Guide to Writing with TCI Grade 8
History Alive! The United States Through Industrialism
Writing for Understanding
Writing for Understanding is one of the six main TCI strategies. There are five lessons
that use this strategy in The United States Through Industrialism. However, two of them
involve the time period that does not fall within our scope. While we all know that it is
necessary to review, or teach at a deeper level, the colonial period and the Declaration of
Independence, we have not included those lessons for writing.
This strategy taps into students’ multiple abilities so that learners—even those with
lesser linguistic skills—have something memorable to write about. Purposeful writing
assignments motivate students to write with style and meaning.
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Use writing to help students learn key concepts
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Give students rich experiences to write about
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Have students record their ideas, thoughts, and feelings in prewriting activities
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Provide students with authentic writing assignments
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Guide students through writing process
Lesson 13 – A Growing Sense of Nationhood:
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Summary – In this lesson, students learn about American society, culture and
politics in the early 19th century by gathering evidence from geography, politics,
art, music, and literature.
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Writing – Students write song lyrics to tell about what they have seen, done and
heard.
Chapter 20—African Americans at Mid-Century
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Summary – This lesson presents a 19th century portrait of African American life
prior to the Civil War, including the role that African American slaves played in
the Southern states and a discussion of living conditions and the rationale for
slavery, with a focus on primary and secondary sources from Frederick Douglass
to W.E.B. Dubois. Students analyze primary sources, images, and secondary text
related to various aspects of life under slavery.
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Writing: Students create a story quilt and write journal entries from the
perspective of a slave.
Lesson 26 – The Great Wave of Immigration
ƒ Summary – Students learn about the wave of immigration that occurred in the
United States at the turn of the century.
ƒ Writing – Students create a scrapbook to explore the experiences of Italian,
Jewish, Chinese, or Mexican immigrants. Students will become “experts” on one
of the four immigrant groups. Then, students share scrapbooks with one another
to learn about the other immigrant groups.
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Processing
Processing takes place after preview, active learning strategies, reading, and interactive
note taking—and before assessment. Processing is an opportunity to use knowledge in a
novel way in order to take it in more deeply. The processing sessions that use writing,
particularly persuasive writing, are listed below.
Processing 3 – Assume the role of a colonist writing and write persuasive postcards to a
friend in Europe, stating three reasons why the writer moved to the colonies and two
reasons why he or she did not settle elsewhere.
Processing 5 – Write a dialogue between a Loyalist and a Patriot, identifying three
reasons for opposing and three reasons for supporting independence.
Processing 8 – Create a poster that includes reasons for supporting the ratification of the
Constitution. Could be developed into a persuasive essay.
Processing 9 – Write an essay that completes the following statement: The Constitution
works because . . .. Students must include the following terms in the essay: three
branches of government, executive, legislative, judicial, checks and balances, federalism
and amendment process. This is identified as persuasive writing, but it would be
difficult to argue. At this level of instruction, this essay seems more expository than
persuasive.
Processing 10 – Create a comic strip that tells a story about how difficult life might be
today in your community if there were no Bill of Rights.
Processing 11 – Create a storyboard for a television commercial to represent the political
ideas of either the Federalists or the Republicans.
Processing 12 – Write brief tombstone inscriptions to commemorate what those
presidents accomplished in foreign affairs.
Processing 14 –Create a hero’s commemorative plaque and a “Wanted” poster that
evaluate Andrew Jackson’s impact on American society. Could be developed into a
persuasive essay.
Processing 16 – Create a folk song that details the experiences of the people who moved
to the West.
Processing 17 – Annotate a map.
Processing 18 – Create an illustrated timeline
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Processing 19 – Label and caption
Processing 21 – Write a letter in which you accuse one side or the other of causing the
Civil War. Exchange notebooks with a student who has written from the opposing
perspective, and write a rebuttal to what he or she has written. Persuasive practice.
Processing 22 – Write thought bubbles
Processing 23 – Labeled illustration
Processing 24 – Write two acrostic poems using the word frontier, one reflecting the
attitude of the white settlers and the other reflecting the attitude of the Native
Americans toward the settlement of the West.
Investigating History
Located in the back of textbook Investigating History, a section of primary source
documents and response assignments that provide extensions to the chapters. Response
assignments include analyzing data, creating charts, and drawing cartoons and
caricatures. Only those assignments that involve writing are included here.
Chapter 9 – “We” the People?
ƒ Reading – Letters from Abigail Adams to her husband John Adams.
ƒ Writing – Write a passionate letter to the editor of the local newspaper, trying to
persuade people to adopt your views promoting women’s rights.
Chapter 14 – Native American Policies Leave a “Trail of Tears”
ƒ Reading – Background on positions of colonists and Native Americans and
excerpts from primary sources.
ƒ Writing – Write an editorial for the Washington Times, protesting the removal of
the Cherokee along the Trail of Tears. (Persuasive)
Chapter 15 – By Land or by Sea: Settling an Immense Land
ƒ Reading – Background information and journal entries
ƒ Writing – Write a postcard on the journey west.
Chapter 16 – Women Meet the Challenge of the West.
ƒ Reading – Background information and journal entries.
ƒ Writing – Write a research paper about a pioneer woman
Chapter 17 – Importance of Great Rivers and Conflicts over Them
ƒ Reading – Background information – geologist John Wesley Powell, a geologist
and explorer of the Southwest
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Writing – Write a paragraph explaining how the six terms historians use help
them study the past.
Chapter 18 – Women Speak Out for Equal Rights.
ƒ Reading – Background provided on four women’s rights leaders, along with
quotes from their writing.
ƒ Writing – Write a eulogy for one of these four women’s rights leaders: Susan B.
Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, or Margaret Fuller.
Chapter 20 – Voices of Opposition to Slavery
ƒ Reading – Background and arguments from abolitionists Fanny Kemble, Harriet
Beecher Stowe, William Lloyd Garrison, Theodore Dwight Weld, David Walker
and Frederick Douglas.
ƒ Writing – Persuasive speeches convincing audience slavery is wrong.
Chapter 22 – Generals and Soldiers of the Civil War
ƒ Reading – Brief biographies and statements of four men who served.
ƒ Writing – Write a statement that expresses why you are willing to die for what
you believe is right in the form of a personal letter to a family member or a
friend, a letter to the editor or a wartime newspaper or a report to their
commanding officer.
Chapter 23 – Jim Crow Laws: A Legacy of the Reconstruction Era
ƒ Reading – Background of Jim Crow laws
ƒ Write a letter to persuade officials to change laws-from the perspective of an
African American citizen of Mississippi in the late 19th century.
Online Resources
TCI Online Resources for The United States Through Industrialism include Enrichment
Essays and Activities and Internet Projects and Connections.
Enrichment Essays provide depth and complexity extensions on selected topics, and
individual and discussion activities follow each. The essays may be read on the screen or
printed out.
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Internet Projects and Connections
Many of the chapter connections are internet resource links, but some include activities.
Chapter 9 – The Constitution: A More Perfect Union
E-mail a letter to one of your U.S. senators or to your House representative. In your
letter, you will share what you have learned about the three branches of government
and ask a related question that you would like your senator or representative to answer.
Chapter 14 – Andrew Jackson and the Growth of American Democracy
Create a pamphlet advertising the current status of one of the Five Civilized Tribes
(Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee, or Seminole) displaced by the Indian
Removal Act. The pamphlet should be created using a standard sized (8 1/2" x 11") piece
of paper folded in half.
Chapter 15 Cost Benefits Analysis
Create a cost benefits analysis of the six territorial acquisitions of the United States.
Chapter 20 African Americans at Mid-Century
Create a timeline that details the rise and fall of slavery in America based on the four
sections found on PBS’s Africans in America Web site: “The Terrible Transformation
(1450–1750),” “Revolution (1750–1805),” “Brotherly Love (1791–1831),” and “Judgment
Day (1831–1865).” Each of the four sections contains a historical narrative of the period
and a bank of primary resources, documents, and images.
Chapter 22: The Civil War
Write a short story from the point of view of an ordinary person or object that was
present at a major event of the Civil War.
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