Teaching Gilded Age Labor Struggles in 8th Grade History
Eighth-grade social studies lessons on the Gilded Age provide a clear window into the high-stakes world of the late 19th-century American economy. Teachers need to help students look past simple memorization and see the human costs that defined this era.Connecting... read more
Teaching the Road to Civil War in 8th Grade US History
By the time February hits, the calendar in most middle school history departments starts to feel very crowded.If you teach 8th grade US History in districts like Sacramento City Unified, Poway Unified, Cupertino Union School District, or Visalia Unified, you know the... read more
8th Grade History Lesson on Religious Freedom and the First Amendment
Eighth grade history often moves at a breakneck speed once you get past the American Revolution. We are usually deep into the messy business of nation-building by the second semester, which is exactly where this 8th grade social studies material sits. It is a... read more
8th Grade History Lesson on Titans of Industry and Gilded Age
Students often walk into this unit assuming that Gilded Age tycoons were simply greedy people who broke the law to get ahead. While that captures a piece of the public sentiment from the time, it misses the structural reality of the Industrial Revolution. In this 8th... read more