Awakening to Educational Supervision

Book excerpt: This book introduces mindfulness as an approach for enhancing the supervision of teachers and teacher candidates. Drawing on empirical research and the welcoming of mindfulness in public school classrooms, the author makes the case for embracing mindfulness methods as a way to become more conscious of supervisory practices and “less reactive” and to enhance regularly enacted tasks, such as classroom observations, conference, and foster relationships and developing collegiality. In contrast to traditional models of supervision, the author reframes supervision as a present moment experience in which unlimited possibilities exist. Awakening to Educational Supervision: A Mindfulness-Based Approach to Coaching and Supporting Teachers provides specific techniques and exercises, such as mindfulness breathing and meditation, mindful walking, mindful note-taking, and deep listening, that can be embedded in supervision routines and practices. Additional notions furthering the mindful supervision approach are also addressed, including the role of intuition, mindfulness in relation to ethical and moral action within supervision, and mindfulness as a way to further building community among school stakeholders.