A Southern Missive

I just entered my quarterly contest for Booklocker. Boy, am I tired. I’ll print the story I entered at a later time when the contest has been judged.

After my signing today at the Frisco Barnes & Noble, I left around 5:30 and arrived in Monroe, Louisiana about 11:00 p.m. Weather was great, and during the drive I finished listening to an audio CD of The Pale Criminal by Phillip Kerr, a pre-WWII noir novel. I found it quite enjoyable. Before I began my signing (around 1:00 pm) I met with the Frisco Public Library and with Lochran’s Irish Pub in Frisco and it looks like I could be booked at both places this next year. Great people. My signing went well, lots of sales, and I met so many wonderful people. Below are photographs of two of the B&N children’s area workers. The first is of me and Dani and the second of me and Jen. I could tell these bright and beautiful workers loved their work!

Today, I’m presenting programs at Region 9 Educational Service Center in Wichita Falls, Texas. I’ve already presented my Scots-Irish and Civil War programs, and after lunch, I’m going to present my Texas History program. That program is a new one, and I hope to add other new programs including the World War I Poets and another for Chinese Poetry. I am a Native Texan, and I love the state of my birth. The Texas Program (like my others) has more than I can present in one session, but here are the highlights I’m prepared to address:

I. The TEKS it addresses:

History:

02. The student understands how individuals, events, and issues prior to the Texas Revolution shaped the history of Texas.
03. The student understands how individuals, events, and issues related to the Texas Revolution shaped the history of Texas.
04. The student understands how individuals, events, and issues shaped the history of the Republic of Texas and early Texas statehood.
05. The student understands how events and issues shaped the history of Texas during the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Culture:

19B – Culture
The student understands the concept of diversity within unity in Texas. The student is expected to describe how people from selected racial, ethnic, and religious groups attempt to maintain their cultural heritage while adapting to the larger Texas culture.

Social Studies 42D
The student will identify the accomplishments of significant empresarios including Moses Austin, Stephen F. Austin, and Martín de León and explain their impact on the settlement of Texas

II. The Empresarios (especially the Irish empresarios)

III. The Tejanos (influence, culture, importance)

1. Juan Seguin, Santo Benavides and other significant leaders

2. Comancheros, Ciboleros and other unique groups

IV. The Comanche and Kiowa Cultures and Wars, stories of captives such as Cynthia Parker, famous war chiefs such as Quanah Parker and Nokona (Comanche) Lone Wolf and Satanta (Kiowa).

V. The Civil War in Texas

VI. The Texas Rangers

VII. Books about Texas/lecture and writing exercises on Not Between Brothers by David Marien Wilkinson and Larry McMurtry’s series: Dead Man’s Walk, Comanche Moon, and Lonesome Dove.

VIII. The History of Texas in Song (featuring historical songs, but also some songs by friend and songwriter, Jed Marum)

To prepare students for state tests, I’ve sometimes been asked to work some math work  into my Civil War presentation. Here is the sheet I used at a school I visited last year. Feel free to copy, print, and use it as long as you give me and this site credit.

MATH OF THE CIVIL WAR

1. This site (Create for Mississippi) is rich with handouts and ideas related to math and math exercises for the Civil War.  The site has word problems, models, and ideas.
http://www.create.cett.msstate.edu/create/classroom/lplan_view.asp?articleID=14
2. From Education World Students prepare foods, including hardtack, that were among the staples of a Civil War soldier’s diet. Objectives Students follow recipes to create foods that were common foods of the Civil War era. http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/00-2/lp2001.shtml
3. Civil War Math (Symmetry)  Homepage (Gettysburg, Pa) http://192.107.108.56/portfolios/b/burkel_d/Tools%20Dev%20Instruction/Final_Project/Civil_War_Symmetry_Activity/Symmetry_index.htm
Topics of exercises and activities include timelines, Morse code, percent of change and symmetry.  Addresses standards such as:
(GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT) ALL STUDENTS WILL DEVELOP SPATIAL SENSE AND THE ABILITY TO USE GEOMETRIC PROPERTIES, RELATIONSHIPS, AND MEASUREMENT TO MODEL, DESCRIBE AND ANALYZE PHENOMENA.
STANDARD 4.5 (MATHEMATICAL PROCESSES) ALL STUDENTS WILL USE MATHEMATICAL PROCESSES OF PROBLEM SOLVING, COMMUNICATION, CONNECTIONS, REASONING, REPRESENTATIONS, AND TECHNOLOGY TO SOLVE PROBLEMS AND COMMUNICATE MATHEMATICAL IDEAS.
4. Georgia State Parks:  There are some mathematics activities listed on this site: http://www.gastateparks.org/net/content/item.aspx?mode=p&s=121480.0.1.5
5. Civil War Artillery Projectiles http://civilwarartillery.com/
All kinds of charts and technical information related to the physic of artillery. For a list of other projectile oriented sites and physics see also: http://www.bigado.com/mn1website/search.php?Search=SEARCH!&q=projectiles
6. Civil War Signal  & Telegraph Corps http://www.civilwarsignal.org/