Inside Mindful Teaching – Roberta Schnorr

I needed to work with myself every week to keep showing up for them as individuals. It was unpleasant and difficult. I took lack of progress personally. I needed to stay present to both my intentions and to candidates’ learning needs when communicating about their progress. The second half of one semester I had growing concerns about Anna, and one other student. I held individual conferences about their second tape submissions and offered more intensive coaching.

I encouraged them to submit a tape again in a week or two that demonstrated their response to the feedback. Anna’s additional tape showed little growth. There were only a couple of weeks remaining in the semester. There were not enough tutoring sessions left to demonstrate that she was solid enough in her understandings and teaching in this area to pass. I scheduled another individual conference with her to discuss her teaching. That afternoon, I practiced mindfulness to get myself grounded and to clarify how I wanted to be in this conference.

Anna seemed like a nervous individual, and I expected her anxiety about our meeting would be high. Though I knew she would not pass, I decided to try to engage her with co- assessing her performance. I hoped this could be a kind and supportive conversation to help her engage realistically with her teaching, regardless of the course evaluation outcome. I would also be clear with her about where she currently was in terms of course requirements, so she would be aware that she was not going to pass this semester.

But mostly, my experiment was to be calm, kind, and to remain connected on a human level as her teacher. It would be a challenge. I would try to show up, pay attention moment to moment, and try to facilitate our conversation skillfully. I knew I would have to self-monitor for presence and manage my anxiety. I needed to keep my focus on me and my internal experience. After it had occurred, I went home and wrote it all down to document my experience in this situation with mindful teaching.

I offer excerpts from my journal about our conference in the pages that follow. Anna Conference 2 The following is an excerpt from my journal which I wrote the day after this meeting, reconstructing everything I remembered of our conversation. This evening I had a conference with a student who will not pass the literacy course and field experience.

Her final lesson tape was painful to watch. She seems so disconnected and tense and task focused. She does not crack one smile. The little boy, who is a very animated kid, is suffering in no time. He scrunches his face and looks like he is going to cry. I think this conference went well.

First published by Mantra Books, 2026 Mantra Books is an imprint of Collective Ink Ltd., Unit 11, Shepperton House, 89 Shepperton Road, London, N1 3DF [email protected] www.collectiveinkbooks.com www.mantra-books.net For distributor details and how to order please visit the ‘Ordering’ section on our website. Text copyright: Roberta F. Schnorr 2025 ISBN: 978 1 80341 995 4 978 1 78535 265 2 (ebook) Library of Congress Control Number: 2024951076 All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publishers.

The rights of Roberta F. Schnorr as author have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Design: Lapiz Digital Services UK: Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY Printed in North America by CPI GPS partners We operate a distinctive and ethical publishing philosophy in all areas of our business, from our global network of authors to production and worldwide distribution.

OceanofPDF.com What People Are Saying About Inside Mindful Teaching 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.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: ff6d3862042136b3
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 3,288,246 bytes (3.136 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781803419954, 9781785352652
• Pages: 225
• Language: English (en)

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• Estimated Reading Time: 329.76 minutes
• Total Words: 65,953
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