WAYSIDE TEACHING

On multiple occasions I had the privilege of working with motivational speaker, Frank Charles Winstead.  Mr. Winstead provided chapter three, Wayside Teacher: In a Place Called School, for the book Be A Teacher: You Can Make a Difference.  This past weekend, I took the opportunity to re-read the chapter contributed by Mr. Winstead.  Frank Charles and I share a common philosophy- IT IS THE RELATIONSHIPS DEVELOPED THAT WILL MOST LIKELY INFLUENCE THE LIVES OF OTHERS!

Below I have included in this posting an excerpt of the chapter written by Mr. Winstead.  With his permission, I have changed a few words to make it applicable to all educators.

WAYSIDE TEACHING

Formal, organized instruction is, and ought to be, the major component of the educational process. It deserves our best attention and our most thoughtful planning.  The important place that planned instruction has in the school day is highly evident; bells signal the beginning and the endings of time allotments established for its occurrence and the school day is almost completely given over to it.

While not seeking to deprecate this formal teaching or diminish its primary place in the educational enterprise, I believe there is much more to education than organized instruction.  The more influential aspect of education is often what might be called wayside teaching.  By wayside teaching, I mean the teaching that is done between classes, i.e., when walking in the halls, after school, and in dozens and dozens of one-on-one encounters, however brief.  For principals it is usually the main means of teaching.

When all is said and done, what is said informally and casually may have more impact on a person’s behavior than what is said formally while instructing a class or conducting a faculty meeting.  A response to a student’s non-academic question, given spontaneously and without particular fore-thought, can have great impact.  In terms of affecting behavior, such a response may be the most influential act a teacher performs all day.  Wayside utterances are often heard at a deeper level than classroom pronouncements.

Fortunately, many teachers do not think of themselves as “on duty” only when standing in front of a class.  The casual walk with a student or two on the way to a student council meeting is recognized as an opportunity to develop the kind of personal relationship that underlies true excellence in education.  The unplanned after-school encounter with a discouraged student is seized as an occasion to express caring and offer a reassuring word.  Even a surprise meeting in the mall on a Saturday is seen as a chance to communicate a genuine interest in a student as a worthy person.

Wayside teaching, however, is neither as casual nor as completely accidental as it may appear. Preparation of the heart as well as the mind has to precede it.  If teachers have credence with pupils, they will often seek opportunities to engage students in conversation, and vice versa.

While the occasion may come up suddenly and unexpectedly, the quality of the relationship preceding the conversation will reflect a bend of the heart and spirit that usually was a long time in the making.

As educators we cannot evade the responsibility that is inherent in our personal example –and we shouldn’t try to. We may not dwell on it a great deal—that would seem self-righteous, even egotistical – but we need to be sensitive to the effect our behavior has on students and faculty.

Our conscious influence, when we are on dress parade, instructing a group, playing the role of teacher, may be relatively small compared to the impact of our wayside teaching.  The silent, subtle radiation of one’s personality, the effects on one’s spontaneous words and unplanned deeds apart from those times when one is in front of the class have great impact.  One rarely becomes a “significant other” on the basis of actions when formally instructing.  It is in relationships developed in wayside teaching that one is most likely to influence the lives of others.