Austin Past and Present
Curriculum Connections
Topic
Geo-Tour Student
Tutorial
Grade Level
Grading Period
Description
2nd Grade
First or Third Nine
Weeks
2nd Grade
First Nine Weeks
2nd Grade
Third Nine Weeks
Students will use the
tutorial to obtain a high
degree of familiarity of
navigating the Geo-Tour
site by completing a
model lesson in which
they compare the area
around their school to
the same location from
the past.
This unit is a series of
ten lessons addressing
an introduction to map
reading and landmarks
in the city of Austin.
Students will also
address the concepts of
“time” and “change”
through these lessons.
This unit is a series of
ten lessons addressing
an introduction to
timelines that compare
landmarks in Austin
over different periods of
time.
My Community: Maps
and Symbols
My Community:
Monuments and
Landmarks
1
Technology
Requirement
Activities may be
completed in a computer
lab, in learning centers,
or as a teacher-guided
lesson in the classroom.
Activities may be
completed in a computer
lab, in learning centers,
or as a teacher-guided
lesson in the classroom.
Activities may be
completed in a computer
lab, in learning centers,
or as a teacher-guided
lesson in the classroom.
Austin Past and Present
Curriculum Connections
Topic
Grade Level
Grading Period
Description
Austin History Project
3rd Grade
Year-long
This unit is a series of
lessons addressing the
history of Austin.
Students will complete a
variety of activities that
include research on topic
or person related to
Austin’s history along
with timeline and
journal activities related
to this project.
Conservation and
Natural Resource
Preservation: Reduce,
Reuse, and Recycle!!
3rd Grade
Third Nine Weeks
In this social studies instructional
sequence, students will identify
the various natural resources in
our community and exercise
their civic responsibility toward
seeing that these natural
resources are conserved and
preserved. Included in our study
will be an exploration of
2
Technology
Requirement
Activities may be
completed in a computer
lab, in learning centers,
or as a teacher-guided
lesson in the classroom.
Activities may be
completed in a computer
lab, in learning centers,
or as a teacher-guided
lesson in the classroom.
Austin Past and Present
Curriculum Connections
environmentalism, stewardship,
and social action, culminating in
the implementation of varied
projects aimed at promoting the
practice of reducing, reusing, and
recycling. Students will analyze
these topics by reading their
textbook and library books,
interviewing local and school
community members, and by
utilizing electronic resources
such as the DVD Austin Past and
Present and the Internet.
Topic
Grade Level
Grading Period
Abner Cook: Master
Builder
4th Grade
Third Nine Weeks
The George Washington
Carver Museum
4th Grade
Description
This unit is a series of
ten lessons addressing
the role that master
architect Abner Cook
played in Austin’s
history. Students will
create a standing cube
three-dimensional
biographical display and
a four-tab book of
Cook’s historical homes
in Austin.
Fourth Nine Weeks or as This unit compares the
part of Black History
contributions of George
Month in February
Washington Carver to
those of the Gutsch
family from Mayfield
Park. Content focus
addresses Texas during
3
Technology
Requirement
One classroom computer
for every two students
with access to the Austin
Past and Present DVD.
Activities may be
completed in a computer
lab, in learning centers,
or as a teacher-guided
lesson in the classroom.
Austin Past and Present
Curriculum Connections
the Great Depression
and World War II.
The Civil Rights
Movement in Austin
Topic
Geo-Tour Instructional
Tutorial for Teachers
4th Grade
Fourth Nine Weeks or
year-long integration
through reading and
writing classes
Students will understand the
fundamental democratic
principles behind the civil
rights movement and describe
unequal education conditions
facing blacks in Austin’s past
and present.
Grade Level
Grading Period
Description
5th Grade
First or Third Nine
Weeks
Teachers will use the
tutorial to obtain a high
degree of familiarity of
navigating the Geo-Tour
site by completing a
model lesson in which
they compare the area
around Austin ISD
Central Administration
and Treaty Oak to the
same location from the
past.
4
Activities may be
completed in a computer
lab, in learning centers,
or as a teacher-guided
lesson in the classroom.
Technology
Requirement
Teacher computer
Austin Past and Present
Curriculum Connections
Topic
Grade Level
Grading Period
Description
Resistance to Secession
in Austin
5th Grade
Third Nine Weeks
Students will complete a
document-based
question (DBQ) in
which they analyze how
compromise and conflict
affected Austin and the
state of Texas during the
pre-Civil War era.
Integration in Austin:
Desegregation of Old
Anderson High School
5th Grade
Fourth Nine Weeks
Students will use the East
Austin Geo-Tour section
of the Austin Past and
Present program to learn
about Old Anderson High
School and the impact that
desegregation had on this
campus and the East
Austin community. Using
the images from this part
of the program and the
Austin American
Statesman article on
student reactions to the
closing of Old Anderson
High School, students will
play the roles of Anderson
students and answer
questions regarding the
closing of their high
school.
5
Technology
Requirement
Activities may be
completed in a computer
lab, in learning centers,
or as a teacher-guided
lesson in the classroom.
Activities may be
completed in a computer
lab, in learning centers,
or as a teacher-guided
lesson in the classroom.
Austin Past and Present
Curriculum Connections
Topic
Freedmen’s
Communities in Austin
Grade Level
Grading Period
7th Grade
Fourth Six Weeks
Description



6
Students will complete a
chart identifying the
major characteristics of
freedmen’s communities
in the Austin area.
Students will also read
the biography of Jacob
Fontaine and discuss his
leadership qualities and
accomplishments. .
Students will conclude
this unit by writing a
speech Jacob Fontaine
would have presented at
a Juneteenth celebration
in 1875 that addressed
the history of this
holiday, the specific
accomplishments made
by African Americans in
Austin during the ten
year period since
emancipation, and the
issues that still need to be
addressed for African
American citizens in
Austin as of 1875.
Technology
Requirement
Activities may be
completed in a computer
lab, in learning centers,
or as a teacher-guided
lesson in the classroom.
Austin Past and Present
Curriculum Connections
Topic
Austin: A Town in
Transition
Grade Level
Grading Period
7th Grade
Fourth or Sixth Six
Weeks
Description


7
Creating a Mandala to
Describe Austin: After
viewing the video segment
Town in Transition: 1950-1975
in the Time Tour section of the
DVD, students will classify key
information into major
categories. They will then use
this information to create a
mandala that describes Austin
in each of these categories
during this time period. A
mandala is a circular symbol
that categorizes different
information about a specific
topic.
Simulating a City Council
Meeting: Students will use the
Austin Past and Present DVD
and Internet databases to
research different special
interest groups that have
impacted local government in
Austin. Students will then
participate in a simulated city
council meeting in which each
group presents information
representing their specific
interests in the community. A
specific city plan for Austin
will be developed based on the
arguments presented at the city
council meeting. Students will
then view the video segment
Austin in the Modern Era:
1976-2006 to compare the
outcome of their plans to what
actually happened in Austin.
Technology
Requirement
Activities may be
completed in a computer
lab, in learning centers,
or as a teacher-guided
lesson in the classroom.
Austin Past and Present
Curriculum Connections
Topic
Grade Level
Grading Period
Creating a Personal
Timeline
8th Grade
First Six Weeks
The “Ultimate” Location
for Settlement
8th Grade
Second Six Weeks
8
Description

Have students create their own
timelines showing events in
U.S. History, Austin History
and their own personal history.
Basic steps include having
students identify key events
from their own lives and then
using the Austin Past & Present
DVD as well as the Internet to
find out what was happening in
local and U.S. history at the
same time. Because their lives
are so recent, the handout
encourages them to find out
things about their parents and
grandparents so that more
connections can be made using
the resources on the DVD.

Students should then take this
information to create a written
response answering how events
in the United States and Austin
influenced their personal
histories and how they continue
to be influenced by events
happening around them.
In order to make connections with
the settlement of the thirteen English
colonies, students will be examining
some different areas around Austin to
determine which area would be the
best to settle. They will write two
letters in which they either describe
the area they have chosen for
settlement or in which they report on
how they are surviving in their new
area.
Technology
Requirement
Activities may be
completed in a computer
lab, in learning centers,
or as a teacher-guided
lesson in the classroom.
Activities may be
completed in a computer
lab, in learning centers,
or as a teacher-guided
lesson in the classroom.
Austin Past and Present
Curriculum Connections
Topic
Shopping at the Free
Enterprise Mall
Grade Level
Grading Period
8th Grade
Third Six Weeks
Description



Thank You Constitution!
8th Grade
Fourth Six Weeks


9
As part of Celebrate Freedom
Week and the study of free
enterprise, assign each
student or group of students a
business from the Austin Past
& Present DVD. Give them
time to read the materials and
think about the business they
have been assigned.
Students will then draw a
sketch of the business, create
a quick advertisement to
show how they would
compete with other
businesses and answer some
questions designed to get
them to think about free
enterprise.
After the students have
finished their handouts,
arrange them in a row on a
wall or long hallway so that
they resemble a “mall”. Let
students go “shopping” and
fill out a mall-walkers
information sheet. Discuss
their responses on this sheet.
Have students read the
biographies of Volma
Overton, William Thornberry
and John Henry Faulk.
Students will then create a
Thank You Constitution card
from one of the three
individuals.
Technology
Requirement
Activities may be
completed in a computer
lab, in learning centers,
or as a teacher-guided
lesson in the classroom.
Activities may be
completed in a computer
lab, in learning centers,
or as a teacher-guided
lesson in the classroom.
Austin Past and Present
Curriculum Connections
Topic
Grade Level
Grading Period
On the Cutting Edge of
Technology
8th Grade
Fourth Six Weeks
Westward Expansion:
Texas Culture Groups
Vaudeville Show
8th Grade
Fifth Six Weeks
10
Technology
Requirement
Students will analyze the Activities may be
role that industrialization completed in a computer
and mechanization had
lab, in learning centers,
on Austin. After
or as a teacher-guided
viewing video clips from lesson in the classroom.
Austin Past and Present,
they will create a web
diagram showing the
types of technology that
impacted Austin.
Students will work in
Activities may be
groups to produce a
completed in a computer
“Vaudeville Style
lab, in learning centers,
Variety Show” that
or as a teacher-guided
illustrates one cultural
lesson in the classroom.
group in Texas during
the period of westward
expansion in the United
States between 1800 and
1860.
Description
Austin Past and Present
Curriculum Connections
Topic
Grade Level
Grading Period
Description
Dining With Cultural
Icons
8th Grade
Fifth Six Weeks
Car Tour of Austin:
Contributions of African
Americans
8th Grade
Sixth Six Weeks
Students will research a
cultural icon from
Austin’s history in
addition to describing
Austin’s cultural
identity.
Students will create a
driving tour of Austin
that guides visitors
throughout the city to
illustrate the important
contributions of African
Americans in the
community. The car
tour can be created in the
form of a brochure,
poster, or booklet.
11
Technology
Requirement
Activities may be
completed in a computer
lab, in learning centers,
or as a teacher-guided
lesson in the classroom.
Activities may be
completed in a computer
lab, in learning centers,
or as a teacher-guided
lesson in the classroom.
Austin Past and Present
Curriculum Connections
Topic
Grade Level
Grading Period
Description
Economic Development:
Post-Reconstruction
South and Today
11th Grade
Second Six Weeks
Using and Preserving
Central Texas’ Natural
Resources
11th Grade
Fifth Six Weeks
Students will use the TimeTour video segments
Railroad and University:
1871-1892 and City of the
Violet Crown: 1893-1929 to
address the two major efforts
to bring commerce to Austin
and advance the community’s
economic development: the
arrival of the railroad and the
construction of a dam on the
Colorado River. Students to
analyze how these trends
related to national trends of
the late 19th century and how
they took distinctive forms in
the American South.
Students will also compare
Austin’s economic
development in the late 1800s
to contemporary economic
development efforts in the
community.
Students will examine how
the use of the Colorado
River’s energy and land-use
issues had their origins in the
Progressive Era and were
specifically impacted by the
New Deal. Connections will
then be made to
contemporary environmental
issues in Austin.
12
Technology
Requirement
Activities may be
completed in a setting in
which each student has
access to a computer
with Internet and the
Austin Past and Present
DVD.
Activities may be
completed in a setting in
which each student has
access to a computer
with Internet and the
Austin Past and Present
DVD.
Austin Past and Present
Curriculum Connections
Topic
Civic Activism: Civil
Rights, Student Protest,
Conservationism, and
Preserving Austin’s
Identity
Grade Level
Grading Period
Description
11th Grade
Fifth/Sixth Six Weeks
Students will learn about
the efforts of several
citizen groups to impact
life in Austin through
desegregation, the fight
for fair wages and
housing, student protests
against the Vietnam
War, the rise of
conservationism and the
actions of local
government through a
variety of engaging
activities.
13
Technology
Requirement
Activities may be
completed in a setting in
which each student has
access to a computer
with Internet and the
Austin Past and Present
DVD.