OLD TOWN — One minute, Joanne Alex is seated at a table reading a book about lobstering to a group of girls.

The next, she is showing a pupil how to play the digeridoo, an Australian aboriginal musical pipe made of bamboo.

Then she’s back to the table to help a group of boys with a math lesson.

Twenty-four preschoolers swirl around the diminutive Alex, skittering around bright, sunny rooms, moving quickly from task to task. They sort shells in wooden trays, make pictures by sticking cloth figures onto a painted background, thumb through storybooks and help themselves to a snack of a fig Newton and a tiny glass of milk.

What may seem like chaos to some is just another day for Alex, Maine’s Teacher of the Year, at Stillwater Montessori School. She is the first preschool, first Montessori and first private school teacher in Maine to receive that award, which is given based on nominations from parents and fellow teachers and administrators. She was also the only preschool or private school teacher among this year’s 50 state teachers of the year, all of whom met with President Clinton at the White House this spring.

Alex was first introduced to the Montessori education philosophy during her junior year at Colby College when she spent a month working at a local Montessori school. She liked it so much, she helped out at the school whenever she could find the time, for $50 a month.

After graduating from college, she returned to her hometown of Mexico to replace her own kindergarten teacher. Then her husband, Joe, who was in the Air Force, was assigned to a base in Mississippi. There she again taught at a Montessori school. When the couple returned to Maine, they were determined to start their own school.

They started the private preschool 15 years ago in a rambling white house on the corner of Stillwater and College avenues. They live in the upper two floors. Although the preschool program is still the most popular, the school has expanded to offer an elementary program, which goes through sixth grade and is housed in space rented from the Holy Family Parish.

Montessori education, a decades-old philosophy named after the Italian doctor who pioneered it, is based on the premise that children, even at a very young age, should be allowed to make choices. Dr. Maria Montessori believed the purpose of education was not to fill children’s heads with pre-selected information, but rather to cultivate their natural desire to learn.

“I saw it empower children by allowing them to make their own choices,” Alex said of her introduction to Montessori education more than 20 years at Colby. “It really is where my heart is because I’ve seen it work for kids.”

As the director of Stillwater Montessori School, Alex said, her role is not to stand in front of a class full of children and lead them through a lesson. Rather, her job is to help pupils if they are having a hard time deciding what to do.

For example, when one pupil wandered somewhat aimlessly around a corner of the school where shelves of books are located, Alex suggested that the pupil “read” an alphabet book that the class put together. For each letter, a pupil had drawn a picture of an object that began with that letter.

There is no teacher’s desk in the rambling quarters that constitute the classrooms Alex shares with two assistants. Instead, a chart on which Alex and the aides keep a running record of every activity that each child undertakes throughout the day, and whether they work alone or with another pupil or adult, is balanced atop a computer.

The computer and everything else at the school is set up for the pupils. Posters that decorate the walls are at about waist level for adults, but eye level for pupils, who range from 2 1/2 to 6 years old. Brightly painted bookcases that rise only a couple of feet from the floor are filled with baskets and cups containing beads, dice and rocks. Pupils are urged to handle everything including Alex’s collection of American Indian baskets and breakable glass containers. When they are done with an activity, the children pick up all the objects and put them back on the shelves.

Alex said it is gratifying to see the education establishment endorse much of the Montessori philosophy as evidenced by her award as teacher of the year and in the recent focus on brain development in children from birth to age 5.

“These `new’ theories are what I’m already doing in my classroom,” Alex said, seated at a long table covered with papers in the school’s upstairs office.

For example, pupils in Montessori classes are grouped by age range, not grade level, like the multiage classrooms that have popped up in public schools. Montessori schools also rely on a small pupil-to-teacher ratio, with one adult for every eight pupils.

As teacher of the year, Alex has traveled the state talking with other teachers about what works and doesn’t work in their classrooms. She has also spoken about the need to begin educating children early, before the traditional start of school when children are 5 years old.

She is also a big supporter of the state’s Learning Results, which outline what children should know and be able to do at different grade levels in eight subject areas. Alex said her curriculum matches well with the state guidelines.

In addition to a lenghty period of independent time when pupils choose their activities, there are group lessons when books are read and songs are sung.

Pupils also spend a lot of time outside, playing games and climbing on playground equipment to stimulate their physical development.

The Montessori approach and Joanne Alex have a lot of supporters in the University of Maine community. The surprise party when Alex was named teacher of the year was like a who’s who of the Orono campus, with the athletic director, women’s basketball coach and numerous professors in attendance. About half the school’s pupils are the children of university personnel and they come from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Pupils come from as far away as Hampden and even Thorndike.

“Joanne is wonderful,” said Mary Bailey, whose three children were in Alex’s class before going to public school. “She has a great way of dealing with each child.”

Bailey, of Old Town, said she was pleasantly surprised the state Department of Education gave its teacher of the year award to a preschool teacher at a private school.

“It shows this type of education is working,” she said.