This is Problem-Based Learning. Students don't answer questions about annexation — they step inside the problem as stakeholders in the Republic of Texas in 1845, and the teacher guides rather than tells. The whole phase runs the problem-solving process named in §113.19(c)(23)(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.
🌟 What was really at stake: Handbook of Texas · Annexation ↗ (§113.19(c)(4)).
Assign or let students choose a stakeholder. Each will reason from that person's point of view. Every role has something real at stake. Handle the roles touching slavery with honesty and gravity — these were real people facing life-and-death stakes.
You want your family safe from raids and want to sell your cotton in bigger U.S. markets. Joining could bring both. Do you push to annex?
You fought for Texas independence and prize its sovereignty. Giving up self-rule feels like giving up everything you fought for. Can staying free work?
The Republic owes millions and its money is nearly worthless. You wonder whether joining the U.S. is the only way to make the debt payable. What's the safest path for trade?
Your family's roots in Texas run back generations, before the Republic. War with Mexico could tear at your community and your land. Which choice protects your people?
For you the slavery question is not politics — it is your life and freedom. Joining the U.S. as a slave state would harden slavery in Texas; the outcome shapes whether you and your family can ever be free. Your perspective must be heard with honesty and respect.
You must weigh security and debt relief against the near-certainty of war with Mexico and the storm over slavery in the U.S. What does responsible leadership choose?
Build three shared columns on chart paper. This defines the problem and plans the inquiry — the first moves of §113.19(c)(23)(B).
| 💭 Hunches | ✅ Know (from the text) | ❓ Need to know |
|---|---|---|
| Our guesses about what Texas should do and what would happen. | Facts we can point to in the story (it's 1845; Texas is independent but deep in debt; Mexico threatens war; the U.S. has offered statehood; slavery is legal in Texas). | Questions we must answer to decide — How big was the debt really? Could Texas defend itself alone? Would annexation really cause war? What did statehood mean for enslaved and free Black Texans? Who supported each side and why? |
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 Texas .gov / .org / .edu 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 · Annexation ↗ · Texas State Library · Hard Road to Texas ↗ · Portal to Texas History · Texas annexation ↗ · Bullock Texas State History Museum ↗. Full list + how-to in the facilitator guide.
From their stakeholder's point of view, each group develops a recommendation — join the United States or stay independent — 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 1845 decision looked from every side.
Connect to what actually happened & to the standards: Texas voted to accept annexation and joined the United States on December 29, 1845. Annexation helped trigger the Mexican–American War (1846–1848), and Texas's entry as a slave state deepened the sectional crisis that would lead toward civil war. Name the steps students just used — that is §113.19(c)(23)(B).
🌟 What happened next: Texas State Library · Hard Road to Texas (aftermath) ↗ · Handbook of Texas · Mexican War ↗
Aligned to (not reproduced from) 19 TAC Ch.113 §113.19; effect sizes from Visible Learning MetaX. This scenario dramatizes the real debate over Texas annexation in 1845.