First Semester Final Exam Wednesday

For Wed., 12/17: Study for your First Semester Final Exam.

Click here for Study Tips previously given.

Game Show Tuesday (cont'd) - Chapter 5-8 Summaries

For Tue., 12/16: Game/Quiz Show, continued - Study the Chapter 5-8 Summaries. Questions will be similar to today's. If you didn't do so well today, here's your chance to save your grade on this assignment and to prepare for Wednesday's First Semester Final Exam. Good luck, Earthfolk.

Game Show Monday - Chapter 1-4 Summaries

For Mon., 12/15: Learn all the information in the Chapter 1-4 Summaries for a Game Show quiz-type thingy. This will help us review for Wednesday's First Semester Final Exam. You will be given a grade based on how many you get right and wrong during the Game Show. On Tuesday we will do a Game Show over Chapters 5-8.

Finish Reading Chapter 8: Growing Tensions (Leading to the Texas Revolution)

For Fri, 12/12: Finish reading Ch. 8. Pay close attention to the events and attitudes that led to the Texas Revolution. Be evaluating what you read from both the Mexican and Texian points of view. We will soon debate: "Did the Anglos (and Tejanos) have the right and good excuses to revolt against Mexico?"

Chapter 8 Summary Quiz Thursday

For Thur, 12/11/08: Quiz over Ch. 8 Summary: Growing Tensions Lead to Texas Revolution
1. Learn all the words, sentences, and pictures discussing the growing tensions between Mexico and the Texians.
2. On the map: Learn the four departments (Coahuila, Bexar, Nacogdoches, Brazos) and the locations of the skirmishes at NAV (Nacogdoches, Anahuac, Velasco).
3. Be able to tell Mexican and Texian points of view about the various issues and incidents that led to the Texas Revolution. Study what you wrote in the left and right margins beside Fredonian Rebellion, the slavery issue, the Law of April 6, 1830, and the various skirmishes.

Study Tips--First Semester Final Exam, 2008-2009

Click Timeline to enlarge.

Wed, 12/17/08 - IDS Social Studies Final Exam
Study the following:
1. Timeline of Texas History - Learn the names and dates of the Time Periods from the Indian Period through the Civil War. You can learn others for Extra Credit. You can find a copy of the Timeline here and at the top of this post.
2. Chapter Summaries - Chapters 1-8 - Know all that's in the sentences and paragraphs. Pay particular attention to superlatives. You can find the chapter summaries at the Texas and Texans website in the column to the left.
3. Maps - Found on the following pages in your textbook:
p. 48 - Natural Regions of Texas - Know the 4 major natural regions of Texas.
82 - Indians of TX - Be able to locate the major Indian tribes of Texas.
104 - Explorers of TX - Know this is during the Spanish Period. Be able to locate the 5 major Spanish expeditions.
113 - La Salle's Expedition, 1684-1687 - Know that this shows the first French exploration of Texas. Remember that Spanish settlement in East Texas was usually in response to the real or imagined French threat.
125 - Spanish Presence in TX - Know what the map shows generally. Be able to locate these: Ysleta, San Francisco de los Tejas, San Antonio Missions, La Bahia (Goliad), Nacogdoches.
141 - Adams-Onis Treaty, 1819 - Be able to locate Texas near the end of the Spanish Period.
168 - TX as Part of Mexico, 1824 - Be able to locate Texas as part of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas.
173 - Colonization Contracts - Know what the map generally shows, i. e., the land grants to empresarios during the Mexican Period. Know the location of Austin's colony.
192 - Trouble in Texas, 1831-1832 - Know that the clashes at Nacogdoches, Anahuac, & Velasco reflect tensions between Mexico and the Texians that led to the Texas Revolution.

Rip in Texas - Assignment #1 Due Monday

For Mon., 12/8: Have the notes on what Texas was like at the beginning of your 20-year period ready to turn in when you arrive in class on Monday. The Rip Van Winkle in Texas Project Instructions are here.

Friday's Quiz - Ch. 7 Summary - Mexican Texas: The Age of Empresarios & Anglo-American Colonization of Texas 1821-1836

For Friday, 12/5 : Quiz over Ch. 7 Summary: Mexican Texas. . .
1. Learn all the information in the summary. You can grab an extra copy of the Chapter 7 Summary at the Texas and Texans website in the column to the left.
2. Notice all superlatives.
3. Maps: Be able to write the titles of the maps, locate Coahuila y Tejas, Mexico as a whole, and Austin's Grant. All the other land grants can count as Extra Credit. By the way, the full name of the map on the right is "Colonization Contracts." Other possible titles might include "Mexican Texas: Empresario Contracts," "Land Grants to Empresarios in Mexican Texas," and other titles your little, er, big old brains might be able to come up with.
4. Be able to identify the dude pictured in the upper right-hand corner of page 1 of the Summary. Here's a link to one, in case you need it.
5. Look back over the journal of Austin's first visit to Texas in 1821 and be able to list things Austin liked about Texas.

Rip Van Winkle in Texas - Instructions

Here is the link to the Rip Van Winkle in Texas Instructions. (Clicky clicky.)

To help you keep up, here is the Schedule of Due Dates.

+ Due Monday, 8 Dec 08 – Assignment #1: Take notes on What Texas was Like at the Beginning of the 20-year Period. For 1820-1840, read and take notes from pp. 150-153 and other parts of Chapter 6 if helpful—for example, filibusters. If you’re doing a different 20-year period, find the appropriate chapters and pages in your textbook. You may also use other sources (e.g., HOTO, Google, etc.) for extra credit or to make sure you have enough information.

+ Due Monday, January 12 09 – Assignment #2: Your Story up to “Falling Asleep” —Write your story to the point at which the main character “falls asleep,” checks out, goes into a coma, wanders off, vanishes, whatever.

+ Due when we reach this point in the course (sometime after Christmas holidays) - Assignment #3: Take notes on Texas at the End of the 20-Year Period + make a list of important events and people during these 20 years that you will include in your story. + List ways in which Texas was different from how it was 20 years earlier?

+ Due one week after Assignment #3 – Assignment #4: Your Story from “Waking Up” to the End of the Story – Your main character “wakes up,” “returns,” etc., and notices how things have changed and receives information from and interacts with other people about important changes, developments, events, and people during the past 20 years

+ Due one week after Assignment #4 – Assignment #5: Your finished story. This will basically be a combination of Assignment #2 & Assignment #4, polished and buffed to perfection.