Chapters 9 and 10
I Am
“I know what you are,” she said. “It’s taken me a while. At first, I thought you were a dream, something that I just imagined. Then I thought you were a monster, like in the stories. But you’re not, are you?”
She took another deep breath.
“You’re Doubt. You’re just a voice in people’s heads that makes us wonder if we’ve got everything wrong. Sometimes we need to do that, a little bit. But that’s all you are. And there’s more than just you, isn’t there?”
The Demon narrowed her eyes at her.
“No,” it said quietly. “There’s just me.”
Delphi might have been scared once. But not any longer. She could still hear the echoes of the thought in her head. Get rid of everything that you can doubt. Reject everything that might not be true – and find what you have left.
Delphi smiled. The Demon would have been proud of it.
“Let’s find out, shall we?”
Delphi had made the mistake of making a deal with a Demon in her dream – to name something that is, without doubt, real, or lose her soul. The time has now come for Delphi to give her answer, but all she has in her mind are the echo of words: Get rid of everything that you can doubt – and find what you have left. But once Delphi has rejected everything she thought she knew, what could there be? In this mind-blowing two-part finale to Delphi the Dreamer, Delphi takes on Descartes’ famous assertion of ‘I think, therefore I am’. But what does this truly mean? And who exactly is she?
Big Questions:
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‘Get rid of everything you can doubt’. What does that include?
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“I think, therefore I am.” What does this mean? Do you agree with it?
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What could Delphi teach Plato about doubt, proof and belief?
Skills focus:
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using an argument structure
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recognising consistency of ideas
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evaluating an argument structure
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asking questions which develop an idea
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teaching what I know about doubt and proof
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evaluating my own understanding
Lesson Overview
Part 1 serves as the first part of the story’s conclusion, and like The Dream, is written to be an exciting storytelling experience in itself. The section where Delphi dismantles the world around her is intended to be a surprise for the children, and if presented on an interactive whiteboard or screen, should look like Delphi is ripping the pictures to bits. This systematic rejection of anything that can be doubted is effectively a dramatic retelling of Descartes’ Meditations. This sequence leads her to finally confront the Demon and win her wager by using the infamous ‘I think, therefore I am’ argument to prove that she herself exists as a thinking thing. The previous chapters and sentence stems prepare both Delphi and the children to understand this argument, and the learning of this session is focused around understanding the logic of this assertion.
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Part 2 can be taught over one or two lessons depending on the amount of assessment desired. This story is a unique piece of storytelling, where Delphi will appear to come to life and speak directly to you as the Narrator, and to the children. This can be done either through the audio recordings or the speech bubbles on the slideshow. This requires a bit of preparation, even rehearsal, but should create a memorable conclusion to the story! Lesson notes will help in delivering this story successfully. This chapter also gives children a chance to summarise the learning from the story as a whole. There are a range of different activities that can be completed off the back of this chapter, so it is worth planning ahead and deciding what you are going to complete in the time you have available. Whatever you choose, you will be able to capture evidence of the children’s learning across the scheme of work.
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