In this article, the author, an Associate Professor of Education at West Virginia State University, describes teaching classes of first-generation college students whose cultural stories provide rich frames of reference as they explore and process the material of the teacher education program. In the final exam each semester, she asks the students to select and describe a metaphor whose characteristics as they know them best fit their perception of a classroom. This "exercise in metaphors" allows the students to stretch their thinking and refresh their conventional mind-sets about the kinds of classrooms they envision for themselves. The results provide a unique blend of past and present knowledge and experiences as these preservice teachers revisit the truths of their upbringing to inform their emergent teaching and learning philosophies.