ABSTRACT
Meditations on First Philosophy can be a complex text even for high-ability high school students. The teacher may want to be more actively involved in helping students analyze Descartes’ position in the first meditation and let the students grow in their independence of analysis through the remaining meditations. There may be more than one interpretation of the central idea of the meditations and students should be encouraged to explore multiple meanings. Students may also require modeling and instruction on how to analyze an argument before they can analyze the argument that Henry makes in the speech. The small-group work is designed to have students collaboratively analyze Roosevelt’s argument and thesis as well as his use of imagery and allusion to deepen the meaning of his ideas. Vocabulary webs are an evidence-supported practice that helps students builds understandings of words and phrases.
