In Memory of Joen Bettmann

Joen Bettmann, Primary Director of Training

Joen Bettmann was a gifted Montessori Primary Trainer, one who positively impacted the lives of many primary teachers around the world and the children they taught. She traveled the globe, taking her extraordinary training gifts to Montessori training centers where she taught aspiring teachers the principles of Montessori education. She has left an indelible mark of excellence across these institutions and with those she has taught.

During her more than 35 years of Montessori teaching and training, she served as a Primary (ages 3-6) Trainer, an Examiner, and Consultant with the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) as well as serving on the AMI Training of Trainers Group Committee for seven years. In addition, while Director of Training of the Ohio Montessori Training Institute (Cleveland, Ohio), she offered both academic-year and summer teacher training formats. She had training responsibilities at the Midwest Montessori Institute in Milwaukee, WI, the Montessori Institute Northwest in Portland, OR, the Maria Montessori Training Organisation in London, England and Computer Associates Corporate Childcare in Long Island, NY. She served as Director of Training for a three-summer course that started in 2003 in Sydney, Australia. She had given five primary courses through the Montessori Institute of Atlanta, and was the founding Director of Training of the International Montessori Training Institute. Joen provided the Primary Foundation Course in Israel which was interrupted frequently due to air raids. As a result, she returned the following summer to complete the work she started.  

Ms. Bettmann often presented at national and international Montessori conferences as well as published articles in AMI Communications and The NAMTA Journal. She had extensive classroom experience in both private and public Montessori schools, especially in central city locations. Ms. Bettmann had a B.A. in sociology and psychology and a M.Ed. in Montessori education. She participated in a U.S. government-sponsored Montessori project in South Africa. She also served as an adjunct professor at Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland.  She served on the Trainers’ Group Committee for the AMI for two terms. 

Joen was the first member to be inducted into the AMI/USA Circle of Distinction at “The Montessori Experience: Refresher Course and Workshops” in 2020.  She will be missed by her many students who’ve become outstanding teachers in their own right. And indirectly, the hundreds if not thousands of children who were taught by the Joen’s Montessori teachers have also lost an wonderful influencer.

Montessori Global Growth Fund is deeply honored that Joen and her husband Art have create a fund at MGGF to support future primary trainers of teachers. Those wishing to join Joen’s family in supporting those following in Joen’s footsteps can contribute to the fund here.

Should you want to leave a remembrance of Joen, please do so below.