First generation educated kids have it tough.
A person who is the first in their family to seek education beyond their parents is stuck in a strange world; they do not fit in with either group, neither the educated or the blue collar, and they long to be able to identify with something around them.
Reading the book Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots and White-Collar Dreams by Alfred Lubrano can be helpful text for first-generation educated children, especially those in the gifted class. It is a text that teens can read to better understand the middle ground between education and working class.
If your students are too young to understand the book itself, perhaps read it from an educator’s standpoint and apply what you’ve learned to better know the students you are dealing with on a daily basis. Being mindful of a student’s personal journey can go a long way.
The Questing Child 