The teacher guided students through three steps to help them see the connections between the exhibition and their own lives.

First step:
To begin the discussions, she asked students to bring in an object or photo with deep meaning to themselves or their families.

Second step:
Students wrote poems and narratives about their objects, using metaphor and other techniques that they had been studying in class. They then related their objects to those they'd seen in the exhibit.
Student Writings

Third step:
Students reviewed the exhibit catalog. They discussed the exhibit's major themes in the context of their own neighborhood. The teacher recommends focusing on just one portion of an exhibit catalog and brainstorming ways in which it relates to the students' community.
El Rio Catalog Excerpt