Grade 8 Lesson at a Glance: Chapter 15, Lesson 1

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
A More Perfect Union

Lesson at a Glance
Chapter 15, Lesson 1: Building the American Dream (pp. 442-446)

The Big Idea
Framework Concept: Technology Inventions and an entrepreneurial spirit transformed the United States into an industrial power.

Review the various inventions and talk about the ways in which they changed communications and production. Talk about the roles of entrepreneurs and capital in creating businesses. Describe how smaller businesses sometimes combined to form larger companies that could make huge profits.

Describe the "American Dream" of rising from poverty to wealth and social position. Cite Andrew Carnegie as an example of a successful entrepreneur who used capital, inventions, and the combining of smaller businesses into one larger company to make himself extremely wealthy. Discuss his work as a philanthropist and his "Gospel of Wealth."

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 students write a paragraph describing "the American Dream" and stating whether or not they think it is achievable today. They can use Andrew Carnegie or other people in the news today to support their main ideas.
Ask pairs of students to choose one of the inventions described in this lesson. Pairs should list at least three ways that the invention changed people's lives, either in the home or in business.

Social Studies Center | Houghton Mifflin Social Studies | Grade 8 Home
Education Place | Site Index

You may download, print, and make copies of Lesson at a Glance pages for use in your classroom, provided that you include the copyright notice shown below on all such copies.