Microaggressions in School Culture
I’m well aware that my role as an administrator took me directly out of conversations in the teacher’s lounge. My friends, who watched me take on this new role, joked that I’d “gone to the dark side.” Teachers and administrators are often pitted against one another in the education world and it’s never to the betterment of what’s good for students. Yet, it’s a part of the culture we rarely discuss in terms of being constructive in creating collegiality and professionalism.
That’s where we get stuck with microaggressions in school culture.
During my first ten years in the classroom I recall feeling like nothing I did could please the superiors in charge of evaluating me. Many novice teachers have felt like we had to fake it until we made it, but that comes naturally with any career in the beginning.
The first time I stood up to an administrator they had just embarrassed me in front of my classroom by belittling me and saying I didn’t have any control over the kids. The fact that they had free time while we waited to be called down to an assembly seemed to escape him and said all this while speaking to the entire class from the speaker system set up in the office.
Horrified, I turned toward my class and put my finger to my lips to signify I needed them to be silent. They complied quickly and many of them felt I had been wronged by the looks of confusion on their faces. After confronting that assistant principal, a job I would have some 10 years later Microaggressions in School Culture | The Jose Vilson: