Lesson Plan for Life in a Spanish Mission
Experiential Exercise
created by Jennifer Casey

Materials:  station placards, candles, assorted seeds, sticks or pencils for agriculture station, butcher paper, paper towels or dusting cloths, “Gregorian chant” music for Chancel station, CD or cassette player, Spanish dictionaries, notebook paper, writing utensils, containers for seeds, containers for agriculture station, rice or other “planting” medium for agriculture station, corn, mortar and pestle, computer workstation with Spanish missions Powerpoint (optional).

TEKS: 7.2 History:  The student understands how individuals, events, and    issues prior to the Texas Revolution shaped the history of Texas.      
The student is expected to…
          B.  identify important individuals, events, and issues related to European exploration and colonization of Texas, including the establishment of Catholic missions;
          F.  contrast Spanish and Anglo purposes for and methods of settlement in Texas

• Social Studies Skills:  The student applies critical-thinking skills to organize and use information acquired from a variety of sources including electronic technology.

The student is expected to…

•  identify points of view from the historical context surrounding an event and the frame of reference that influenced the participants;
• support a point of view on a social studies issue or event.

Objective: The student will experience life in a Spanish mission as a Native American.  Also, the student will understand Spain’s reasons for establishing Catholic missions and the impact of the missions on the culture of Native Americans.

Overview of Activity: This Experiential Exercise is designed to help students imagine and understand the structured lifestyle of Catholic missionaries and Native Americans living in Spanish missions in early Texas.  The activity begins as students take “vows” of poverty, obedience and silence.  Students then go to each of the seven stations―Spanish translation, dormitory, workhouse, agriculture (will have two stations), chancel, kitchen duties, and reflection―where they experience key aspects of the missionary lifestyle in silence.  The activity ends with a discussion in which students share insights gained from the exercise and relate the experience to historical reality.

Preview: Students will complete a paragraph that explains their opinion of the saying, “Silence is golden.”  Ask a few students to share their responses.  Then, students will pledge a “vow” of poverty, obedience and silence prior to beginning the Experiential Exercise.  (Handout B)

Procedures at a Glance:  Before you begin the activity, arrange your classroom into seven stations―Spanish translation, dormitory, workhouse, agriculture (two stations needed), chancel, kitchen duties and reflection.  Place copies of placards at each of the stations (Handouts C-J).  Tell students that they will experience some aspects of mission life.  Use Handout B to explain guidelines for the activity.  Administer the “vows” of poverty, obedience and silence.  Divide the class into groups of four.  Then, have groups rotate stations every five to seven minutes.  Make sure students remain silent throughout the activity.  Continue this process until students have rotated through all seven stations.  Finally, hold a class discussion about the experience.

Experiential Exercise Procedures:

1. Before you begin this activity, carefully read the “Experiential Exercise Procedures” and all handouts/placards.  Consider whether this activity is appropriate for the students in your community.  This Experiential Exercise is designed to be an academic process.  Make sure you implement this activity so that students, parents and administrators understand its objectives.  These objectives include: 1) enabling students to describe the daily life of a Native American living in a mission in early Texas; and 2) enabling students to understand the conflict that existed between the Native Americans and the Spanish.

2. Before class begins, arrange your classroom into seven stations with one station being a computer workstation―Spanish translation, dormitory, workhouse, agriculture, chancel, kitchen duties and reflection.  Students will move in groups of four to each station, where they will perform some tasks that the Native Americans were required to do while living in a mission, such as translating Spanish to English, sleeping, laboring, tending crops, or listening to Gregorian chants.  Prepare each station as follows:

• Station A:  Spanish Translation:  Create a “table” by placing four desks side-by-side in a row.  Provide at least 4 copies of a Spanish dictionary to aid in the translating.  Post Handout C at the station.  Make sure students have several sheets of notebook paper and a writing utensil for their work. Have the students open the dictionary to any given page and begin copying Spanish words and their translation into English. 
• Station B:  The Dormitory:  Clear an area in your classroom so that the group of four students have room to lie down.  Post Handout D at the station.  Tape off a small square for students to place their feet, understanding the position in which they are to “sleep.”  Have two students lie side by side and the other students lie down opposite of them so that their feet face each other.  Students’ feet should not move out of the taped area.
• Station C:  The Workhouse:  Move four desks into an area of the classroom.  Post Handout E at the station.  Put several sheets of paper towels or dusting cloths on the desks.  (Note:  suggest that students only clean desks or areas currently not in use, including the chalkboard.)
• Station D:  Agriculture:  1) Planting/Agriculture:  Move desks out of the way and create an area that enables students to work at tending crops.  Post Handout F at the station.  Place butcher paper on the floor to prevent messes.  Place an oblong shaped planter containing rice or potting soil and a container with seeds of some kind.  (Rice is easier to clean off the floor.)  Have a tool available that the students can use to till the soil and plant the seeds.  Make sure each student cleans his or her area before moving on; you might want students from the Workhouse to assist in the cleaning of this area as well.  2) Sorting Seeds/Agriculture:  Move four desks into an area of the classroom.  Post Handout G at the station.  Place several containers containing assorted seeds on the desks.  Tape butcher paper to the floor to prevent messes.
• Station F:  Kitchen Duties:  Move desks out of the way and create an area that allows students to grind corn.  Post Handout H at the station.  Place butcher paper on the floor to prevent messes.  Have several mortar and pestles (or other containers with a grinding tool) with dried corn in the mortar for grinding the corn into meal.  Make sure each student cleans his or her area before moving on; you might want students from the Workhouse to assist in the cleaning of this area as well.
• Station G:  The Chancel:  Move four desks into an area of the classroom.  Post Handout I at the station.  Play a CD or cassette tape of Gregorian chants; this type of music also may be downloaded from the internet.
• Station H:  Reflection:  Have two to three computers booted up and running the Spanish Mission Powerpoint (attachment).  Post Handout J at the station.  Students should kneel on the floor while watching the presentation.

3. Prior to the day of the activity, tell students that this activity is designed to allow them to experience the rigorous life of those who were forced to make a commitment to the Spanish way of life, which included Catholicism.  Inform them that this is a serious academic activity. 

4. Before students enter the classroom, have the Gregorian chants playing in the background.

5. Post Handout A on the classroom door.  When the bell rings, meet students at the door.  Expect the students to be excited, animated and distracted.  Remind them that this is a serious academic activity.  Direct students to sit on the floor.  At this point in the activity, it is important that the stations are not disrupted.

6. Allow students three to five minutes to complete the preview activity.  Ask a few students to share their answers.

7. Explain to the students that the classroom has been transformed into a mission.  The room has been divided into seven stations:  Spanish translation, Dormitory, Workhouse, Agriculture, Chancel, Kitchen Duties and Reflection.  Tell students that groups will rotate from station to station to experience various aspects of life in a mission.  Handout B has the directions incorporated into the “vow” of silence.  Students should recite the vows after you.  While doing this, maintain a serious, strict demeanor.  Allow no talking among students. 

8. Explain that vows were promises that priests and missionaries made to God in the presence of the Roman Catholic Church.  Although priests took many vows, the students will only be asked to take three.  First, they must take the vow of poverty.  To symbolize this, have students place all of their belongings, and any other “worldly goods”, in a designated area of the classroom.  Second, they must take a vow of obedience.  Students will fulfill the obligations of this vow by following all the directions given by the priest (the teacher) during the course of this activity.  Finally, students must take a vow of silence.  The vow of silence will be fulfilled by having students conduct this activity in total silence.

9. Divide the class into groups of four.  Assign each group to one of the seven stations, and have students go to their assigned location.  Remind students that the guidelines for each station are posted at that station.  Tell students to begin work on the task outlined at the station.  Strictly enforce silence.

10. After a designated period of time, about five to seven minutes, signal students to move silently to the next station.  You may want to distribute penances to disobedient Native Americans in order to maintain silence.  (Penance can take on many forms, including the loss of points for participation in the activity or banishment to a corner of the mission.)

11. When all students have reached their second station, have them begin their new tasks.  Continue this process until students have rotated through all seven stations.

12. After completing the process, have students return to the center of the room on the floor.  Debrief the activity, comparing the exercise to historical reality.  Focus specifically on students’ emotions experienced during their mission stay. 

Processing:

1. In the interactive student notebook, students will write a one-page journal entry explaining their day in a life of a Spanish mission in Texas.  Students should incorporate descriptions of at least three of the stations in their entry.
2. Students will create an annotated map of their own Spanish mission.  The mission should include at least five stations, and each station should have a two-sentence explanation of it and the required task.

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