Mark Berger has long been dedicated to the principals of the Montessori method, developed in the early 20th century by Italian educator Maria Montessori. Now he's the new director of Corvallis Montessori School.

Berger was considering law school 20 years ago when a talk with a friend in Toronto who was a Montessori teacher changed his path.

Berger liked what he was hearing about the school and decided he'd take a break from his own schooling and spend a year teaching at a local Montessori school.

"I ended up falling in love with what I heard," about the Montessori method. It focuses on teaching children self-directed learning. As a philosophy major, Berger said the approach made sense to him.

"The learning that goes on is really learning with meaning and understanding as opposed to remembering."

He ended up teaching for two years, when an opportunity to become an administrator of a small primary level Montessori school opened up. With no background in administration, Berger took over the school as director and ended up helping develop the school into a much larger program that eventually included a middle school.

"I was thrown into the fire," he said. "I hadn't studied business administration or accounting, and I was doing payroll and HR."

He said the trial by fire was an excellent way to prove that he really did believe in the Montessori approach, that learning-by-doing method.

"I really believe what I say," about the value of Montessori, he said. "A lot of people who learn things academically find it hard to apply those methods in the real world."

When Berger was invited to join Corvallis Montessori as their new director, he said it was a natural pick because he and his fiancee wanted to move to the Northwest. The weather is better than in Toronto and Chicago, where he'd lived before, and living in Oregon will enable him to pursue his hobbies of hiking, canoeing and kayaking.

Berger plans to work with the Montessori board to expand what's offered at the school to boost enrollment. Two years ago, Corvallis Montessori decided to limit their classes to kindergarten through third grade. Berger would like to see the school begin offering fourth through sixth grade again, with an eye toward eventually offering middle school.

"This place is fertile ground for a middle school program," he said. He envisions partnering with Oregon State University to offer science and agriculture-based programming.

For now, Berger is assessing the community's interest in Montessori programs. He is hoping to raise the school's community profile and understanding of its programs.

"We want to bring Montessori to the people who want it."

Tickets for the school's annual auction in March go on sale next month. Related information is available at www.corvallismontessori.org.