Native American Names in Texas

Social Studies Media / Resource Lesson

Music media: Houston sung by Dean Martin

Rationale: Media enhanced lessons in all content curriculum instruction can be academically successful and intrinsically motivating for students. Media provides a strong connection to the students’ popular culture. The students today are entertained by TV, movies, video games, music and other media recourses. However when teacher use media in the social studies curriculum students can apply their knowledge and familiarity of media to connect and understand important social studies concepts. When media is age appropriate and effectively relates to the lesson for student comprehension this approach can be extremely successful.

To prepare for an upcoming unit on Texas Native Americans I decided to incorporate media to enhance my fourth grade socials studies lesson. When exploring my options on Texas media I began my search at home. I have a collection of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra music and I remembered a song Dean Martin once sung entitled Houston. I chose this song because the message in the chorus relates to a Texas Native American topic which states “I am lonely in this old town. Everybody gets me down. I’m a face without a name, just walking in the rain. I’m going back to Houston, Houston, Houston” When Dean Martin decides to go back to Houston because he is lonely I interpreted as he is going back to a friendly town like Houston, Texas. The name Texas originated from the Caddo tribe Indian term “Tayshas” which means “friend or allies”. When the students are introduced to the meaning of Texas the lesson can proceed in researching other names in Texas including rivers, cities and lakes that are named after Native American words that have historical and cultural meaning.

Media designed lessons must incorporate and serve as a framework for social studies instruction in which the lesson must meet most of the ten thematic strands of social studies. With the song entitled Houston performed by Dean Martin as my media support I developed a lesson based on Texas Native American word origins in rivers, cities and lakes. The thematic strands within the lesson include “Culture” in which the teacher and the students research and discuss Native American words of cities, rivers, and lakes and the meaning. “Time and Change” is another stand within the lesson which explains the Native American impact throughout Texas history through group research and teacher instruction. Another thematic strand is “People, Places, and Environments” in which the lesson allows the students to locate cities, rivers, and lakes on a map and discover the people who made an impact in naming many important places in Texas.

When developing this lesson I researched through the social studies fourth grade TEKS to establish what content I could cover to be age appropriate. Since my lesson requires for teams of three to four students (explained in objectives, multiple intelligences, power point presentation and activities and procedures) to access maps, books and the internet to research and obtain information, I knew that it was an important part of the social studies skills for that particular grade level. Texas is the main topic for fourth grade social studies curriculum and I realized that my lesson could be effective in the fourth grade classroom. I feel that this lesson is age appropriate because of the content covered (Texas Native Americans) and the process to receive the information during instruction matches many fourth grade social studies TEKS. I researched many websites and books for the children to access and interpret successfully. I chose child level websites that assist in helping the students find what they need. When preparing a lesson that requires research on the internet it is important for the teacher to search for the most entertaining, content effective, and age appropriate web sites to enhance students’ academic outcome of the lesson.

Objectives: Levels of learning (Blooms Taxonomy)

The students will…

1. Listen (knowledge) and recognize (knowledge) words in the music that relate to Texas and friendliness. As a whole class list clues within the song that relate to Texas and friendliness. The teacher creates a list on the chalk board.

2. Discuss (understand) and discover (application) the origin behind the name Texas and what it means. As a whole class brainstorm where the word Texas comes from and what it means. Present a power point presentation as lesson instruction that explains the origin and meaning of Texas as well as examples of other states in America with Native American names and the meaning.

3. Identify (knowledge) major rivers, counties, cities, and lakes on a map of Texas. The teacher presents a map of Texas and has the students volunteer to point out major rivers, cities, lakes on the map.

4. Classify (application) and predict (application) what rivers, counties, cities or lake names that comes from Native American words like Texas. Teacher creates a class list of their predictions. The teacher will also assign a number of cities, rivers, and lakes to research as well.

5. Determine (analysis) and list what kind of sources to be used to find out the information of Texas rivers, lakes, cities and counties. As a whole class create a list of resources for the class to use for research. The teacher will also provide a resource list of websites and a variety of books.

6. Determine (analysis) the Native American origins and meanings behind assigned and student chosen names through internet and book research.

7. Create (synthesize) a class power point with the teacher presenting the rivers, cities and lakes that contain a Native American origin. The students decide on the content, color, text style and type of pictures they want on the power point. The teacher will then put the information together to present the next day.

8. Measure (evaluate) the power points effectiveness in lesson instruction. The students rate the power points ability to entertain and explain the concept. The students’ create a checklist for the effectiveness of the power point presentation.

Multiple Intelligences: Howard Gardner

Verbal—Linguistic: The students will listen to the music. The students will listen and read along with the power point presentation. The students will also listen and participate in whole and small group discussions.

Spatial: The students will organize information in class lists and charts. The students will also complete an assessment of their power point presentation through an organized and student created checklist.

Interpersonal: The students will work in groups of three or four to research their assigned rivers, lakes, counties, and cities in Texas. The students will work in pairs when researching on the internet. The students as a whole class will determine what type of guidelines should be assessed when grading their power point presentations effectiveness.

Intrapersonal: The students will evaluate their power point creation individually with a student created checklist and provide additional comments if necessary.

Musical: The students the will listen to music and relate parts of the song to the lesson through whole class discussion.

TEKS:

(4.20) Culture: The student understands the contributions of people of various racial, ethnic, and religious groups to Texas. The student is expected to:

(4.22) Social studies skills: The student applies critical-thinking skills to organize and use information acquired from a variety of sources including electronic technology. The student is expected to

(A) Differentiate between, locate, and use primary and secondary sources such as computer software; interviews; biographies; oral, print, and visual material; and artifacts to acquire information about the United States and Texas;

(C) Organize and interpret information in outlines, reports, databases, and visuals including graphs, charts, timelines, and maps;

Activities and Procedures:

Focus/ Set: “Imagine it’s the late 1950s early 60s and Dean Martin is the king of cool when it comes to music idols. Just like today many of your favorite music artists and groups are very popular, Dean Martin was a music success with many other roles in movies and TV shows back then. I want you to listen to this song carefully and tell me what you think he is singing about.” Play Houston sung by Dean Martin. Discuss the concept of the song. “What do you think Dean Martin is singing about?” Have the students brainstorm ideas of how the song relates to Texas and what the word means. As a whole class list clues in the song that relate to the meaning of “Texas”. Probe the students to discuss how different states in America are known for different things. “Have you ever heard that Texas is the lone star state?” “Do you know how are state got the name Texas?” “How did Texas get its name?”

Guided Practice: Present to the whole class a power point presentation as lesson instruction explaining the origin and meaning of the word Texas. The power point will also provide examples of other states in America with Native American words and meanings behind them. The presentation will also identify eight city names, four river and lake names for the students to chose and find the information about. “What I have for you here is a list of rivers in Texas. Do you think that all these rivers come from Native American names? What your groups are going to do today is divide up the rivers, cities and lakes provided here on the screen to find out the origin behind the names. Your goal is to identify the location, the origin and culture of the name. If it is not Native American then Ms. Roy wants to know who or what culture named that particular Texas landmark.” The teacher will show and read an example of what they are expected to find out. “The Sabine River forms a part of the boundary between Texas and Louisiana then rises through east Texas. The Sabine River gets its name from the Spanish word meaning “cypress”. Many cypress trees grow along the banks of the Sabine River. The water from the Sabine River is used for irrigating rice fields.” The teacher then points to the Sabine River on the map of Texas.” “Before you go off in your groups I want you all to know that the entire class will turn in their research information and put it into a power point presentation like the one you just saw in class. It is important that you get all the helpful information you can on your Texas river, city or lake. When the entire class is done we will come back and decide what colors, font, and pictures to use for our class power point.”

Cooperative Group Work: The students work in team groups of three or four. The students will move to the computer lab where two students from each group rotate from book research to computers for 40 minutes (20 minutes at each station). The students are each assigned one river, city or lake a piece to research. Together the students write out their findings. The teammates will help edit and revise their partners writing before handing it in to the teacher. The class will then receive a handout with a blank checklist table for the class to write on. The students will discuss with the teacher what establishes a good power point.

Independent Practice: The next day the students will see the power point put together. They will assess its effectiveness based on the checklist they made the day before.

Materials: A copy of Dean Martin Greatest Hits: King of Cool CD, power point presentation, pencils, paper, computers with internet access, books for research, map of Texas rivers and cities, stereo, pre-made tables on paper for checklist, digital camera, and a floppy disk.

Evaluation: During the duration of the lesson the teacher will constantly observe her students progress. The teacher will provide each student proper guidance and academic support to succeed in the lesson. The teacher will assess their knowledge of the concept by reading each student’s research entries for the power point presentation. As the students evaluate the effectiveness of their research on the power point checklist the teacher can assess their comprehension and success of the lesson.

Related Books and References:

Nath, Janice. Becoming an EC-4 Teacher in Texas. Canada, Wadsworth: 2003,

Blooms Taxonomy pgs 55-58.

Nath, Janice. Becoming an EC-4 Teacher in Texas. Canada, Wadsworth: 2003,

Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences.

Sorenson, Richard. Indian Tribes of Texas. Portland, TX: Teacher Enrichment,1994.

Sorenson, Richard. Young Texans and Their Land. Portland, TX: SMP Company, 1984.

Bollinger, Bill and Linda. Texas Your State’s Story: Revised. Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn Company.

Warren, Betsy. Indians Who Lived in Texas. Dallas, TX: Hendrick-Long Publishing Company, 1983.

http://www.thc.state.tx.us/triviafun/trvindian.html

http://www.americanindiansource.com/indianed/statesnames.html

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fish/infish/regions/instate.htm

Native American Names in Texas
Fourth Grade Lesson - Social Studies Curriculum


	For power point presentation of this lesson click on image above