Meet the Trainers

Joen Bettmann

Director of Training

Joen Bettmann is a Primary (ages 3-6) Trainer, Examiner, and Consultant with the Association Montessori Internationale, and has over thirty years of Montessori experience. While Director of Training of the Ohio Montessori Training Institute (Cleveland, Ohio), she offered both academic-year and summer training formats. She has 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 recently served as Director of Training for a three-summer course that started in 2003 in Sydney, Australia. She has given five primary courses through the Montessori Institute of Atlanta, and is the new Director of Training of the International Montessori Training Institute. 

Joen frequently speaks at international Montessori conferences and has published articles in AMI Communications and The NAMTA Journal. She has had extensive classroom experience in both private and public Montessori schools, especially in central city locations. Joen has a B.A. in sociology and psychology and an M.Ed. in Montessori education. She has participated in a U.S. government-sponsored Montessori project in South Africa. She also serves as an adjunct professor at Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland. She has recently been invited to sit on the Trainers' Group Committee for the AMI.

Nikki Hughes

Trainer 

Nikki Hughes serves the Association Montessori Internationale as a teacher trainer, school consultant, workshop leader, lecturer, and examiner. She began training teachers in 1972 at the Montessori Institute of Atlanta and later at the Texas Institute in Houston. In addition to her work in various capacities and places in the United States, Nikki has also served in Canada, Mexico, Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Sweden, England, and Ireland. At present she is the Director of Training for the Primary Course in Geneva, Switzerland. One of the first Montessori teachers in Atlanta, Nikki was trained by Dr. Claude Claremont and his wife, Francesca, who were early collaborators in the work of Maria Montessori. Her further training was under the tutelage of Margaret E. Stephenson. Nikki and her husband, Dick, reside in Atlanta, where they raised their four children. They have six grandchildren.

Patricia Craft-Heuer

Administrator 

Patricia Craft-Heuer holds a Primary Diploma from the Montessori Institute of Atlanta.  She also holds a B.A. degree in Sociology/Anthropology, and a Master of Science degree in Sociology.  Her extensive Montessori experience includes being a Montessori parent, guide, student, Founding Head of School and Director of Admission. Professionally and as a volunteer Patricia has successfully worked as a fund raiser in many capacities.