Giving Answers or Facilitate Processing with Rogers

 

Rogers argues that the teacher's role should be facilitating the process of individuals arriving at their own solutions rather than providing answers to problems. Do you agree with this? Explain why or why not.

I agree with this statement. I could just end right there, but some people might disagree so I will elaborate. Thinking back to some of my own schooling and also what I have gone through with middle schoolers and high schoolers at home, some teachers are “teaching” the answers. A approach coined as “teaching to the test.” What we refer to in our house as “Read it and then barf it back out,” (charming, I know). All of these things are the same, and I can tell from first, second, and third hand experience that it isn’t teaching, and the people aren’t learning.

Effective teaching is showing kids information but also teaching them the skills on how to interact, delve deep, and ask questions. Knowing the multiplication table is fine, but understanding the concept of multiplication is the goal. We need to facilitate the processes and pathways so that students can understand why and how the multiplication table is relevant. Teaching reading is another example, I memorized lists in elementary school. Words on that list had nothing in common, or if they did, it was never taught that way. I knew nothing about phonics until college. I just magically learned to read and sound out words. As an adult I was stupefied to find out that words had all these things in common. Suffixes, prefixes, and root words, it had me seeing words in a whole new way. No one taught the process of reading, just provided the answers and had me memorize words.

I want my students to think, to process, and to arrive at their own solutions on information. I will continue to do this by asking leading open-ended questions and creating an environment where they can ask and discover questions.