Grade 8 Lesson at a Glance: Chapter 15, Lesson 2

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
A More Perfect Union

Lesson at a Glance
Chapter 15, Lesson 2: Moving into Industrial Cities (pp. 447-453)

The Big Idea
Framework Concept: Change As factories and businesses grew, industrial cities offered rural farm workers and Southern blacks new job opportunities.

Summarize the rapid growth of industrial cities and identify the main characteristics of an industrial city. Review the specialization of some cities, and how the use of steel helped these cities to grow.

Make a chart on the board comparing and contrasting the reasons why rural farm workers and Southern blacks moved to the cities. Ask students how they think these two groups' experiences in the cities might have been similar and different.

Lesson Outline
Use the Lesson Outline to preview the content of the lesson. You may wish to print it for your students as a guide during reading.

Check for Understanding

Have each student write one journal entry as a rural farm worker and another as a Southern black. In each entry, students should clearly state their reasons for moving to an industrial city and their expectations of life in the city.
Have students work in groups. Ask half of the groups to design a poster advertising factory work in a big city to rural farm workers. Have the other half create a poster telling people to stay on farms, because of the poor living conditions in cities. Have students compare posters and discuss.

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