Martin de Leon

Lesson Plan 3

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Written by: Jacquie Welsh
Date: January 26, 2007
Grade level: 7
Subject: Texas History

TEKS Connection:

As a result of this lesson, the student will be able to: Understand the need and effort, as well as reasons to drive cattle from a Texas ranch to New Orleans.

The lesson content is about: Cattle ranching/driving as part of the Texas industry, it’s roots, and what Martin de Leon did to make it successful.

The student will process the content by: Participating in a game that requires them to move from one place to another, reenacting a cattle drive, running into obstacles that could, in turn, damage or compromise the cattle being safely delivered and necessary funding procured.

The student will complete the following product as part of this lesson: Successful completion of the game/obstacle course with loosing few or no "cattle," then a discussion about the experience.

I will know how well the student has understood the content, process, or product by:
Their participation in the activity, their active involvement in discussion at the end.

Prerequisite skills that students should have for this lesson to be successful:
Understanding of Martin de Leon and his work as a cattle rancher/driver, as well as the cattle industry in the state of Texas.

Actual Lesson

Introduction: Recap Martin de Leon’s involvement as a rancher, the trail he used to get his cattle to New Orleans, the dangers and things that could compromise at cattle drive, as well as the importance of the cattle industry in Texas.
Time needed: 5-10 minutes

Learner-centered Strategies/Activities:
Students are broken up into two teams. Each team has a "cattle driver." Have the students be outside, clear the desks out of the way or in an empty space. The space is split in half, one side for each team. The game is played as if it were a giant board game, a dice is rolled to see which team goes first, and then the next roll determines the number of squares that have been placed on the ground (leading to the other side of the room) that the team gets to move on as a group. Some spots are blank, others have positive message "extra watering hole, move forward two squares" and others have an issue or situation that compromises the herd somehow, "cattle thieves, loose two cattle and retreat one square." The team that manages to reach it to New Orleans first wins. Once the game is over, discuss the threats and issues that arose trying to keep the cattle alive along the trail.
Time needed for each: 30min.

Closure: Emphasize that this was a common activity for many people, and kept many communities going and helped found many new ones as well. Answer any questions.
Time needed: 10 minutes

How will this lesson be made relevant to the lives of the students? They reside in a state where ranching, farming and raising cattle is one of the largest industries, and the cultural influences of this can be felt throughout the state. This will teach them how these industries - cattle in particular- got started, and how it helped the state gain regional importance.

Materials required: Open space, tape, tag board to create game spots for ground.

Classroom setup: A place with space to move forward, backwards, etc.

In order to differentiate the lesson to meet the needs of the learners I will do the following: (Please highlight those intelligences that have been addressed in this lesson)

• Verbal-linguistic
• Mathematical-logical
• Spatial
• Bodily Kinesthetic
• Musical
• Interpersonal
• Intrapersonal

Please note other adjustments that you have made to differentiate the lesson:

The following levels of thinking skills are utilized in this lesson:

• Knowledge
• Comprehension
• Application
• Analysis
• Synthesis
• Evaluation