Adding Depth and Complexity to Your Lessons
Grade Level(s): 7th
Content Area : Social Studies – Texas History
TEKS Objective: SS.7.9C, SS.7.11A, SS.7.22C, SS.7.23B
Unanswered Questions
Questions/Discussion Opportunities:
1. How might the early settlers of Texas overcome the challenges of the physical geographical
nature of the frontier in the early 1800s?
2. What were the perspectives of the early settlers of Texas?
Student Activities/Products:
Use APPARTS to analyze the Primary Source Documents “Describing Texas and Letters from Texas”
Details/ Relate over Time
Questions/Discussion Opportunities:
1. What were the specific features of the Texas frontier?
2. Where were the early settlements of Texas built?
3. What are the correlations of where the settlements were built?
4. How did the settlement patterns influence modern Texas?
5. Are there frontiers in Texas today? Explain your answer.
Student Activities/Products:
Texas Map (1820-1836) Activity: Locate settlements and natural geographic features of Texas.
Texas Map (2010) Comparative Activity: Compare the frontier map of Texas to the modern map of
Texas.
Patterns/ Rules
Questions/Discussion Opportunities:
1. Where would you settle in a frontier area?
2. Justify your settlements.
3. How would you protect your settlements?
4. What type of political and economic systems would you create in the fictional frontier?
5. Justify your choices.
Student Activities/Products:
Fictional Frontier Activity: Use fictional frontier map for students to locate their own settlements and
justify their choices.
Parallel
Questions/Discussion Opportunities:
1. How was the settlement of Texas similar to settlement of the US as a whole?
2. How was the settlement of Texas similar to other frontier settling such as Australia (or other
regions)?