② Deep · Connect & organize

Phase 2 — Connect & organize

Now students take the facts from Phase 1 and relate them: mapping how site factors add up, 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 weigh how water, farmland, defense, trade, and relationships make a location good or poor, read a 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)(7)(A–B), (c)(8)(A–C)

1 · Site-factors concept map

Build a class concept map with “Where should the mission stand?” in the center. Around it, add the five site factors. For each one, draw an arrow to good location or poor location and say the reason aloud. This rehearses how people adapt to and modify the environment (§113.15(c)(8)).

Site factor	Points to a GOOD location when…	Points to a POOR location when…
Water	a river or spring is close and steady	water is far, dry, or floods
Farmland	soil is good and land is flat enough to farm	land is rocky, dry, or too rugged
Defense	the spot can be protected by a presidio	the spot is open and hard to defend
Trade routes	near paths for carrying and trading goods	cut off from other settlements
Relationships	the American Indian people of the land are willing to allow it	the people already there do not want it, or a rival is near

Talk move: point to any factor and finish the sentence “This makes it a good/poor place because ______.” Notice that relationships can outweigh even good water — a mission could only stand where the people of the land allowed it.

Elaboration & organization · d 0.72§113.15(c)(1)(B–D), (c)(19)(A)

2 · Primary & secondary sources — read for point of view

Give pairs two short, real (district-approved) sources: one that describes a Spanish mission such as San Antonio de Valero, and one that reflects an American Indian point of view on the land and on the newcomers. 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 story does it tell — and whose is missing?
Question: What does it make you want to find out?

Credibility check (c)(19)(A): is this a first-hand record from the time (primary) or someone's later explanation (secondary)? How do we know?

📚 Primary & secondary sources: Handbook of Texas · San Antonio de Valero Mission ↗ · Handbook of Texas · Caddo ↗ · Portal to Texas History · Spanish missions ↗ · LoC · Getting Started with Primary Sources ↗

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

3 · Structured claim — a warm-up argument

A low-stakes rehearsal of the reasoning the problem needs. 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 the mission stand near a big river with good farmland even if the people already living there do not want it? Give your claim, one piece of evidence from Phase 1 or the sources, and your reasoning.

Sentence stems (ELPS support): “The mission should stand at ______ because ______.” · “The mission should not be built because ______.” · “My evidence is ______.” · “Someone who disagrees might say ______, but ______.”

Note: keep this a practice argument about the general idea. The specific 1718 decision belongs in Phase 3, where students hold stakeholder roles.

✅ Deep check before the problem: can students weigh at least two site factors against each other, 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.