Plan
Unit 4 Lesson 3: Mexican Colonization and the Empresario System
Authors: Erica Johnson
TEKS
Grade 7 / Social Studies / N/A
Unit 4 Plan 3
Suggested Duration: 5
7.2
History. The student understands how individuals, events, and issues
through the Mexican National Era shaped the history of Texas. The
student is expected to:
7.2E
Identify the contributions of significant individuals, including
Moses Austin, Stephen F. Austin, Erasmo Seguín, Martín De León,
and Green DeWitt, during the Mexican settlement of Texas.
7.8
Geography. The student uses geographic tools to collect, analyze,
and interpret data. The student is expected to:
7.8A
Create and interpret thematic maps, graphs, charts, models, and
databases representing various aspects of Texas during the 19th,
20th, and 21st centuries.
7.8B
Analyze and interpret geographic distributions and patterns in
Texas during the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.
7.19
Culture. The student understands the concept of diversity within
unity in Texas. The student is expected to:
7.19B
Describe how people from various racial, ethnic, and religious
groups attempt to maintain their cultural heritage while adapting
to the larger Texas culture.
7.21
Social studies skills. The student applies critical-thinking skills to
organize and use information acquired through established research
methodologies from a variety of valid sources, including electronic
technology. The student is expected to:
7.21D
Identify points of view from the historical context surrounding an
event and the frame of reference that influenced the participants.
Attachments
Performance
Assessment(s)
Texas History Unit 04 PA 03
Sketch a diagram of the office of an empresario. Include in the diagram at least six
items that would be of importance in the settlement of Texas and reflective of the lives of
Texas settlers. Include with the diagram a one page explanation of the items included in
the diagram.
Standard(s): 7.2E , 7.2F , 7.21B , 7.22D ELPS ELPS.c.5B , ELPS.c.5E
Key Understandings
Leaders have many responsibilities. What were the contributions of significant individuals during the colonization of Texas?
What was life like in Texas during this era? Vocabulary
empresario – an agent who makes all the arrangements to bring settlers to a colony
Related Vocabulary
land grant
constitution
Materials
annexation
revolution
colonization
Textbook
Notebook
Laptop
Map pencils and markers
Paper, large for drawing (1 per student)
Picture of a principal’s office
Note cards or sticky notes (2 per small group)
Paper, 8 1∕2 x 11 (1 per student)
Scissors
Information on Stephen F. Austin, Martin DeLeon, and Green Dewitt Correspondence
between Stephen F. Austin and others colonists and empresarios Instructional Procedures
ENGAGE
Bellwork: Vocabulary
Suggested Day
Day 1
1. Organize students in small groups of three.
2. Display a picture of a principal’s office. Discuss the job of the
principal; the qualities and characteristics required by the job
(include leadership qualities in the discussion), and the possible
personal attributes of the person revealed by the items in the
office/desk.
3. Distribute two note cards or sticky notes to each group.
4. On their first note card or sticky note, each group lists three items
they
see in the picture that makes this obvious it is a school principal’s
office
and two items that might reveal personal attributes of the person.
5. As a class, briefly discuss some items listed.
6. On their second note card or sticky note, each group writes the one
item that they feel best describes a principal and his/her role as a
leader in the school.
7. Groups put their note cards or sticky notes in a designated area for
the teacher to share with the class.
8. Facilitate a discussion in which students explain why they chose this
item.
9. Lead the discussion to qualities of leadership.
10. In the upcoming lesson students examine the leadership skills of
three important empresarios. EXPLORE
1. Review events that have occurred to this point to help students build
context about the individuals, events, and issues they have studied to
this point that have shaped the history of Texas.
Suggested Day
Day 1-2
2. Distribute a piece of paper to each student.
3. Students fold their paper in the center and then cut the cover into
three strips (cut only to the fold). When the uncut half is laid flat, the
strip can be “opened” to reveal a blank area where information of
each empresario will be written. On the closed strips (the front
covers), write the names of the empresarios to be studied. 5. Display an example to help students understand the kind of
information they are to gather. 6. Assign one of the following empresarios to each student in the
group. (Moses Austin, Stephen F. Austin, Martin DeLeon or Green
Dewitt)
7. Students research their assigned empresario using their
textbook, approved websites, and other classroom resources
and take notes on the Flip Notes form in the appropriate area.
8. When finished, students take turns sharing information about
their empresario with the other members of their group. The
other members write notes in the appropriate place on their Flip
Notes organizer.
9. At the end of this formative assessment, students should have
information about each empresario completed on their Flip
Notes organizer. EXPLAIN
Bellwork: Vocabulary
Suggested Day
Day 2
1. Students pair with another student who was not in their original
group and share information they gained that addresses the
guidelines displayed.
2. Students adjust the notes on their organizer as appropriate as
new information is gained.
3. Orally they summarize what they have learned and then they
write, on the back of their Flip Notes organizer, a statement
about the significance of empresarios in general and the
contributions of the specific significant individuals they studied. ELABORATE
Bellwork: Vocabulary
1. Organize students into groups of two.
2. Distribute the Handout: Empresario Letter and the Handout:
Four Square Empresario.
3. Provide access to primary source documents (Austin’s letters) to
help students build a better understanding of the work and life of
Austin. 4. Students use the letter (Handout: Empresario Letter ) to complete
the Four Square and read other primary sources to gain further
information about Austin’s life and work.
5. Facilitate a discussion in which students discuss their answers
on the Handout: Four Square Empresario and make inferences
about life during the era, the life of an empresario, etc.
6. Continue the discussion to provide students an opportunity to
apply what they have learned about contributions of significant
individuals during the Mexican settlement of Texas to answer the
Suggested Day
Day 3-4
guiding questions and address the Key Understanding.
Leaders have many responsibilities.
What were the contributions of significant individuals during
the colonization of Texas?
What was life like in Texas during this era? EVALUATE
Bellwork: Vocabulary
Sketch a diagram of the office of an empresario. Include in the diagram
at least six items that would be of importance in the settlement of Texas
and reflective of the lives of Texas settlers. Include with the diagram a
one page explanation of the items included in the diagram.
Suggested Day
Day 5
Last Updated
Print Date 10/24/2016 Printed By Erica Johnson, NEWTON MIDDLE