{"id":23574,"date":"2016-01-12t11:45:30","date_gmt":"2016-01-12t16:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/?page_id=23574"},"modified":"2021-05-27t09:33:12","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27t14:33:12","slug":"teaching-first-generation-college-students","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/guides-sub-pages\/teaching-first-generation-college-students\/","title":{"rendered":"teaching first-generation college students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
by ben galina<\/em><\/td>\nprint version<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
cite this guide: <\/strong>galina, b. (2016). teaching first-generation college students. 瑞士vs喀麦隆走地 2022年世界杯中国小组赛积分. retrieved [todaysdate] from \/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/guides-sub-pages\/teaching-first-generation-college-students\/.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"signu\"<\/p>\n

<\/a>what does it mean to be first?<\/h2>\n

\u201ceven when presenting academic credentials and a level of academic motivation equal to that of their peers whose parents graduated from college, first-generation students are at a somewhat greater risk of being academically, socially, and economically left behind.\u201d pascarella, et al., 2004: 276.<\/span><\/p>\n

u.s. supreme court justice sonia sotomayor, the first latino and third ever woman to hold that position, graduated first in her class at cardinal spellman high school in the northeast bronx. her path to class valedictorian was hardly a certain one. a child of puerto rican immigrants, justice sotomayor grew up in the new york city projects known as the bronxdale houses. she was diagnosed with type i diabetes as a young girl. having overcome all of these odds to beat out her peers for the number one spot at \u201ca school for high achievers,\u201d why was she warned that she\u2019d need to bolster herself to make it through college (stolberg, 2009: a1)? yet, this is precisely what happened to justice sotomayor. a neighborhood friend who had gone to princeton one year ahead of the young judge, kenneth k. moy, remembers telling her, \u201ci don\u2019t want you to come here with any illusions. social isolation is going to be a part of your experience, and you have to have the strength of character to get through it intact\u201d (qtd. in stolberg, 2009: a1). while sotomayor did make it through intact, mr. moy was right to warn his friend. not only did this young woman from the bronx face racial and sexual barriers to access at princeton\u2014when she entered in the fall of 1972, latinos on campus numbered in the double digits and the school\u2019s first female students had entered only three years earlier, in 1969\u2014she also had to confront barriers because she was the first in her family to attend college (stolberg, 2009: a1).<\/p>\n

justice sotomayor is a first-generation college student<\/strong>, a group that includes such famous figures as senator elizabeth warren, first lady michelle obama, starbucks ceo howard schultz, and ruth simmons, 18th<\/sup> president of brown university. estimates suggest that first-generation students comprise between 15% and 40% of all college students in the united states (davis, 2010; nu\u00f1ez & cuccaro-alamin, 1998).<\/p>\n

\"first-gen-group\"<\/p>\n

what exactly defines the term \u201cfirst-generation student\u201d varies somewhat. the definition used most frequently\u2014and that of this guide\u2014defines students as \u201cfirst-generation\u201d when neither parent has completed a four-year college degree (davis, 2010). these students, research shows, struggle to succeed in college when compared to students whose parents attended college, so-called \u201ccontinuing-generation students.\u201d sticking points include longer time to degree completion (chen & carroll, 2005), lower family incomes (lohfink & paulsen, 2005), and higher dropout rates among first-generation students (engle & tinto, 2008). of course, many first-generation students, like justice sotomayor, will<\/em> succeed at college.<\/p>\n

even matriculating to a four-year institution as a first-generation student is no easy feat in light of the many financial, emotional, and academic obstacles set against them<\/strong>. in other words, the first-\"screengeneration students we encounter in our classrooms have already overcome great barriers, and they<\/strong> deserve respect for their tenacity and perseverance<\/strong>. despite these positive characteristics, discrepancies persist in the academic achievement and overall college experience of first-generation students as compared to continuing-generation students. unfortunately for the college educator, many of the obstacles faced by first-generation students have already been established before<\/em> they ever set foot on campus. factors such as income, pre-college educational resources, and guidance in the college selection process cannot be altered through our teaching. this is not to say, however, that there are no ways we can facilitate the successes of first-generation students on campus. many of the necessary interventions will be undertaken at the institutional and administrative levels.<\/p>\n

what can we do in our teaching to support institutional efforts? this guide answers this question by offering evidenced-based high-impact teaching practices. best of all, the majority of these high-impact practices will benefit all students in your classroom. it turns out that this is a case where a rising tide can <\/em>indeed lift all boats.<\/p>\n

this guide is organized according to the trajectory of a first-generation student through process of college. following this introduction, we offer data on first-generation students before they enter college, followed by a section about the college experience for first-generation students. from there, we describe a number of high-impact teaching and learning strategies that can be employed to facilitate the success of first-generation students in the classroom. lastly, we provide a conclusion with a number of resources for educators, administrators, and first-generation students themselves. each section has its own purpose in the context of this teaching guide, but they can, nevertheless, be read out of order.<\/p>\n