Texas TEKS 4.2

4.2 is a TEKS knowledge and skills statement. These are the student expectations under it.

• 4.2.A

  summarize motivations for European exploration and settlement of Texas, including economic opportunity, competition, and the desire for expansion

• 4.2.B

  identify the accomplishments and explain the impact of significant explorers, including Cabeza de Vaca; Francisco Coronado; and René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de l...

• 4.2.C

  explain when, where, and why the Spanish established settlements and Catholic missions in Texas as well as important individuals

• 4.2.D

  identify Texas' role in the Mexican War of Independence and the war's impact on the development of Texas

• 4.2.E

  identify the accomplishments and explain the economic motivations and impact of significant empresarios, including Stephen F. Austin and Martín de León, on the ...

01

What Students Need to Do

Students explain why Europeans explored and settled Texas, then connect key explorers to their actions and effects. They trace Spanish missions, Mexican independence, and empresario colonies using dates, places, motives, and results.

02

What Mastery Looks Like

Students can place major people and events in order and locate them on a Texas map. They can explain how competition, religion, land, and profit shaped settlement and changed Texas.

03

Common Misconceptions

Students may confuse Mexican independence with the later Texas Revolution or assume missions and towns served the same purpose. They may think Cabeza de Vaca, Coronado, and La Salle had identical goals, or that empresarios simply gave away land.

04

How to Assess It

Give students a four-row exit ticket labeled La Salle, Spanish missions, Mexican independence, and empresarios. For each, have them write one motive and one effect on Texas.

1. 01

   Place explorer, mission, independence, and empresario cards on a floor timeline, then connect each card to its Texas location with yarn.

2. 02

   Write a response to this prompt: Which motive most changed Texas, economic opportunity, competition, religion, or expansion, and what evidence supports your choice?

3. 03

   Play a matching game using person, goal, accomplishment, location, and impact cards for Cabeza de Vaca, Coronado, La Salle, Austin, and de León.

4. 04

   Compare an empresario land advertisement with a modern real estate ad, then circle how each uses economic opportunity to attract people.

• 7.6

  History. The student understands how individuals, events, and issues shaped the history of Texas from Reconstruction through the beginning of the 20th century. ...

• 4.1

  History. The student understands the origins, similarities, and differences of American Indian groups in Texas before European exploration. The student is expec...

• 7.3

  History. The student understands how individuals, events, and issues related to the Texas Revolution shaped the history of Texas. The student is expected to:

• 8.2

  History. The student understands the causes of exploration and colonization eras. The student is expected to: