Bruce Robertson is a teacher and educational leader. Mr. Robertson draws from more than two decades of experience and examines how teaching in schools can be transformed from good. In his book, The Delusion of Teaching: Power Up Your Pedagogy, (Power Up Your Pedagogy) Bruce Robertson boldly urges us to refresh our thinking about our usage and approaches to Montessori. It’s the same message delivered from the outset by Dr. Maria Montessori when she called upon us to “transform” ourselves for “the teacher's task is not a small easy one.” Such powerful invitations cultivate excitement and perhaps a sense of trepidation. How then does the Montessori teacher qualify themself for such a critical undertaking as honest and frank evaluation and reevaluation of our pedagogy? There are many paths to the same destination. This piece examines, in particular, a professional book club as a means for lifelong learning.

A true Montessori teacher stands “committed to a lifetime of learning.” (Kripalani, Montessori in Practice). Teaching is not an easy job, and few comprehend just how difficult it is. Montessori called upon us to “stimulate life, leaving it, then, free to develop, to unfold. Herein lies the first task of the teacher.”

In my opinion, teaching needs to be looked upon as a process of sharing knowledge and opening doors for continuous learning. In my own experience—20 years of teaching Montessori in a public education setting—my teacher training was simply the beginning of a long, perhaps infinite, road towards an understanding of the child, Montessori’s ideas, and the pragmatic approach towards a beautiful teacher practice. To be a Montessori teacher is a gift, yet simultaneously a task—worthy of continuous discovery, a revolution in our thinking and a willingness to learn and transform ourselves.

Covid-19 brought with it many cliches that became everyday language such as “unprecedented times,” “a new normal,” and “in these difficult times.” We also heard, all too often, that “every cloud has a silver lining.” A silver lining for me was the idea and the impetus to create a professional book club for those interested in the Montessori Method. I missed the classroom experience and the interactions with the children and my colleagues. I yearned for connections regarding the pedagogy that felt lost during the time of virtual living.

I live in an area of Northern California that is geographically vast, and often riddled with traffic. Social gatherings and in-person commitments pose many challenges due to such conditions. Nonetheless, I’d always wanted to be a member of a professional book club in the world of Montessori.

I had neither the desire, nor the know-how, to head up such a group. I did have the trepidation to which I alluded at the start of this essay. I realized, however, that the stage had been set. We were now accustomed to conducting our lives on digital platforms. Geographically, an in-person book club was not a viable activity—we were all stuck inside. A virtual book club would be able to reach many with ease and safety. Thus, the Bay Area Montessori Association (BAMA) book club began.

Dr. John Spencer (Spencer, Empowered Teachers, Empowered Students) informs us about the power of professional book clubs. Through his work, I began to create a model or a format for the book club, with the idea that its primary purpose was to create a safe space for teachers to share their understandings, concerns, and curiosities, and to improve ourselves as educators. Spencer also calls upon professionals to “own your own professional learning,” and I intuitively understood that a book club with peers would become such an avenue for myself. I was motivated to create a format based upon mutual benefit.

Spencer wrote that “professional book clubs can be a powerful way to learn new skills, find new ideas, and experience paradigm shifts.” The book club created for the Montessorians became a place much like a Montessori classroom. We learn from the mentor text and from another. We gain a deeper understanding of the Montessori pedagogy and its application to the teaching profession.

As a Montessori teacher, I admit that the responsibility for self-transformation and lifelong development can feel insurmountable. The book club, in addition to workshops, conferences, and day-to-day life in the classroom, are tools that overcome those obstacles. As a human in society, I recognize that schools, families, technology, and social mores constantly change.

We are learning more about the brain functions and the learning process as well. Such discoveries inform us and hopefully inform our teaching practice. Am I up to the task put forth by Montessori? As she wrote: “(The teacher) has to prepare a huge amount of knowledge to satisfy the child’s mental hunger. She is not like the ordinary teacher limited by a syllabus. The needs of the child are clearly more difficult to answer.”

I am motivated by this dynamic work that we do and welcome the sometimes seemingly daunting means by which we “must first understand the universe.” (Montessori).

I structured the book club with a basic outline and guiding questions. The book club was first offered in the fall of 2022, and I’m happy to report that we have continued. I offer the book club twice per year (autumn and spring) with four 5-week sessions. The book club meets once per week for 75 minutes. Each season’s session uses a different mentor text, and the members are asked to commit to two principles:

1. The book must be read.
2. Participants must attend for the entire session dedicated to the chosen mentor text.

I chose the first book as the instigating session, but book titles are now chosen democratically.

Our meetings are guided through a format suggested by Spencer: Connect. Extend. Challenge. Our discussions thread together our current understandings, new understandings or deepened concepts, and challenges to our understandings. We end our meetings with shared takeaways: “How will my practice change as a result of my new understanding?” Our discussions were not bound to this format, and we were open to stories, questions, or other related conversations. In other words, our meetings were focused, but allowed for open discussions and spontaneous propositions.

Our meetings were founded upon an important understanding that we hold true in our own classrooms: Each person has something to contribute. We learn from one another. We gain deeper insights of the pedagogy and its application to the teaching professions. Maria Montessori created multi-age classrooms for many reasons that rang true in the professional book club. Our meetings and discussions widened our interactions with peers and fellow educators and parents. We deepened our relationships with one another as well as to this magical pedagogy. We formed friendships. The book club, unlike workshops or conferences, allows for participants to sit with ideas over an extended period of time.

I believe that the book club is a valuable tool for the lifelong learning curve of the Montessori educator. Montessori herself recognized that the role of the adult in a Montessori classroom is a challenging one. She likened it to the trials of the vestals in ancient Rome, who were tasked with “keeping the sacred fire alive.” (Montessori, Creative Development of the Child). I believe this format can be very powerful for previously unconnected professionals, as well as for teams working in a particular school. We can bond over shared understandings and extend ourselves through new ideas posed by our peers. The book club epitomizes Vygotsky’s idea surrounding the “zone of proximal development.” As a learner, I can gain more through collaboration with more capable peers. (Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development).

Maria Montessori recognized that “the great majority of teachers end by thinking that the new child is nothing but a myth or an ideal.” We must take precautions that guard against static perceptions. How can we light the fires that we felt during our Montessori training? How do we rekindle ideals or visions set forth in the writings of Montessori? How do we empower ourselves and one another to develop a shared understanding of high quality teaching within a framework described by Montessori? I believe that a professional book club offers a potential means to do just this. Learning is sometimes likened to climbing a mountain. Mountains have endpoints, peaks. My journey towards transformation as a Montessori guide has allowed me to think there may be no peak… that the journey is the destination and the climb a reward in itself.

About the Author

Tara E. Valentine, MEd, is a Montessori educator with 20+ years of classroom experience. She enjoys swimming, reading, and, of course, teaching. AMS-credentialed (Early Childhood).

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The opinions expressed in Montessori Life are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the position of AMS.