Social Studies – Unit Activity Planner: Austin Past and Present
Austin Independent School District
Grade: 8th
Unit Length (Number of class periods):
2 weeks
Course: American History
Topic: Westward Expansion
Required Technology:
Computer lab or COWS for first 2-3 days
Concepts:
 Identity
 Change and continuity
 Traditions
Overarching question:
 How did Westward Expansion influence different cultural groups
as they undergo change and continuity while at the same time
trying to uphold their identity and traditions?
Unit Understandings: From the years of 1800-1860,
population in America grew exponentially. Many groups of
people and different countries all had aspirations of settling in
the area known as “The West," the region from the Mississippi
River to the Pacific Ocean. Who would live there, what
language would be spoken, what religion would dominate the
West are all questions that begged for answers in 1800.
Western boundaries of the US quickly expanded until the US
claimed contiguous sovereignty of North America. The social,
political and economic reasons for expansion vary from place to
place, but the new immigrants forever changed the cultural
landscape of the areas they settled. One of these areas is Texas!
Unit Questions(s):
 What impact did the different cultural groups have on the culture
and traditions of Austin?
 Why did immigrants come to Texas?
 How can Texas be viewed as a case study for immigration in the
rest of the United States?
Austin Independent School District
Social Studies Curriculum Department
June, 2006
Social Studies – Unit Activity Planner: Austin Past and Present
Austin Independent School District
TEKS/TAKS:
8.6E: Identify areas that were acquired to form the United States.
8.9C: Explain the social problems that faced the South during Reconstruction and evaluate their impact on different groups.
8.12B: Describe the consequences of human modification of the physical environment of the United States.
8.12C: Describe how different immigrant groups interacted with the environment in the United States during the 18th and 19th
centuries.
8.24C: Identify ways conflicts between people from various racial, ethnic, and religious groups were resolved.
8.24D: Analyze the contributions of people of various racial, ethnic, and religious groups to our national identity.
Austin Independent School District
Social Studies Curriculum Department
June, 2006
Social Studies – Unit Activity Planner: Austin Past and Present
Austin Independent School District
Materials:
Computers, Library for additional research, poster board, costumes, markers, props for the show
From the DVD: Explore these locations to get an idea of the types of groups that settled in Texas. This information should help students
get started.
Swede Hill (East) All information
Capitol Immigration (downtown)
Moore Hancock (central)
Zimmerman farmstead, Dessau Church, Barr Mansion (North)
Preview:
Ask students the following questions as an introduction to this unit:
 How many of you are from Texas?
 Do you know when your family arrived in Texas?
 Do you know their ethnicity?
 How many different ethnic groups do you think are represented in this class?
 Let’s try to see how many different kinds of people contributed to the Texas that we know today?
Austin Independent School District
Social Studies Curriculum Department
June, 2006
Social Studies – Unit Activity Planner: Austin Past and Present
Austin Independent School District
Student activities that support the TEKS/TAKS :
Students will work in groups to produce a “Vaudeville Style Variety Show” that accurately illustrates one cultural group in Texas during
Westward Expansion of the U.S. between the years of 1800-1860. A vaudeville show is a stage entertainment offering a variety of short acts
such as slapstick turns, song-and-dance routines, and other brief entertainment numbers. Cultural groups among vaudeville troupes and
performances will vary, but each will tell a story of westward expansion. Students are to select a variety of items that show what life was like
for their cultural group as they settled out West. In addition to information from the “Austin Past and Present” DVD, students are to use
primary sources and secondary sources to gain information on your topic.
Information to be included:
1) Reasons for moving out West
2) Map of settlement locations in Texas
3) Interaction with Native Peoples
4) Cultural and scientific information (foods, arts, music, scenic trails, geography, plant & wildlife observations/discoveries
etc...)
5) Gender roles and relationships involved and defined by the event
6) Relationship to the spread and continued existence of slavery
Requirements for the Vaudeville Show:
1) You show should have an opening and closing musical number that sets the stage and then closes your presentation
2) Also, include a primary source, such as poems, songs, diary entries and/or speeches that illustrate the human experience
from the times.
3) Everything must be thoroughly illustrated. Your show should have lots of props and include costumes
4) Bibliography
Austin Independent School District
Social Studies Curriculum Department
June, 2006
Social Studies – Unit Activity Planner: Austin Past and Present
Austin Independent School District
Assessment(s):
Rubric created by teacher.
Austin Independent School District
Social Studies Curriculum Department
June, 2006