“I See Myself in Them”

Author(s):  
Liliana E. Castrellón ◽  
Judith C. Pérez-Torres

This chapter explores a first-year ethnic studies course to highlight the importance of engaging the diversity within the classroom in relation to the diverse communities being served. Students participating in this course are self-identified Students of Color, many of whom are first generation college students, from lower socioeconomic communities. Introducing a Critical Race Service-Learning framework, the authors highlight how Students of Color in this course learn about race, class, gender, language, citizenship status, phenotype, sexuality, etc. to challenge the status quo while also actively engaging in service-learning with/in diverse communities as an empowering pedagogy. Findings indicate the foundational tools learned within the course pushed students to speak back to the educational inequities they witnessed at their service sites and experienced in K-12 to further empower them to continue giving back to their communities beyond college.

Author(s):  
Liliana E. Castrellón ◽  
Judith C. Pérez-Torres

This chapter explores a first-year ethnic studies course to highlight the importance of engaging the diversity within the classroom in relation to the diverse communities being served. Students participating in this course are self-identified Students of Color, many of whom are first generation college students, from lower socioeconomic communities. Introducing a Critical Race Service-Learning framework, the authors highlight how Students of Color in this course learn about race, class, gender, language, citizenship status, phenotype, sexuality, etc. to challenge the status quo while also actively engaging in service-learning with/in diverse communities as an empowering pedagogy. Findings indicate the foundational tools learned within the course pushed students to speak back to the educational inequities they witnessed at their service sites and experienced in K-12 to further empower them to continue giving back to their communities beyond college.


Author(s):  
Matthew A. Hagler ◽  
Kirsten M. Christensen ◽  
Jean E. Rhodes

Non-parent mentoring relationships are important protective factors for first-generation college students. Previous research has focused on singular mentoring relationships measured at one time point, failing to capture the breadth and dynamic nature of social networks. The current study is a longitudinal investigation of first-generation students’ mentoring networks during their transition to college at a four-year, predominantly minority-serving commuter university. At the beginning and end of their first year, students (N = 176) responded to online surveys on their mentoring relationship(s), attitudes toward help-seeking, and college experiences. Cumulative support from pre-college mentoring relationships retained across the first year was positively associated with self-efficacy. Support from newly acquired mentoring relationships was positively associated with psychological sense of school membership. Network orientation was positively associated with self-efficacy and sense of school membership. These findings highlight the importance of diverse mentoring networks and demonstrate the utility of collecting longitudinal data on multiple mentoring relationships.


2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Ho ◽  
George Sanchez

The equity lens evaluates institutional barriers that prevent students of color from gaining access to resources for college success (Bensimon, 2005). The first-generation college students at the University of Southern California are 16% of the total student body and students of color comprise two-thirds of this population. Since 2008, how to support first generation college students of color in their academic achievement and college success once in college has expanded the discussion beyond access.  By evaluating institutional structures through the equity lens, the response has been to create intentional academic and social programs for first generation college students of color that bridge the academic and student services divide.  Through descriptions of actual programs and stories from students affected by these programs, this essay will discuss innovative approaches to serving first-generation students of color at predominantly white universities.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 441-463
Author(s):  
Christian A. Latino ◽  
Gabriela Stegmann ◽  
Justine Radunzel ◽  
Jason D. Way ◽  
Edgar Sanchez ◽  
...  

Hispanic students are the most likely out of all racial or ethnic groups to be first-generation college students (FGCS). Hispanic FGCS have been shown to be the least likely to persist out of all racial or ethnic backgrounds. However, there is little literature on this population. To address this, the present study investigated the association of accelerated learning in high school (e.g., Advanced Placement courses and dual enrollment) and financial aid on academic outcomes for Hispanic FGCS and Hispanic non-FGCS at a 4-year postsecondary institution ( n = 2,499). Hispanic FGCS fared worse in first-year grade point average (GPA) and first- to second-year retention than Hispanic non-FGCS. After controlling for academic, nonacademic, and demographic variables, results suggested that accelerated learning reduced achievement gaps in first-year GPA and financial aid reduced achievement gaps in retention rates for Hispanic FGCS. These results suggest that environmental supports (i.e., accelerated learning and financial aid) may be able to improve GPA and retention for Hispanic FGCS.


Author(s):  
Jessica Rae Jorgenson Borchert

This chapter discusses ways of engaging first-generation college students in the first-year writing classroom. Many interventions exist for helping first-generation college students adjust to and thrive in academic life, such as TRIO programs. This chapter focuses on how instructors in writing classrooms can create pedagogical interventions to encourage and engage these students in academic discourse. To better understand how the pedagogical interventions were received, the author studied contemporary research on multiple ways of engaging first-generation college students in the first-year writing classroom. Along with this research, the author also collected data from students that identified what activities and assignments most engaged them and what they learned from those assignments. From this data and outside research, the author determined three main pedagogical interventions to help first-generation college students succeed, such as peer review groups, creating empathetic spaces, and assigning empathetic writing genres.


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