La Salle in Texas: A Teacher’s Guide for the Age of Discovery and Exploration by Pam Wheat-Stranahan (review)

leading Foster to conclude that “the Native peoples in all areas seem much less provincial than most writers portray” (p. 243). A second common cultural feature that extended throughout all Native groups in the state was the firm and deep belief in a spiritual realm. Finally, Foster includes two appendices that list the twenty animals and forty plants that are mentioned in the journals. In the end, Foster’s work here is short on analysis and interpretation, but provides a very useful encyclopedic regional account of the Europeans and Native peoples of Texas who encountered one another during the relatively unexamined two hundred years before the Spanish occupation of Texas and the French establishment of Louisiana. University of North Texas F. Todd Smith La Salle in Texas: A Teacher’s Guide for the Age of Discovery and Exploration. By Pam Wheat-Stranahan, DVD by Alan Govenar. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2007. Pp. 150. Illustrations, TEKS, DVD, glossary, bibliography . ISBN 978-1-58544-607-4. $24.95, paper.) Pam Wheat-Stranahan, executive director of the Texas Archeological Society and seasoned educator, utilizes an interdisciplinary approach for helping students from grades four to eight develop science, math, and reading skills while teaching early European exploration and settlement of Texas. Her book, including the bonus DVD, is a practical guide to teachers constructing Lesson Plans in preparation for the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). La Salle in Texas is an excellent model of how to make learning Texas history fun and exciting for everyone. Students learn about the recent underwater archeological discovery of La Salle’s ship La Belle, which wrecked off the Texas Gulf Coast in the late seventeenth century. They investigate the recovery of artifacts and in the process piece together this historic event that “literally changed the map of North America” (p. xi). La Salle’s subsequent construction of Fort St. Louis inland near present Victoria caught the attention of Spanish officials determined to thwart French imperial designs upon wealthy mineral resources in Mexico and left an indelible Spanish heritage in Texas to the present. The book is conveniently organized into four separate units, each with its own set of activities to convey Texas history not only through archival sources but also other disciplines that further develop critical thinking, problem solving, and decision-making skills in an ever competitive environment. The “Getting Started” sections let teachers know how long to expect the lessons to last, typically 45 to 60 minutes each, totaling twenty-six class periods. Vocabulary lists and quizzes are also provided. The “Student Pages” include activities ranging from creation of skits, maps, murals, displays, and charts to hands-on experiments reaching students with diverse interests and talents. The companion DVD contains two documentary films—about fifty minutes each—by filmmaker Alan Govenar, which may be shown to classes prior to taking TEKS. According to my niece, who screened “The Shipwreck of La Belle” and is 316 Southwestern Historical Quarterly January *jan 09 11/26/08 12:00 PM Page 316 a fifth grader at Wilderness Oak Elementary in San Antonio, the film was “pretty cool,” especially the part about the discovery of human remains from La Belle and the CAT Scan results of brain tissue found within the skull. Students can view more commonly found artifacts like glass beads, muskets, ammunition, and ironware among the many items the French traded with local Karankawa Indians. The second film, “Dreams of Conquest,” examines the archeological investigation of Fort St. Louis and the man behind the doomed colonization scheme, French explorer René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, whose lack of military expertise and controversial character did not bode well for himself or his shortlived colony. Wheat-Stranahan’s guide incorporates innovative ways to prepare primary schoolchildren for both TEKS and life skills while being user-friendly. Above all, students and the public at large can experience how Texas has changed over time, and how it continues to engage in commerce, industry, and innovation for survival in the global, market-driven economy. Our Lady of the Lake University Francis X. Galán A Cherokee Encyclopedia. By Robert J. Conley. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2007. Pp. 290. Illustrations...