• identify the leading thinkers of the Enlightenment
• discuss the intellectual contributions of the philosophers

• Varying academic levels: heterogeneous grouping, small and whole group participation
• Auditory learners:  encourages class discussion, listening and speaking skills
• Kinesthetic learners:  students will move around the classroom, forming groups

• Introduce the concept of intelligent conversation by asking students whether they like movies, theater, or television.  Ask them if they like drama that includes witty conversation. Can anyone remember a good one-liner from a movie, or other drama? Tell them that the French, women in particular, began to invite educated guests to their homes for such conversation in the1700s. These meetings in drawing rooms called salons became one of the key ways that enlightenment thought spread. Guests often discussed the leading writers and thinkers of the time, and also attempted to add their own witty interpretations.
• To prepare for this activity divide the class into three or four salon groups. Tell students that they should each make a name card with a French name that can be used to identify them when the activity begins. Have each group choose a female who will host the salon.
• Homework: The host should assign (and document on a piece of paper) each student in their salon to prepare by reading from the text or another source the intellectual contributions of the one of the philosophes listed below. Each students should read about at least two philosophes. The hostess should also undertake some reading.  
• John Locke
• Adam Smith
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Mary Wollenstonecraft
• Voltaire
• Montesquieu
• For the salon activity on the following day, each guest should prepare a short autobiographical paragraph so that the hostess might properly introduce them when the salon meets.

• Tell students that some of the guests were nobility, but some were not. If you were educated and invited by the hostess, you were considered equal. But each person would strive to be the most interesting conversationalist. So, the conversation was a kind of contest. There were rules; some topics were taboo:
• One did not speak of oneself.
• One did not ask personal questions or try to embarrass others.
• Everyone was expected to act as a lady or gentleman.

• Ask the first salon group to join a circle of chairs at the front or center of the room (the fishbowl) and prepare to converse. Remaining students should form an outer circle so that they may listen.
• Have the hostess introduce the guests and say something polite about each one.
• The hostess should then begin by saying, “Has anyone read anything interesting lately?
• Each guest should try to join in the conversation when someone says something related to what they have read.
• Allow about 5-10 minutes for each group and continue until all the groups have met.

Assessment

• On the basis of what they have learned, have the class vote by secret ballot on their favorite philosopher, and the most witty guest.
• After the vote, allow individual students to tell why they voted as they did.

• Remind students of the power of ideas. The ideas of these philosophies laid the foundation for a major shift in political and economic life in Europe and America. It was called the Enlightenment, and it influenced the French Revolution, the American Revolution and our form of government.
• Review the meaning of the vocabulary words.