Motivated Montessori teacher was motivated learner to begin with
Children are very good at learning, says Lupita Alvarez.
The executive director of the Juneau Montessori School said she watches children learn. She laughed at the idea that people need standardized tests to prove it.
Children at her school in Douglas call her Pita. For many, her full first name can be a mouthful, she said.
The school encourages independent thinking and questions. One 5-year-old girl recently asked what air is made of. With her teacher, she went to the Internet in search of answers. They learned about air and its components, which are measured in microns.
"It turned into a writing exercise," Alvarez said.
Alvarez said she knows some question the philosophy of Montessori schools, in which children choose what and when they learn. On the other hand, she questioned limiting children to a set curriculum.
Her private nonprofit program serves 53 children, ranging in age from 15 months to 6 years. If she could take all the children whose parents come to her, there could be 40 more. Space in the school's old building on St. Ann's Avenue is limited, Alvarez said.
Six years ago, when she began working as its director, the program didn't have the three Montessori-certified teachers it now has, she said. It had the name but it had no teacher. The school was about to close, and friends asked Alvarez to become its director, she said. She had been directing Juneau Dance Unlimited.
"It had given so much to my child," she said, explaining that she discovered the Montessori philosophy when she was looking for a preschool for her 3-year-old son.
It certainly wasn't the way she went through school in Mexico, she said. Despite a solid, traditional education in which she earned a master's degree, she said she would have preferred to be a Montessori child.
Since she came to Alaska 15 years ago, she has learned what she needed or wanted to learn. She had been a physical education and sports training professor in Mexico City.
She met Bruce Botelho while teaching a folk dancing class and came to Juneau as his wife.
Botelho, who was elected Juneau's mayor last week, first became mayor at that time. Alvarez found herself a publicly prominent wife in Alaska's capital.
At 27, she couldn't communicate in English. She had studied English in school, she said, but she could pick up only a few words because most of it was spoken too fast.
As the mayor's wife, "I was eager to learn English," she said.
She also learned American history and government and studied anthropology to learn about Alaska Native cultures. Immersion in English made it easier, she said, noting that her son, Alex, now 12, is bilingual.
"The fact that not a lot of kids are speaking Spanish in Juneau makes it difficult for him to keep in touch (with the language)," she said.
His younger sister, Adriana, didn't have the advantage of having Spanish-speaking grandparents around, she added.
Alvarez also volunteered at Perseverance Theatre.
"I appreciated that they would help me with the language," she said. She read and listened and was "eager to learn," she said.
Now she enjoys watching young people learn.
"I love my work," she said.
Alvarez isn't one of the regular teachers at the Montessori school, but she sees the children discovering the world.
"They change so fast," she said. "You can see them developing day by day."
Alvarez recalled a boy who came to the program with difficulty walking.
"He had difficulty climbing stairs. Running was unheard of," she said. The child now jumps and reaches for her hand to run with him.
Except for having limited space, Alvarez would take any child whose family is willing to work with the program.
"We invite them to come and visit the classrooms and observe the children," she said. Then she talks with them.
"We have occasionally seen parents who want to push their kids," she said. "One thing we do want to make sure parents know is that we do not make the child develop any faster. A child develops at its own rate."
Alvarez said she sees children excited about discovering the world around them. "If you're given everything, why would you want to explore?" she said.
She also sees parents who don't want to let go of what makes a Montessori education special. They have worked to get elementary level and middle school Montessori programs in place in Juneau, and she looks forward to a high school program one day.
Alvarez said she isn't alone in believing that learning is not all about knowing the right answers.
"We don't give them the answers. We help them ask the right questions," she said.
• Tony Carroll can be reached at tony.carroll@juneauempire.com.