Teaching in the Age of Disinformation: Don'T Confuse Me with the Data, My Mind is Made Up!

Teaching in the Age of Disinformation makes a case for the importance of developing students’ intelligent habits of mind so that they become more discriminating consumers of the information that comes at them from the Internet, social media, television and the tabloid press in this “alternate truth” era. Part I sets the stage for the need for an informed citizenry, given the many and varied sources of disinformation that they are exposed to and what the implications are when they are unable to make such distinctions. Part II deals with the specifics of how teachers may develop curriculum activities that call for higher order thinking, within the many and diverse subject areas of elementary and secondary education. Hundreds of examples of curriculum activities are included, as well as suggestions for how teachers use higher order questioning strategies in classroom discussions to enable and promote student thinking. “A pleasure to read,” the book draws on the author’s long and extensive experience in teaching, writing and research with “teaching for thinking,” and offers teachers research-tested ways to incorporate the development of students’ intelligent habits of mind in their daily classroom work.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgements Introduction Section 1 Chapter 1- What Can Teachers Do? Chapter 2- Shifting Gears in the Curriculum to Emphasize Teaching for Thinking: An Overview A Teaching for Thinking Curriculum Framework To Know, To Understand, and To Know How – Key Steps in Teaching for Thinking An Instructional Design for Teaching for Thinking Chapter 3- Guidelines for Beginning a Teaching for Thinking Program Section 2 Chapter 4- Introduction to Observing Classroom Applications Chapter 5- Introduction to Comparing Classroom Applications Chapter 6- Introduction to Classifying Classroom Applications Chapter 7- Introduction to Suggesting Hypotheses Classroom Applications Chapter 8- Introduction to Searching Out Assumptions Classroom Applications Chapter 9- Introduction to Summarizing Classroom Applications Chapter 10- Introduction to Interpreting Classroom Applications Chapter 11- Introduction to Making Decisions Classroom Applications Chapter 12- Introduction to Designing Projects and Investigations Classroom Applications Chapter 13- Introduction to Creating and Inventing Classroom Applications Chapter 14- Introduction to Evaluating and Assessing Classroom Applications Section 3 Chapter 15- Dealing With Students’ Deeply Held Beliefs Classroom Applications Chapter 16- Using Questions and Responses that Promote Further Examination of Issues: The Interactive Dialogue Chapter 17- Evaluating Students’ Work But Is It Working? Using Self-Assessments Profiles of Student Behaviors Chapter 18- The Teacher is the Key Bibliography About the Author

About the Author :
Selma Wassermann is Professor Emerita in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University. Her books include Teaching for Thinking Today: Theory, Strategies and Activities for the K-8 Classroom, This Teaching Life, The Art of Interactive Teaching,and An Introduction to Case Method Teaching: A Guide to the Galaxy.

Review :
The need for such a book has never been greater. In a world where the truth is labeled fake news and facts are manufactured on demand, the skills of higher order thinking are in constant demand. As with all her writing, Selma Wassermann is able to present deep ideas in a highly readable manner. I see this book as a how-to guide for effective teaching, wrapped in a security blanket with a sprinkle of inspiration – a slim volume every teacher can keep at the ready as he/she faces daily challenges. This is an important work – and there is probably no one in our profession better placed through experience and philosophy to do it. The writing is so clear and persuasive, it is a pleasure to read. This book has a very high value for teachers. Wassermann has the gift of knowing the world of classroom teaching – both elementary and secondary – from the language used to the ideas – and being able to use scholarly knowledge and concepts in language and examples that teachers and readers easily grasp, and if so inclined, can use the next week or in the next unit they teach.