Life in the 1800s - Article and analysis questions

Nonfiction is the most important resource that you could bring into your classroom for students to read! This is a history assignment, although I have used it in my English classroom. First, students will read the article 'Life in the 1800s' - this could be done independently or with any other close reading strategy that you prefer.

Eight analysis questions are provided for students to answer after finishing the article. For example, How has life changed in the past 200 years? What things can you do today that you could not do 200 years ago? What things could you do 200 years ago that would be difficult today?

The article is relatively short, but content rich. This lesson could easily be conducted in one class (or block) period. Decisions for how/if you want students to share their responses is the final decision you must make. Sharing out could be the closure activity for this lesson.