father but her mother told her he was in prison. Chiesha is 15 years old and is in the 10^th grade. She does okay in school but could do better if she could focus on school. Chiesha’s grandmother is ill with diabetes and her mother works the night shift at the local call center which makes it Chiesha’s responsibility to take care of her younger siblings. Chiesha is very responsible; however she lacks some of the support she needs to be successful in school. There are few books in her home and her family does not own a computer. There is no library in their community and it would require transferring three times on the bus to get to the closest one. Chiesha often goes to bed hungry because she makes sure that her siblings and grandmother eat first and with the bare cabinets there just isn’t enough. Chiesha’s mother and grandmother love the children very much, but the minimum wage her mother earns and the fixed income of her grandmother are not enough to sustain the family for the month after they pay the rent, utilities and medical expenses. Chiesha wants to be a teacher but is not sure what she needs to do to become one.