- American History--The Alamo story is important in American History, because it was part of the events that led to the transfer of much of the northern territory of Mexico to the United States. The Alamo led to the eventual independence of Texas from Mexico; then 10 years later Texas became a part of the United States, which led to the Mexican War in the 1840s. This in turn led to the U.S. claiming the area from Texas west to California.
All of these events can be combined into a student study and research unit. Select topics such as the Texas Revolution, the annexation of Texas, the Mexican War, the annexation of California, and have the students find library information on the topics and report to the class. Other topics can include the great battles for Texas--the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto--as well as the various engagements of the Mexican War. The Teacher can assign students a state in the Southwest-Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, or Colorado--and have the students find the date and circumstances under which (1) the land area of the state became a U.S. territory and (2) statehood was granted.
- Role Playing--Have a student take the part of WBT or any of the other individuals related to the Alamo drama. He or she can prepare a speech that dramatizes the engagement and tells of attitudes, fears and feelings about the battle. The emotional parts of the role and the character development can be interpretive on the student's part. For interest, have a student act out the role of Santa Anna talking to his troops, or have characters for Bowie and Travis act out their rivalry for leadership at the Alamo. Time can be taken to have the students write their own scripts, individually or in groups. As a suggestion, have them write a letter from the Alamo for use as a script.
- Cameo Interview--As an extension of role playing, a student can take the part of one of the historical characters at the Alamo, and be interviewed by others in the class. Questions asked should reflect a knowledge of the historical events and the attitudes and character of the individuals involved. Some preparation time for the student may be necessary, however. The teacher can prepare a set of questions for student research as an out-of-class assignment (20 questions are appropriate), and then the class can ask the questions as a part of the interview. Try making a video recording of the interview to play back to the class.
- What's My Line--This activity is based on the old quiz show in which a panel of individuals--typically three--claimed to be the same person and have the same profession. One of the three was for real, the other two were pretenders. After asking the panel various questions the participants voted on which individual was telling the truth. To apply this to a Travis history lesson, have three students agree to take the part of a person in WBT's life and times. The three students decide among themselves who will be the real character, without the remainder of the class knowing. The real character has to tell the truth and the pretenders have to make things up, but in a convincing way by using a good bluff and confident manner. Have each question answered by all three participants. After an appropriate time of questions, the students vote on which of the three is playing the true role.
- Wheel of History--Wheel of History is a take-off on the television quiz show Wheel of Fortune, in which panelists try to guess the letters and words in hidden phrases. In its simplest form, a class can be divided in half, with each half electing a captain (a set of individuals can also be selected with the class as spectators, depending on circumstances). A phrase on some aspect of the Travis drama (only a few words or less) or another aspect of American history is laid out on a chalk board or overhead projection with blank spaces for the letters and with spaces between words. The starting side (select the starters by a coin flip) may guess what the phrase is or request a specific letter. If they guess the phrase, they win (or score a point). If they guess a letter and the letter is in the phrase, the teacher fills in all occurrences of the letter on the board, and the team can guess again. If they guess the phrase wrong or guess a letter that is not in the phrase, the play passes to the other team. If the game goes too quickly, it may be desirable to prohibit teams from guessing vowels.
To add some complexity, the teacher can use a spin board, which is an arrow on a swivel that spins inside a circle with multiple pie-shaped segments, each segment showing a different point total (use points 1 through 8, or any other point groupings that seem appropriate). The arrow spins and comes to a stop inside one of the segments, which gives the points awarded for that spin. Before each turn a team spins to accumulate points (one spin for each turn), and can use these points to buy additional letters. Vowels in this case should be made particularly costly.
- Telling the Truth--Telling the truth is a bluff game similar to What's My Line, but played in a tick-tack-toe format. To simplify the game for classroom use, select three panelists to come to the front of the room. As the game proceeds these panelists will answer questions from the teacher. The panelists need to be individuals who are particularly adept at acting. Then divide the remainder of the class into 2 teams. Have each team select a captain. As the game proceeds, one team will play "O" in tick-tack-toe, and the other team will play "X".
Draw a large tick-tack-toe grid on the board or on an overhead projection. Have the starting team (select the starter by a coin flip) indicate where their "X" or "O" will be placed on the grid if they win their round. Then ask one of the three panelists at the front of the room a question about Travis or the history of the times (do not be hesitant to intersperse questions from non-history topics, if these will increase interest or add to the fun). The panelist then answers, either telling the truth or a falsehood (if the panelist doesn't know, he or she needs to make up an answer). The team in play then tells whether the answer from the panelist is true of false. If the team answers correctly, their tick-tack-toe play is completed and the "X" or "O" is placed on the grid. If incorrect, they lose the turn. Whether they are right or wrong, play then moves to the other team. A team wins when it has a tick-tack-toe "three in a row".
- Twenty Questions--Twenty questions is a family game that is adaptable to many classroom activities. The teacher thinks of something at the Alamo (or anything from American history) but keeps it secret from the class, writing it on a piece of paper. The class has to guess what it is. The only clue given is whether the secret something is (1) a person, (2) a place, or (3) a thing. The class then is allowed 20 questions to guess what it is. Note that the questions have to be phrased to allow yes or no answers. For example, if the teacher is thinking of a person such as William Travis, the students could ask "Was the in person Mexican army?" With the answer of "No," they know that this eliminates Santa Anna or any of his officers or soldiers from consideration. After the students understand the game, members of a class can then be the ones who decide on the secret (in consultation with the teacher).
- Newspaper--Have the students produce a newspaper dated March 6, 1836 and covering the events of the Battle of the Alamo. Just the front page of a newspaper may be enough for a small project. Allow two weeks or more of project time for development of a full paper. With a date of March 7, the newspaper can include follow-up events to the battle, including interest stories about the Mexican soldiers and interviews with early settlers. The project could actually be stretched out over 13 days to cover the time of the siege of the Alamo. For each of the thirteen days, the events that occurred could be summarized to a class, with the students taking time to relate the story in newspaper dispatch format. The daily dispatches could then be collected in a notebook. For information on each of the thirteen days, the teacher is directed to Lon Tinkle's book entitled Thirteen Days to Glory (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1958), or The Texas Revolution, by Bob Boyd (San Angelo Standard, Inc., San Angelo, Texas, 198 p.).
- Letter Contest--Have the students write a letter from the Alamo requesting reinforcements to defend the fort. The model for this exercise is WBT's letter of February 24, 1836, which is included in this manual. Read the letter to the class or use a student with dramatic ability to do the reading. It can be read by more than one student with each one trying to out-perform the others. Then the students write their own letters. The teacher may select some of the better letters for class presentation.
- Dress Up Day--On an assigned day the students can be asked to dress up like people at the Alamo. They can dress as either Texans or Mexicans--pioneers or early Mexican citizens of Texas. Keep in mind that dress-up may simply mean jeans and a stylized shirt.
- T-Shirt Day--Instead of costumes, there can be a T-shirt day, with students making their own T-shirts with Alamo themes. Have them use old shirts that can be painted or cut.
- Artifacts--Some students in a class may have artifacts of early pioneers at home that can be brought to school as a demonstration project. Take extra caution to be sure that these materials are respected by members of the class, and that nothing is damaged. In fact, if there are particularly precious artifacts, it may be best to have them handled only by adults--parents or friends who own the materials and are willing to bring them to class. The students can also create their own artifacts, making objects of the selected historical period with a variety of artistic media. Use your library resources for books with examples of artifacts and objects.
- The Travis Lunch--Prepare the type of meal that Travis may have eaten in the Alamo. What did he eat? Not much information is available here, but we do know that he had bushels of corn and beef cattle, so try corn bread and a beef-based soup. For a switch, serve a meal the Mexican soldiers may have eaten--try tacos or a similar type food. Mexican food is now very popular in many parts of the country and ingredients are available in many grocery stores.