How to run 1835 — What Should Our Family Do? as Problem-Based Learning: your role, the pre-planning maps, pacing, role cards, sources, and debrief prompts. The golden rule — guide, don't tell. In PBL the students should feel they, not you, planned the investigation.
| Phase | What you do | What you resist |
|---|---|---|
| ① Surface | Teach vocabulary and facts efficiently; run the jigsaw; check acquisition. | Rushing to the problem before facts are secure. |
| ② Deep | Facilitate the cause–effect map and source routine; model claim + evidence. | Giving your own interpretation of the sources. |
| ③ Transfer | Read the problem well; hold the KWHL chart; answer questions with questions; point to sources. | Answering the “Need to know” questions yourself. |
The Surface phase uses a four-topic jigsaw (The road to 1835) — a high-leverage move (d ≈ 0.92) because every student must teach. The flow: expert groups each study one topic and take notes → students re-mix into home groups with one expert per topic → each expert teaches → an individual check for understanding holds everyone accountable.
The per-expert-group source links live on the Surface page, one set per topic. Confirm access through your district before class.
Before teaching, brainstorm every direction the 1835 problem could branch — so you can steer discussion and decide, in advance, which threads are productive and which are too sensitive or off-topic for your class and community.
Slavery and racial history are part of this era, including debates over whether slavery would be allowed in Texas. Handle it briefly, factually, and age-appropriately: acknowledge that enslaved people lived in Texas and that this was one of the disagreements of the time, then keep the family's decision centered on rights, loyalty, land, and community. Present Tejano, Anglo, and Mexican-official points of view as real and reasonable so no single group is cast as the villain.
| If students investigate… | They are working toward… |
|---|---|
| Spanish missions, colonization, and why people came to Texas | §113.15(c)(2)(A–C) |
| causes, events, and effects of the Texas Revolution | §113.15(c)(3)(A) |
| contributions of Travis, Bowie, Crockett, Navarro, Seguín, Zavala | §113.15(c)(3)(B–C) |
| physical regions and where people settled | §113.15(c)(6), (c)(7) |
| Spanish colonial vs. early Mexican government | §113.15(c)(12)(B) |
| the purpose of the Texas Declaration of Independence | §113.15(c)(13)(A) |
| using and questioning sources; points of view; claim + evidence | §113.15(c)(19)(A–B) |
| defining the problem, weighing options, choosing & evaluating a solution | §113.15(c)(22)(B) |
Confirm access through your district's approved catalog before class. Vetted, free starting points:
Aligned to (not reproduced from) 19 TAC Ch.113 §113.15.