Implicit bias is a prejudice you have of which you are not consciously aware. I took the transgender test. It found that I had bias. I chose that test because I have a transgender nephew and thought I would not have bias. It was disappointing to see that was not the case. 

This past year I had a situation I realized had implicit bias.  I made an incorrect assumption in meeting the lead teacher and teacher’s aid in a new program in my school.  I had assumed incorrectly that the white person was the lead teacher and the person of color was the assistant teacher. I was embarrassed when my incorrect assumption was corrected. That was a painful reminder that I have implicit bias.

 I also still find myself assuming doctors or professors are male rather than female and that has tripped me up a few times these last few years. I am surprised to find I still have some sexist assumptions. Statistically( 54.2% of all doctors are women, while 45.8% are men. www.zippia.com/doctor-jobs/demographics/) it is more likely a doctor is a woman now than a man, but in my own personal experience doctors have usually been men. 

I do not know if I have a lot of assumptions about refugees (but as stated I have been embarrassed several times by my implicit bias, so I could be wrong). Most of my knowledge about refugees comes from books and the news. As a teacher I have only one brief experience with a student in first grade who was an ELL student. She was in our school for a year and I focused on trying to add visual cues to my lessons to try to aid her in understanding. 

In reading Wherever I Go, some of my students could relate to the desire of having a forever home as they have some home insecurity. Those students similarly have desires for a forever home. Even those students who did not have home insecurity could understand Abia’s desire to be safe.