1. TEACHING
PHILOSOPHY
DORENE A.
HUMPHRIES
EDUCATIONAL
TECHNOLOGY
KENT STATE
UNIVERSITY

2. OBJECTIVES OF TEACHING
 Independence to the best of his or her ability
using critical thinking, using life-long learning
skills.
 Mastery of self-help skills, independent living
skills, communication skills.
 Success in his or her way of learning.
 Skillfulness in the concepts being taught.
 Flexibility in using new ways to learn as he or
she matures.

3. METHODS OF REACHING
THESE OBJECTIVES
 Critical thinking:
1. teach the child, to the best
of his/her ability, to think
about tasks in more than one  Collaborative learning
way. 1. tailored to his or her
2. explore various answers way of learning.
instead of just one, and 2. cross-peer tutoring.
3. if the student can 3. mentoring.
communicate it in any way, 4. scaffolding: to assist
have them ask questions – one him or her to obtain
can use ASL, PECs and skillfulness in the skill
writing or drawing as well as being taught.
speech. 5. flexibility: open to
 Lifetime skills: new methods of
1. make goals and objectives for teaching individuals
the child, using subgoals, and with special needs to
2. involve all professionals and help them reach their
parents in the planning. personal goals.

4. MEASURING EFFECTIVENESS OF
REACHING THESE OBJECTIVES
 Build in goals and objectives for lifelong
learning skills, self-help skills, independent
living skills, communication skills, and assess
how the student is doing on these periodically.
 Have tutors and mentors keep a record of
how the student is meeting goals in their
areas.
 Keep track of how the student is progressing
to higher levels through scaffolding.
 Assess how well the new methods are working
and decide how long to attempt new methods
before trying something else.

5. WHY TEACHING IS
IMPORTANT TO ME
Learning as I teach, and teaching as I learn
 Learning more on how to approach teaching and
guiding individuals with special needs.
 Learning formal teaching methods, their names,
their assessment routines, and their validity, I am
eager to test these methods.