Enlightenment Thinkers-Intro, Individual Research, Class Discussion Activity,DBQ

Enlightenment Intro,

Research on individual Enlightenment Thinker,

Class Discussion,

Analysis of United States Founding Docs

This bundle of activities introduces the Enlightenment - the ancient and contemporary philosophers who kindled it, the 5 basic pillars on which it was built, the salons and women of Paris who hosted Enlightenment discussions, and a few of its contemporary thinkers. In my class, the slideshow both introduces my students to the Enlightenment then guides them through research on an individual Enlightenment thinker (either solo or with a partner). I then engage the students in a whole-class discussion/debate about each of those thinkers ideas. Students share out their particular thinker's formative background and then three of that thinkers Enlightenment ideas. As a class we then discuss and debate our own opinions about those ideas. The teacher serves as moderator and catalyst around contrasting ideas such as direct vs. indirect democracy, the limits of free speech, the concept of justice, etc. I then have my students analyze a collection of United States founding documents to find the Enlightenment ideas within and to identify the thinker/s behind them. Each of these steps, along with Cornell Notes, can be purchased alongside this item in a bundle within my TPT store. The entire process can take three to five class periods, though this slideshow can also simply cover a one-class-period introduction to the Enlightenment. Enlightenment Thinker covered with purchase of research/discussion bundle: Plato

Aristotle

Locke

Rousseau

Voltaire

Wollstonecraft

Montesquieu

Beccaria

Smith (also known as Abigail Adams)

Hiawatha

Banneker

Mary II of Orange

If you choose to also buy the founding documents analysis step as part of the bundle, the documents are:

Declaration of Independence

US Constitution Table of Contents

US Bill of Rights

Alexander Hamilton on democracy and social class at Constitutional Convention Thomas Jefferson on democracy and social class at Convention and later

15th Amendment

19th Amendment

Fisher Ames on the risks of democracy and the importance of the 1st amendment