John Wyatt Montessori

Dr. John Wyatt was a guide, mentor, and friend who introduced Montessori philosophy to members of our management team. In 1994 John was appointed as the Dean of Curriculum at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. Gustad and Yumi were his students while they were in the Master of Architecture program at Taliesin. After graduation they both continued as faculty members and worked closely with John helping him implement the Alexandria program which he had introduced into the Montessori curriculum. John introduced Monthana to Montessori by asking her to read a collection of Maria Montessori books in order to understand the Montessori philosophy. He strongly believed that knowledge should not be delivered but acquired through self motivation. Yumi continued being a very close family friend after John left Taliesin. John had once told Yumi that the most important duty of an educator is to create moral human beings. We continue to strive to make this happen.

Dr. John Wyatt's Biography:

Dr. John Wyatt held a Ph.D. in comparative languages and literature from the University of California, Berkeley. He served as a professor of classics and comparative literature at Beloit College (WI) from 1971 to 1996 and visiting professor at the University of Chicago from 1979 to 1996. He was the Founder and Director of the Intensive Greek and Latin Programs (Institute for Classical and Medieval Thought and Languages), University of Chicago,(1979-1997). He was also the Founder and Director, Center for Language Studies, (Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, ESL), Beloit College (1982-85). From 1982-1991, he was the Translator and Associate Artistic Director at the American Players Theater in Spring Green, Wisconsin, during which time he translated and directed the production texts of various plays including Chekhov's Seagull, Sophocle's Oedipus Rex, Plautus' comedy The Asses, Ibsen's Enemy of the People and Goldoni's A Servant of Two Masters (Honolulu). John Wyatt developed the Beloit College "Help Yourself" Program curriculum as a Montessori education module known as “Keepers of Alexandria.” He was the Educational Curriculum Designer for North American Montessori Teachers Association in Cleveland till he passed away on June 26th 2008.

Dr. John Wyatt's Academic Timeline

1965	Earned B.A. in Philosophy and Classics, summa cum laude, at UC-Berkeley.
1967–1969	Worked as an Associate at UC-Berkeley.
1965	Earned B.A. in Philosophy and Classics, summa cum laude, at UC-Berkeley.
1967–1969	Worked as an Associate at UC-Berkeley.
1967–1968	Lecturer in Physics and Logic at the California School for the Deaf.
1967–1969	Served as Advisor of Humanities in Deaf Education at the California School for the Deaf.
1967–1970	Was a member of a team that established intensive language training at Berkeley.
1968	Earned M.A. at UC-Berkeley in Comparative Literature (Latin, Greek, Russian, and English)
1968–1969	Teaching Associate in Classics at UC-Berkeley (Intensive Latin)
1969–1970	Teaching Associate in Comparative Literature at UC-Berkeley.
1970	Began teaching at Beloit College as Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature.
1972	Won the college's 1972 Excellent Teaching Award.
1973–1974	Collaborated in establishment of Intensive Language Program at the Graduate Center at City University of New York.
1973	Was Visiting Fellow in Russian at Yale University.
1976	Earns his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature (Latin, Greek, Church Slavonic) from the UC-Berkeley.
1977	Won National Endowment for the Humanities award to participate in a seminar entitled “Medieval Origins of Modern Theater,” held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
1978–1979	Was Visiting Lecturer in History of Medicine at the University of Illinois Medical School.
1979	Worked to establish intensive program in classical and medieval languages and taught at the University of Chicago
1980	Was elected Teacher of the Year at Beloit College for a second time.
1981-1997	Was Director of the Institute of Ancient and Medieval Languages at the University of Chicago. He was founder and director of summer intensive Greek and Latin programs at the University of Chicago.
1982–1985	Founded and directed Beloit College’s Center for Language Studies, which has continued to offer summer intensive courses in critical languages, most recently Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Russian.
1982-1992	Was a translator and Associate Artistic Director at the American Players Theater in Spring Green, Wisconsin.
1983	Served as consultant for intensive classical language programs at Dartmouth College.
1984	Served as consultant for intensive language program in Japanese at MIT.
1984–1988	Served as an instructor in the University of Chicago’s Upward Bound program.
1988	Founded Beloit College’s Help Yourself Program, which provided Beloit, Wisconsin’s underprivileged elementary school children an innovative, creative, and free after-school and weekend instruction in elementary Latin and ancient history and culture. Called “Meet Us in Alexandria,” this curriculum innovatively and oppositionally approached the so-called “Classical World” from the focal point of Africa.
1990–1991	Worked with Los Angeles AIDS clinic, the Thomas Magee Medical Institute. John led seminars and discussions for AIDS patients.
1993	Appointed as Dean of Curriculum and served as faculty at Taliesin, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture in Spring Green, Wisconsin and Scottsdale, Arizona.
2001-2004	Dean at Frank Llyod Wright School of Architecture
1996-2008	Educational Curriculum Designer at NAMTA in Cleveland. Developed the Beloit College Help Yourself Program an educational module known as “Keepers of Alexandria.”
	John passed away on June 27, 2008.
	Author of Timeline James Bradley Wells, Assistant Professor Classical Studies DePauw University John Wyatt Student