How I Teach It: Republic of Texas

Ready for another installment of How I Teach It? This post is all about the Republic of Texas. This is a time in our history that it really interesting, even though it was short lived. A lot of my students seem to think that Texas was a republic for a matter of centuries, not just years. There are a lot of misconceptions to clear up about this time of our history, so let's get started.

This unit starts hot on the heals of our Texas Revolution Unit where we end with the Treaty of Velasco which created the Republic of Texas. I like to start with a little bit of background knowledge on the Republic with a fold-up.

This fold up covers the basic information about the Republic of Texas including the flag, the government, the capital, and how Native Americans were affected. 

From there, we continue our discussion of the government by comparing two of the more prominent presidents of the Republic with a sort. Then move on to the documents that shaped the Republic with a fold-up on Important Documents. 

By now students get the sense that everything was not rosy with the Republic of Texas, but they had quite a few challenges. This brings us to another sort on the Successes and Challenges of the Republic of Texas. I love this sorts because it gives me a quick look at who is understanding the information and who needs some more help. 

Finally, we review all of our new information and then check our knowledge with Republic of Texas Task Cards. I like to use these task cards as an assessment because they truly are a review of information that we have covered. I hang them around the room and students travel around answering the questions on their recording sheet or in their Texas History journal. 

This unit usually takes our class about a week to get through thoroughly. Students enjoy knowing that their state is a bit different because of the journey through history that it has taken!