② Deep · Connect & organize

Phase 2 — Connect & organize

Now students take the facts from Phase 1 and relate them: mapping causes, questioning real sources, and building an argument from evidence. Deep learning is where knowledge becomes usable — the bridge to the problem.

🎯 By the end of Phase 2 students can organize the causes and effects of the fence fights, read a primary source for its point of view, and defend a claim with evidence — the exact moves the problem will demand.

Concept mapping · d 0.64§113.15(c)(8)(A–C), (c)(4)(C)

1 · Cause → effect concept map

Build a class concept map with “Conflict over land & water” in the center. On the left, cluster the causes — the new technology and conditions that changed the range. On the right, the effects — what happened because the range got fenced.

Causes (what changed)	Center	Effects (what happened)
barbed wire (cheap fencing)	Conflict over land & water	land & water fenced off from others
railroads (new markets, more ranches & farms)		blocked cattle trails, roads & schools
drought (grass & water grow scarce)		fence-cutting fights break out

Talk move: draw an arrow from any cause to an effect and say the cause-and-effect sentence aloud — for example, “Because barbed wire was cheap, people could fence off the water, so ranchers without land were shut out.” This rehearses §113.15(c)(8).

📚 Background: Handbook of Texas · Fence Cutting ↗ · Handbook of Texas · Windmills ↗

Elaboration & organization · d 0.72§113.15(c)(19)(A–B)

2 · Primary-source analysis — read for point of view

Give pairs one or two real (district-approved) primary sources — for example an 1880s photograph of barbed-wire fencing or a cattle drive, and a short newspaper account of the fence-cutting troubles. Use a four-question source routine:

Source: Who made this, when, and why?
Observe: What do you actually see or read? (facts only)
Point of view: Whose side does it tell — and whose is missing?
Question: What does it make you want to find out?

Credibility check (c)(19)(B): is this a first-hand record from 1883 or someone's later opinion? How do we know?

📚 Primary sources & analysis tools: Portal to Texas History · barbed wire ↗ · Library of Congress · cattle drive photos ↗ · National Archives · barbed-wire document ↗ · LoC · Getting Started with Primary Sources ↗ · LoC · Analyzing Photographs & Prints (PDF) ↗

Argumentation · d 0.86§113.15(c)(19)(B), (c)(10)(A)

3 · Structured argument — a warm-up claim

A low-stakes rehearsal of the reasoning the problem needs. Pose a focused question and have students take a side with evidence, using a claim–evidence–reasoning frame. Then have them state the other side's strongest point (civil discourse).

Warm-up question: Should people be allowed to fence off the open range? Give your claim, one piece of evidence from Phase 1 or the sources, and your reasoning.

Sentence stems (ELPS support): “My claim is ______.” · “My evidence is ______.” · “This matters because ______.” · “Someone who disagrees might say ______, but ______.”

Note: keep this a practice argument about the general idea. The specific 1883 fence dispute belongs in Phase 3, where students hold stakeholder roles.

📚 Background on the fence fights: Handbook of Texas · Fence Cutting ↗

✅ Deep check before the problem: can students name a cause and an effect of the fence fights, read one source for its point of view, and state a claim with evidence? Those three abilities are exactly what Phase 3 will ask them to transfer.

‹ Phase 1 — Surface Phase 3 — Transfer ›

Aligned to (not reproduced from) 19 TAC Ch.113 §113.15; effect sizes from Visible Learning MetaX.