By: Machaia McClenny, Alamo Education Specialist
Making history come alive can be a challenge for teachers trying to communicate names, dates, and the overarching themes of history. To help educators make history entertaining, the Alamo developed history trunks filled with historical items designed to teach TEKS and give students the opportunity to touch and feel Texas history up close. By interacting with items like those possessed by Texas pioneers in the 1800s, students can put themselves into the shoes of the rugged men, women, and children who braved the wilds of frontier Texas.
Our Teach a Child History Trunks are fully refurbished, and the digital handbook brought into the 21st century by the addition of new videos and resource links. The trunks are renting out as quickly as they come available, and were even featured on a local news station when in use at Hamlin ISD! At the Texas Council for Social Studies Conference in Corpus Christi on October 15, the Alamo Education Department illustrated many of the items included in the trunk such as authentic 1800s shoes (with no left and right), a powder horn, and a gourd canteen. Participants were able to step back to the 1800s by creating their own corn husk dolls, seeing sparks from a flint and steel kit, and a few teachers couldn’t resist trying on our authentic coon-skin cap!
Educators can borrow the trunks to use with the accompanying digital handbook in their classroom. Alamo Education Department staff are also available to travel to local classrooms for special presentations. Recently, 200 4th graders from Hoffmann Elementary got to hear about the Texas Revolution and see 1800s material culture from a pioneer woman — our very own Alamo Education Program Coordinator, Sherri Driscoll. None of the students could keep from showing their disgust at hearing that toothbrushes were made of bone and hog bristles and used by the entire family! Reserve a Teach a Child History Trunk for your classroom through the Alamo’s website.
October also marked the kick-off of a new series of educator workshops titled Legends of Texas: A Series of Biographical Sketches. Every Texas history teacher knows that Sam Houston’s eighteen minute victory at the Battle of San Jacinto ensured that his name would never be forgotten. However, those eighteen minutes do not do justice to his 70 wild and adventurous years. Those years and his close ties to the fate of Texas, from the Texas Revolution to the Civil War, were the topic under discussion during our October 22 workshop on the grounds of the Alamo. Attendees had the opportunity to get even closer to the first president of the Republic of Texas by viewing artifacts from the Alamo collection. Sam Houston served as an excellent link to many TEKS that teachers are expected to address because of his longevity and close association to Texas History.
Our Legends of Texas: A Series of Biographical Sketches workshop series continues in January with a workshop about a figure who was described as “the most interesting man in Texas,” Lorenzo de Zavala. In the meantime, the Alamo Education Department is taking part in the Texas State Historical Association’s Energizing Texas History Conference in Dallas on November 14 and 15 with a session on the larger than life history of the Texas Rangers, and the precarious chance that was taken by Texans in 1836 when they signed the Texas Declaration of Independence. Come out and see us!
Visit the Alamo’s website for more resources from the Alamo Education Department and information about upcoming workshops.
