This is Problem-Based Learning. Students don't answer questions about 1835 — they step inside the problem as stakeholders, and the teacher guides rather than tells. The whole phase runs the problem-solving process named in §113.15(c)(22)(B).
Read the narrative aloud. Read it once for the story, then again for details students will need.
First reaction (not answers yet): what did you notice? What do you wonder? Keep it open — the point is to pull students into the problem.
📚 The bigger story: Handbook of Texas · Texas Revolution ↗ · Bullock Texas State History Museum · Discover ↗
Assign or let students choose a stakeholder. Each will reason from that person's point of view. Every role has something real at stake.
You cleared this land and planted it under Mexican law. New rules threaten your farm. Do you stay loyal, push for reform, or risk everything for independence?
Your family has ranched here for generations and loves Texas. Where do your loyalty and your future lie — and what will keep your community safe?
You promised the government you would bring in good settlers — and you promised those families a future. Both promises are now hard to keep.
Your duty is to Mexico and its laws. How do you keep order and keep Texas in the nation — while treating your neighbors with fairness?
You just crossed into Texas hoping for land and a fresh start. You barely know the rules — and now everything is uncertain. Whom do you trust?
You are old enough to help and to worry. You see what each choice would cost — and you have a voice at the family table too.
Build three shared columns on chart paper. This defines the problem and plans the inquiry — the first moves of §113.15(c)(22)(B).
| 💭 Hunches | ✅ Know (from the text) | ❓ Need to know |
|---|---|---|
| Our guesses about what the family should do and what each choice might cost. | Facts we can point to in the story (it's 1835; the family farms colony land; the government changed the rules; neighbors disagree; a Tejano family and a Mexican officer live nearby). | Questions we must answer to decide — What exactly changed after 1830? What choices did real Texas families have? What happened to people who stayed loyal, who asked for reform, and who fought? How did it turn out? |
Turn “Need to know” into the H of KWHL: How will we find out? (which sources, whom to ask). Record it — this is the class's research plan.
Groups pursue their “Need to know” questions using vetted sources (see the facilitator guide for suggested public-domain Texas-history sources). Students gather and use valid information, applying the source routine they practiced in Phase 2. Keep filling the Learned column of KWHL as answers come in.
Teacher-as-guide moves: answer a question with a question; point to a source, not the answer; ask “How do you know?” and “Whose view is missing?”
📚 Investigation sources: Handbook of Texas · Texas Revolution ↗ · Texas State Library · Giving Birth to Texas ↗ · Bullock Museum · Education ↗ · National Archives · DocsTeach ↗. Full list + how-to in the facilitator guide.
From their stakeholder's point of view, each group develops a recommendation for what the family should do in 1835 — and defends it with evidence. Assessment happens throughout the process, not only here (the reasoning is the point).
Groups present an 8-part problem/solution brief (poster, slides, or spoken):
Close the loop — the evaluate step of the problem-solving process. Discuss across roles so students hear how the same problem looked from every side.
What actually happened: in the fall of 1835 Texans met at the Consultation to argue exactly this question. Fighting broke out, and on March 2, 1836 Texas signed the Declaration of Independence, becoming a republic. Real families made these choices — and paid for them. Name the six steps students just used: that is §113.15(c)(22)(B).
📚 How it turned out: Handbook of Texas · The Consultation ↗ · Handbook · Texas Declaration of Independence ↗ · Handbook · Republic of Texas ↗
Aligned to (not reproduced from) 19 TAC Ch.113 §113.15; effect sizes from Visible Learning MetaX. This narrative is a teaching fiction based on the era.