Plato's Allegory of the Cave Lesson for Middle & High School | Philosophy & ELA

If you want to teach philosophy to young people, use this lesson plan that introduces students to Plato’s theory of reality. I was inspired to create this resource when I retold the story of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave (from The Republic) in plain language. In this story, Plato imagines a world where one man wakes up and questions what is real and what is not real. Have your students read this story with you and use my handy dandy comprehension questions and discussion activities to lead your students into an examination of Plato’s metaphysical thinking.

This resource includes the following features:

Essential Question: How do I know what is really real?

• 18 pages PDF; Google Docs / Forms
• The text of the story is included in this resource
  • The story is retold from the source material in easy-to-understand English. Great for a class read-and-share. Or, have students pair-read the text and then have a whole-class discussion.

• 15 reading comprehension questions
  • Useful for homework. Or, to flip the classroom — assign the reading before you plan to discuss and have students complete the reading comprehension questions beforehand.

• 6 Discussion Questions
  • Perfect for group work or a carousel activity — get your kids moving while discussing Plato!

• 1 Chart to Explain Plato’s Two-World Theory
  • Useful graphic organizer to understand Plato’s worldview

• 3 Assessments (Google Forms)
  • An answer key for both comprehension and discussion questions
• Suggested Lesson Plan
  • With more ideas and instructions on how to use this resource; Includes a useful Common Core, VA SOL, and TEKS standards-aligned cross-walk.

• Bibliography
  • I use the bibliography as a further reading resource for my students. Assign your curious scholars a research assignment or have students do projects based on books, links, and other material related to Plato they may find interesting or exciting.

Suggested Uses:

1. Humanities Course on Ancient Greece
2. World History Course on the History of Ideas
3. Literature Course
4. Ethics Course — See how I used this resource in an Ethics class with 8th graders!
5. Introduction to Philosophy Course
6. Student Advisory Course on Drug and Alcohol Abuse
7. A Lesson on Truth
8. A lesson on Appearance and Reality

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