Inside Mindful Teaching

by Roberta Schnorr

Roberta Schnorr was a relatively new meditator, but a very experienced educator, when her mindfulness practice unexpectedly collided with her teaching. So began her intentional exploration of mindfulness in every part of her work as a professional educator. This book invites readers 'inside,' as the author shares her inner journey through some of the fits and starts of her beginnings of mindful teaching. It was an unpredictable but ultimately insightful trip along a crooked path. She describes some of her very intentional 'experiments' with mindful teaching, both with school-age learners, and with adult learners. Along the way, three essential elements that support her mindfulness in this complex work emerged. Roberta also shares how she eventually began to invite and support pre-service educators to apply a mindful orientation to their work with public school students. Some of the experiences of these beginning teachers who were also new mindfulness practitioners are included. Roberta's rich personal account captures how, over the course of her final decade as an educator, mindfulness completely transformed her teaching practice.

240 pages, Paperback

Published February 10, 2026

Reviews

[Nicole Heath · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a 20-year secondary public-school teacher and 15-year union leader, I found Inside Mindful Teaching deeply inspiring. Dr. Roberta Schnorr’s journey as an educator offered me a renewed sense of hope—hope for my instructional practice, hope for my students’ sense of self, comfort, and safety in my classroom, hope for our interactions together, and hope for their futures. It also gave me hope for all those working in the teaching profession, who often struggle under the weight of constant demands and expectations.

In a world where it is easy to become distracted or disillusioned, this book became a light. Drawing on both her mindfulness practice and her experiences in education, Schnorr shows how essential it is to be intentional with our words and actions—whether in the classroom with students, in meetings with peers, in conferences with parents, or at home with our own children—and to pair that intentionality with compassion.

With a mindful approach, we can create an environment in which educators feel comfortable being reflective and vulnerable, and therefore more willing to take risks without fear. The impact of this shift can be profound, not only for our students but for ourselves.

[Jean Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author, RS, is an experienced teacher educator who got interested in applying the Buddhist practice of mindfulness to her teaching life. As a teacher educator myself for 25 years- not in the same field- and a college professor for longer, all I can say is wow. This book blew me away. I should make clear that I know little about Buddhism, but tons of what RS says rang true to me.

RS is remarkably honest about what was going on for her as a teacher educator on what I’ll call an emotional level- even if doing so does not portray her in her best light. That fact seems significant; over the course of my life as a professor, my own observation is that many, if not most, in higher ed in general (not just teacher education) do not see our work as affected by or even connected to our own emotional, affective states. It seems to me that most of us are overwhelmed with what we think of as practical matters, nuts and bolts such as managing our classes, advisees and committees and so on. Who has time to examine our own state of mind as we do the work? To advocate for this seems to be a luxury, not a necessity. But, according to RS, when we teach mindfully, it makes all the difference in the world for our students.

RS illustrates this in this book. Chapters 1 through 4 lay out several teaching experiences of the author herself. She noticed that at times, she knew she missed the mark and at other times she knew she’d done great work with her students. She wondered about this. When she wasn’t particularly successful, what was going on for her? In her non-teaching life, she was already learning about Buddhism, and she became convinced that mindfulness could help her. Her extremely clear beginning chapters set the reader up to grasp the rethinking and subsequent changes that RS made in her teaching of teacher candidates.

Chapters 5 through 12 detail those efforts. In these latter chapters, RS describes how she maintained written and spoken dialogs with each of them over a significant period of time. The excerpts of their written responses to her prompts lead the reader to conclude that the teacher candidates were able to immediately see the relevance of mindfulness to their work as teachers. Crucially, RS’ approach made it possible for them to slow down, acknowledge and admit when they were frustrated or bored or angry with their own students or conditions or people in their schools. Once they could do that, they were able to imagine possible solutions and better deal with the situations in which they found themselves.

Especially powerful to me were RS’ discussions about the notoriously awkward parts of preparing teachers. For a few examples, what is the role of “gatekeeping” doing for teacher education, and why does it exist? Is there something better? What should we do about the nice teacher candidate with the decent attitude- who can’t seem to actually do what’s required with her students? What about the shut down one who can’t think through a problem? Or the one who holds her students’ characteristics against them? Teacher educators meet these teacher candidates every day, but humane and helpful ways to guide them are remarkably difficult and time-consuming even to think about, let alone actually pull off. Teacher educators and candidates alike will resonate to RS’ take on mindful teacher preparation and get tons of ideas from this book. It was a breath of fresh air for me. I highly recommend that you give it a read!

[Little Batties · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inside Mindful Teaching invites educators to take a journey with the author down memory lane as she shares her experiences through her "mindful teaching" journey. It is insightful and is jam packed with useful information that an educator can reflect upon when it comes to their own teaching.

The author tires so hard to make this entire experience welcoming and inviting. She encourages self-reflection and forgiveness in not meeting personal expectations. Roberta notes that it's okay that it takes time to get this right, and she encourages educators to look for ways to implement these practices in the way that best fits us, our classroom, and our individual students. It is clear she knows this is not a one size fits all approach, which is entirely refreshing when some books make it seem like there's only one right way to do something it's preaching. After reading this, I did feel like the author truly believes in everything she wrote.

This being said, I did have a few issues with this book. While the author is encouraging, at lot of what was here was her experiences and those that she has taught. It's hard to get a true picture of how this works for everyone, especially in a regular ed classroom when chunks of the book is more focused on special education and special education educators. These practices are not so easy to do in a standard classroom where you are juggling all the different levels with no supports. If you are a lone teacher in a classroom of 20, 50, or 100 student with no other educator in the room, it's going to be harder to implement some of the mindful teaching techniques she's referring to, no matter how much you try.

This book isn't bad, but the way it was written made me feel like I was having my hand held while simultaneously coerced into putting these techniques into practice because it will make me a "better teacher" if I do. I don't think this was the author's intention though, so I cannot fault her for that. Still, it die make it a little off-putting. However, it is still worth the read, especially if you are looking for ways to expand your knowledge on mindful teaching.

Thank you NetGalley and Collective Ink Limited for giving me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Barb]

​​​​Roberta Schnorr’s Inside Mindful Teaching narrates an illuminating journey into the unfolding of her own mindfulness practices and their impact on her life as a teacher educator. She chronicles how mindfulness practices slowly began to creep into her teaching and consulting with students with disabilities.She describes how everything shifted as she set the intention of exploring mindful teaching in her graduate special education courses.

Schnoor’s writing is humble, insightful,and candid. Reading her words feels as if you have entered the author’s mind. As she is so present to her own emotions, thoughts and behaviors, her stories come to life on the page. Readers get a real feel for how she grew as a person and as an educator, and for how the students benefited from her newly founded wisdom.

As a former teacher educator, she shares how to translate her own experiences into practices for teachers and their students. She examines conditions that support mindful teaching, and explores the important roles of intention and reflection in this process. Using examples from personal interactions with students with disabilities and stories of mindful explorations in her courses; and offering graduate students’ reflections on their explorations of mindful teaching, Schnorr presents a complex and insightful portrayal of what one educator’s mindful teaching looks like. She acknowledges first hand the profound impact on her fledgling students as they also begin to teach mindfully. Schnoor's stories and reflections contain many wise insights to guide us on the path of becoming more mindful in our lives and in our teaching.

[Patricia Roylance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inside Mindful Teaching by Roberta Schnorr has made me rethink my teaching. I’ve been a teacher for more than 25 years, in various capacities, and I’ve generally been successful at connecting with students and encouraging their learning, but in recent years I’ve been feeling some burnout and a lot of frustration with students whom I experience as difficult. Inside Mindful Teaching has given me hope that I can turn that around, by slowing down, being more attentive to my own feelings and needs, and therefore being able to make more intentional choices about how to show up in the classroom and in one-on-one interactions with students. The book is full of good ideas about how to be mindful when preparing for classes or meetings, when actually teaching or interacting with students, and when reflecting on successful or unsuccessful teaching experiences afterwards. I particularly appreciate the book’s suggestion to stay grounded in my highest and best aspiration as a teacher: what I most want to try to do for my students and for the world through my teaching. It’s the compass that offers me direction when times get tough. Schnorr’s honesty and vulnerability are key to the book’s usefulness for real teachers facing real challenges, and she enhances that usefulness by sharing not only her own ups and downs but also the mindfulness experiences of the teachers-in-training whom she mentored. This book is relevant for teachers at any level, teaching any subject, who want to be the best teachers they can be.

[Sami Hanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not a teacher, nor do I have plans to be, but this book highlights connection and intention through mindfulness in a way that we can all practice in our everyday lives.