Inside Mindful Teaching provides a unique view of an educator’s mental process, both in the moment and in reflection. Written with vulnerability and transparency, it is singular in recounting an experienced teacher’s journey of transformation—offering a great gift to all educators.
Roberta Schnorr’s book is replete with nuggets of gold: the effects of setting intentions, the effect on teaching outcomes of being mindful in preparing, offering, and learning from lessons, the transformation of teachers’ lives as well as their teaching produced by regular mindfulness practice, and many more.
Familiarity with mindfulness will help readers mine these nuggets but is not essential. Readers will grow their understanding along with the author and her students.
If you seek experiential understanding of the power of mindfulness in the transformation of both students and teachers, you will find no better resource than Inside Mindful Teaching.
Richard Brady, founder of the Mindfulness in Education Network and author of Walking the Teacher’s Path with Mindfulness: Stories for Reflection and Action
___
Inside Mindful Teaching offers a profound exploration of the teaching journey through the lens of mindfulness and intention. The author’s reflections on how anxiety, driven by narrow outcomes and expectations, can stifle both the teacher’s presence and the students’ learning experience are deeply resonant. With honesty and humility, the author shares how developing an awareness of her inner self and fostering a mindful teaching approach transformed her teaching practice—bringing greater clarity, compassion, and presence to the classroom.
The wisdom of this book lies not only in the author’s personal evolution but in how these insights are extended to others. By inviting fellow educators to explore mindfulness, the book empowers teachers to be more attuned to their emotional experiences, manage their anxiety, and stay grounded in the face of challenges. It’s a call to shift from a model of teaching driven by outcomes to one enriched by awareness, connection, and intentionality.
For anyone in education, this book offers both a reflective guide and a source of inspiration, demonstrating that when teachers take the time to care for their own well-being and presence, they create the conditions to nurture the growth of their students as well.
Lorraine Malecki, Principal (retired), Millard Hawk Elementary School
____
Educators seeking ways to bring mindfulness and reflection into their teaching work– and lives– will find Dr. Schnorr’s rich stories, and her candid descriptions of her own learning and changes, helpful and encouraging. Readers will find not a how-to manual, but rather the offering of the author’s personal quest, filled with obstacles, mentors, discoveries, joy, and peace.
Dr. Sharon Kane, Education Professor (Emerita). Author of Integrating Literature in the Disciplines and Teaching and Reading New Adult Literature in High School and College.
____
Inside Mindful Teaching is a masterfully crafted account by State University of New York, Oswego’s esteemed Education Professor, Dr. Roberta Schnorr. In page after page Dr. Schnorr brings the teachings of Buddhist Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh to her classroom experience as well as to her evolving life. Intimacies, tenderness and gorgeous insights will break your heart wide open with a sense of hope and secrets unearthed. For me, as I read each evocative reflection, intimations opened within me, “Yes, you can do this too. You can bring intention and compassion to your work and life as Dr. Schnorr has done.” Teachers, parents, psychologists, and adults hungry for more joy in their lives must read this book.
Dr. Mary Harrell, clinical psychologist and author of Imaginal Figures in Everyday Life: Stories from the World Between Matter and Mind and The Mythmaker.