Classroom Tools & Teacher Resources
For Educators
Classroom tools designed to help students gain a deeper understanding of the life and influence of Sam Houston are found in this section. Lesson plans, podcasts, games, a musical program for student performance, and links to many primary web resources are ready to help your students learn.
Classroom Podcasts
Listen & Learn
Listen to Free Episodes on Podchaser ›
Use these 10-12 minute podcasts to launch classroom discussions, to supplement reading, to assign as homework, or as source material for reports and papers.
Topics:
• Honor and Integrity: Houston biographer James Haley reflects on Houston's principles and personality in terms of standing up to peer pressure.
• Democracy vs. Dictatorship: American History Professor Dr. Susannah Ural discusses these different forms of government.
• Texas Revolution: Noted authority Jeff Dunn discusses the battles of the Texas Revolution and the people who fought them.
• Sam Houston Among the Indians: Cherokee Elder Robert "Winter Owl" Vann comments on Native Americans in the United States and Texas, and Sam Houston's relationship with them.
• Annexation: Award winning Texas History teacher Lisa Shugart talks about the annexation of Texas into the United States.
In Loving Memory
Edward Albert Blackburn III
1948✦2015
The voice behind our Classroom Podcasts
Born in Houston on December 4, 1948, Ed was a 7th-generation descendant of Rowland and Sarah Chapman Allen, two of Houston’s original residents and the parents of the Allen Brothers who founded the city of Houston. His great-great-grandparents, Leasel Bobo Harris and Martha Isabel Higginbotham McKenzie, survived both The Runaway Scrape in 1836 and The Great Comanche Raid of 1840 at Linnville, Texas.
Ed attended college at the University of Texas at Austin, Stephen F. Austin State University, and the University of Houston, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Communications. Professionally, he worked in the field of real estate brokerage and appraisal. Yet, he was a photographer, a writer, a public speaker, actor, and voiceover talent, as well as one of the earliest producers of a podcast.
In other points in life, Ed excelled in football, track and field, competitive sailing, water skiing, marksmanship, self-defense training, racing, and flying as a private pilot.
Ed’s vibrant personality cultivated deep friendships that brought people together, and he took great pleasure in participating in the documentary about Sam Houston. He loved Texas, the beauty of its great outdoors, and sharing with others what makes it such a special place.
Thank you, Ed, for lending your voice, your heart, and your love of Texas to this project. You are deeply missed.
With gratitude & affection — The Sam Houston Project
free School Musical: Raven's Journey
Raven's Journey is a musical that combines music, art, and history to teach students about the life of Sam Houston. The format is a "living timeline" where students step out in character as Sam Houston to explain different periods of his life, with choral and dance performances taking place in between. The music comes from the Scott-Foresman CDs which are used in Texas, and all of the music is easily found in the public domain if live accompaniment is desired. The downloads are free and there are no fees for performance in a public or private school.
Lesson Plans
Here are some proven lesson plans on the life and times of General Houston. Click on the links to access them, and please send us your most successful lesson plans so that we can make them available to other teachers who would like to use them. Send them to: teachers@samhoustonmovie.com
Colonization of Texas: Letters to Stephen F. Austin
The Law of April 6, 1830
Causes of the Texas Revolution
Texas Declaration of Independence
Remember The Alamo
The Battle of San Jacinto: Compare and Contrast Exercise
The Battle of San Jacinto
The First Two Presidents of the Republic of Texas: Houston and Lamar
Republic of Texas Presidential Debate: Sam Houston vs. Mirabeau Lamar
Mier Expedition
Texas Annexation to the United States
Art: Making a No-Sew Texas Quilt
Art: Making a Cherokee Bandolier Bag
Anglo Settlement in East Texas
The Question of Annexation
Santa Anna and Texas
Sam Houston's Woodland Home
Sam Houston, The Man (Part 1)
Sam Houston, The Young Man (Part 2)
Sam Houston, The Texas Man (Part 3)
Slavery in East Texas
Texas Leaders
Games and Worksheets
Printable games and worksheets to reinforce what students learn about Sam Houston and Texas history. Click any title to preview it, then download it for your classroom.
Matching Game: Events & Laws
Matching Game: People
Word Find: Sam Houston's Advice
Word Find: Sam Houston's Texas
Texas History Concentration
Sam Houston's Perseverance
For the Classroom
TEKS-Aligned Lessons: Texas History for Teachers
Unit plans, lessons, and curated primary sources aligned to 4th and 7th grade TEKS, from the Portal to Texas History at the University of North Texas
TSHA Education Resources for Teachers
Classroom resources and programs for Texas history teachers from the Texas State Historical Association
Library of Free Training Videos for Teachers
These videos show how to use a wide variety of technological tools in the classroom including Twitter, online surveys, podcasting, downloading from YouTube, and software such as iTunes, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, and much more.
Historical Maps of Tennessee
Perry-Castañeda Library, The University of Texas at Austin
Texas Historic Sites Atlas
Searchable atlas of nearly 300,000 historic sites and markers in Texas. Includes museums, sawmills, courthouses, battlefields, etc.
East Texas Digital Archives and Collections
Digital copies of photographs, documents, maps, books and other archival materials associated with the East Texas geographical region from the Gulf of Mexico north to the Red River and east of the Trinity River to Western Louisiana, which was once part of Texas. The digitized material is freely available to students, teachers and the general public for their historical and genealogical research.
Tennessee History for Kids
Texas Almanac
A wealth of information about all-things Texan.
Published by the Texas State Historical Association
Texas History Primary Source Documents
The Portal to Texas History: rare historical documents, photographs, maps, and newspapers from across Texas
The Texas Papers: From Independence to Annexation
The Avalon Project at Yale Law School
Sam Houston's Account of the Battle of San Jacinto
Original image and transcription of Houston's official report of the battle to President Burnet, dated April 25, 1836 (Texas State Library and Archives)
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; February 2, 1848
The Avalon Project at Yale Law School
Treaty ending the U.S./Mexican War and the purchase by the U.S. of Mexican lands extending to the Pacific Ocean.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act; May 30, 1854
The Avalon Project at Yale Law School
Houston filibustered the Kansas-Nebraska Bill for two days in the U.S. Senate. Most historians now believe the Civil War was inevitable after its passage.
Portraits of Texas Governors
The Texas Constitution
Texas Legislature Online
Texas Treasures
An online exhibit of historical artifacts and documents by the Texas State Libraries and Archives.