Each year that I have taught Texas history, I have used The Boy in the Alamo, by Margaret Cousins, as the basis of my unit. I believe this book is the main reason students have come back to me years later remembering detailed facts about what we learned. There is something magical about telling history through a story format. Stories have a way of making things live inside our imaginations in a way that a list of facts can never rival.
In addition to being a well-written novel, the author of this book lists Walter Prescott Webb as the historical consultant. Webb was a notable historian and author for our state. I believe his assistance on this project is the main reason this book is so historically accurate.
I’m going to be sharing a series of posts that include the vocabulary, questions, and other resources that I use with this book. Today, I’m going to cover the first five chapters. I will upload the rest as fast as I can. Just keep in mind that I do teach full time, so that isn’t as fast as I would like. I usually have big dreams for what I would like to accomplish each week, then fall asleep on the couch. 🙂
Before Beginning the Book:
Before we read, we I have about three days worth of lessons that cover the events leading up to the Texas Revolution, the Battle of Gonzales, and the Siege of Bexar.
Basic Lesson Format for each Chapter:
Since my class includes students with special needs with lower reading levels, I read this book out loud to my classes. I do not pre-teach the vocabulary, instead, I stop as we encounter each word and ask the students to help me determine the word(s) using context clues. Sometimes we have to keep reading and go back. I try to use this opportunity to model how real readers use context clues to figure out words. If we absolutely can’t figure out a word, we STOP and look it up together. I do not focus on long vocabulary lists because of this. Instead, I have chosen words that I have found over the years to cause confusion over the main ideas in the book.
As I read, I stop and ask the questions as we go along. Students jot down their answers as we go. I do not ask them to write the questions. I simply ask them to jot down their answers. There have been years when I had students who were not capable of writing on their own and many days when I’m short on time. In these cases, I simply stop and ask the questions to the group and ask for an oral response. I prefer to do the stop-and-jot method then have the students share with an elbow partner. I then call on students using cold call sticks to share the response with the class. Then we move on with the story.
I tried to make most of the questions inferences. This is a skill that students struggle with, and I love that I can use some social studies time to model how to solve these questions when they get stuck.
TEKS:
analyze the causes, major events, and effects of the Texas Revolution, including the Battle of the Alamo the Texas Declaration of Independence, the Runaway Scrape, and the Battle of San Jacinto [4.3A]
summarize the significant contributions of individuals such as William B. Travis, James Bowie, David Crockett, Juan N. Seguin, Plácido Benavides, José Francisco Ruiz, Antonio López de Santa Anna, Susanna Dickinson, and Enrique Esparza [4.3B]
Introduce the Book:
Before I begin the first chapter, I spend a few minutes reviewing genre. We talk about fiction/nonfiction and the various types of each. I make it a point to spend some time talking about the characteristics of historical fiction: this is fiction that is set in a real time period, may contain real events and facts, but also contains made-up elements. I explain that each type of historical fiction is free to mix-up made-up and real in anyway they like. I tell them that is one reason why it is important as a reader to identify the genre straight away. Otherwise, they may end up believing that something that is fake is real!
I tell them that this particular historical fiction book was written with a lot of true facts. I tell them I will take time after each chapter to talk about what was real and what was not. Then, we begin.
Chapter One:
Vocabulary:
dirk knife
blacksmith
Questions:
How can you tell that Davy Crockett was a famous person?
How will Buck’s family react if he leaves to fight in the war?
Do you think Crockett should let someone so young go?
Real/Not Real:
I stop and tell the students that Billy and his family are not real people from Texas history. They are only meant to represent people from that time period. However, Davy Crockett WAS real.
Chapter Two:
Vocabulary:
stage coach
trunks
Questions:
Why does Colonol Gray help Billy?
What do you think will happen to Billy if he can’t find Buck?
Real/Not Real:
I remind the students again that Billy and Buck were not real. The stage coach drivers are also not real. However,
Colonel Gray was a real person who did deliver letters to Washington-on-the Brazos. We talk about how the Siege of Bexar was also a real event. Many other real people are mentioned in this chapter, but I usually just move on. If you want, you can also mention that Bowie, Houston,
Dr. Grant, and
Colonel Johnson are also real. Since we talk about the first two in detail later and don’t discuss the later at all, I just move on. I provided links for more information on the lesser known characters just in case you happen to be a total history maniac like I am.
Note: I usually have to stop here and explain that Billy gets called Billy, Will, and William in this book.
Learn about Davy Crockett:
Before we go on to chapter three, I take a day to teach students about Davy Crockett. As mentioned in previous posts, I try to put as much as I can into
centers for my students since the main focus of my class is teaching writing. I created a short lesson video about Crockett that I upload from Youtube into Edpuzzle. My students watch the video, write three complete sentences containing facts they learned, and share those sentences with their partners at the end of class. We then come together and use the cold call sticks to share with the entire class. This gives me an opportunity to correct any misunderstandings. If the day doesn’t go as planned, I just have share time right before we read chapter three. If you want to use my lesson video, I’m happy to share for free. Just send me an email to history1836@gmail.com or comment on this post. It is sometimes up on my Youtube channel (
Shanafelt1836), but I do take it down each year because once my students find my channel, they all rush to watch all the videos at once.
Chapter Three:
Vocabulary:
beholden
Questions:
Why did they laugh when Billy drew his weapon?
Why does Buck want Billy to leave?
Why do the men vote for Billy to stay?
What do you think it means that that Buck puts a blanket on Billy while he sleeps?
Real/Not Real:
Again, I remind them Billy, Buck, and the stagecoach drivers are not real. Crockett was real.
Note: Crockett calls Billy a Wayfaring Stranger for the first time. This is a famous song reference. See the website below for the lyrics:
Learn about William Travis:
Before moving on to chapter four, I use my lesson video to teach the students more about William Travis. I use the same format as the Crockett lesson above. Again, I’m happy to share the video. Just don’t expect professional quality. 🙂
Chapter Four:
Vocabulary:
bulrushes
peacable
bivouc
Questions:
Why is everyone so glad to see Crockett at the Alamo?
Why is Billy mad he has to stay with the women and children?
Do you think he should? Why or why not?
Real/Not Real:
Travis/Bowie/Crockett are real and at the Alamo. The 1824 flag was real. There were also many people of Hispanic descent at the Alamo. Lupe is not a real person, but she and her family represent the brave Tejanos who defied Santa Anna at the Alamo. It is sad to me that they are so often left out of the story. Below is a great article I like to show at this point to give real names to the actual names this book leaves out (although Seguin is mentioned later…I also take a day to teach about Seguin two other days during this unit). I bring up this same article later to point out that the REAL boy in the Alamo was Enrique Esparza. Much of what we know about the final days at the Alamo are due to his eye witness accounts.
Learn the Layout of the Alamo:
Remember that I only allot about fifteen minutes a day for social studies. You could just show this video along with chapter four or five, but I set aside one day to show it. I think it helps the students to be able to visualize what the Alamo actually looked like. I make sure to point out the earthworks that will be mentioned in the book (the trench and stacks of trees and wood near the church) as well as the San Fernando cathedral (the church you see outside the Alamo walls, the place Santa Anna will later hang the blood-red flag). Remind students that the Alamo is over one hundred years old at the time of the book we are reading, and that it is a former mission.
Learn about James Bowie:
Bowie is introduced in chapter five. I use my lesson video to teach about him before reading.
Chapter Five:
Vocabulary:
plaza
earthworks
colic
squeamish
Questions:
Why does Davy change the subject when James says his children died?
Why does Bowie confuse Lupe with his own daughter?
Why does Davy tell Billy to protect Lupe? Could there be other reasons too? What might they be?
Real/Not Real:
Bowie is real. His family really did die. Lupe/Billy are not real.
Note: I do note at the end of this chapter that it was a big sacrifice for Lupe to give up a piece of candy since candy was a treat usually only reserved for Christmas (in small quantities usually).
Teaching Without Twitching 
