Here are two of the writing STAAR passages we used this week in class.
The battle plan passage is an editing practice. Although the passage only discusses one of the possible plans Houston might have had during the Runaway Scrape, we discussed others in class. Houston didn’t share much on his thoughts with his army during the retreat. We do know that he spent time training his raw troops during this period. Below is an interesting link on some of the viewpoints of his men and my favorite Sam Houston quote:
https://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/program/episodes/two/weconqure.htm
If you read The Boy in the Alamo to your class, the Houston’s quote appears partially in the book as well. “If I err, the blame is mine.”
The middle battle passage is a revision practice. After reading, I show the students the floor of our Capitol building. We talk about the lesser known battles that appear on the floor. You can’t see all of them on this page. Not all of them are in the South Foyer. However, I do make sure to tell them that Coleto, Refugio, and San Patricio are honored on the floors of our Capitol. You can see Goliad on the floor here, but this doesn’t refer to the Goliad Massacre. This refers to one of the early battles before Santa Anna came to Texas in full force.
https://tspb.texas.gov/prop/tc/tc-spaces/spaces09.html
Teaching Without Twitching 