The experiences of immigrant and refugee students in schools have been explored by two primary frameworks. The first is informed by sociology and attends to the macro-level adaptation of students in schools and in the host country. The second framework is informed by linguistics and attends to one micro-aspect of the students' adaptation in school; that is their language learning experiences. This paper employs a third, slightly different approach: the micro-educational which combines elements from the two frameworks. It responds to multicultural educator's call for increased attention to the experiences of diverse students in schools and it attends to refugee students' perspectives on the microlevel academic experiences in school that go beyond language acquisition. The goal of this paper is to offer a microscopic lens to examining the subtext of the students' experiences with two key elements of the educational endeavor: the curriculum and the teachers. A focused lens allows for in-depth analysis of both overt and subtle messages. The participants in this study engaged in multiple, and at times conflicting processes, in their meaning making processes of their experiences at school. Despite the fact that for some students, identification with school was difficult they did not give up believing in the process of schooling in their host country. They offered insights on what they would like school to look like as they imagined a better connection with their teachers and the material.