Life in the Texas Settlements


Texas Studies Age of Empresarios Life in the Texas Settlements
Students first brainstorm names of Austin downtown streets; all north-south running streets are named for rivers. Then students summarize details about different areas of life within the Texas settlements. Next they find a photo of a dog-trot house and infer how its structure helped residents adapt to the Texas climate. Finally they write a journal entry describing their life in the Austin Colony.

This learning experience is designed for device-enabled classrooms. The teacher guides the lesson, and students use embedded resources, social media skills, and critical thinking skills to actively participate. To get access to a free version of the complete lesson, sign up for an exploros account.

1:1 Devices
Teacher Pack

The Pack contains associated resources for the learning experience, typically in the form of articles and videos. There is a teacher Pack (with only teacher information) and a student Pack (which contains only student information). As a teacher, you can toggle between both to see everything.

Here are the teacher pack items for Life in the Texas Settlements:

Preview - Scene 1
Exploros Learnign Experience Scene Navigation


Overview

In this experience, students first brainstorm names of Austin downtown streets; all north-south running streets are named for rivers. Then students summarize details about different areas of life within the Texas settlements. Next they find a photo of a dog-trot house and infer how its structure helped residents adapt to the Texas climate. Finally they write a journal entry describing their life in the Austin Colony.

Note that there are three interrelated experiences that deal with settlement of Texas in the period of 1821–1830:

  • Colonizing Texas, 1821–1830: focuses on Mexico’s steps to open immigration and on empresario Martín de León
  • Austin’s Texas Colony: focuses on Stephen F. Austin and recruitment of Anglo settlers
  • Life in the Texas Settlements (this experience): focuses on life in the settlements

There are two general resources provided in the Student Pack in all three experiences: a timeline of events in Texas history from 1826–1842 and a video (30 minutes). You can refer students to these resources at any point during these experiences.

If you have access to leveled readers about life in a Texas colony during the Mexican colonial period, assign them to the students in parallel to this experience.

Estimated duration: 45-55 minutes

Vocabulary words:

  • policy
  • livelihood
  • flourish
  • grist
  • mill
  • cotton gin
  • cash crop
  • militia
  • municipal
  • emigrant

Objectives

  • Describe life in the Texas colonies.
  • Explain troubles encountered by the new settlements in Texas.


Engage


You have learned about the Mexican government’s policies concerning Anglo immigration to Texas and how Stephen F. Austin established his colony. In this experience, you will learn about life within the colonies.

Objectives

  • Describe life in the Texas colonies.
  • Explain troubles encountered by the new settlements in Texas.


an old map showing downtown Austin as a grid of streets, with the Colorado River in the foreground

Map of Austin, Texas, 1873


The Texas state capital, Austin, was named after Stephen F. Austin. The streets that border the two sides of the capitol building grounds are Colorado Street and San Jacinto Blvd., both named for major Texas rivers.


What do you think are names of other streets in downtown Austin?

Post your answer

The major north-south streets are named for major Texas rivers: Red River, Trinity, San Jacinto, Brazos, Colorado, Lavaca, Guadalupe, San Antonio, Nueces, Rio Grande, Neches, and Sabine.

Students who are familiar with Austin may know that the east-west downtown streets are numbered: 1st Street (renamed Caesar Chavez and running along the Colorado River), and then the streets run from 2nd Street to 19th Street (renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and forming the border between downtown and the University of Texas campus).


When everyone is ready to continue, unlock the next scene.

End of Preview
The Complete List of Learning Experiences in Age of Empresarios Unit.
Would you like to preview the rest of this learning experience, and get access to the entire functioning Texas Studies course for your classroom? Sign up using your school email address below.
Back to top