Alisa Ashby

My name is Alisa Ashby and I am so excited to be at MWMA. I have been a part of this community since its beginnings and have always been involved in some way - as a parent, a substitute, the BizTown teacher, an educational assistant in Upper Elementary…and now, as a member of the Lower Elementary team. I have been so fortunate to experience our students’ growth and witness the impact that a Montessori education has had on their learning, both in my own children and in those that I have had the pleasure to work with over the past ten years.

I received a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood/Elementary Education from Brigham Young University and have since earned both a reading endorsement and a Teaching English as a Second Language endorsement. After graduation, I became an administrator for Centro de la Familia, one of Utah County’s Head Start Programs that serves children of migrant farmers working in Utah agriculture. Later, I worked for Provo School District where I started a reading enrichment program for grades K-6 at one of the elementary schools, and then taught Kindergarten for several years. I also taught pre-school in my home.

I have always wanted to be a teacher. (My husband says it’s in my DNA.) My younger siblings and neighbors can attest to that. They were all, at some point, one of the students in my “one-room schoolhouse”, who sat in their seats, answered roll call, listened to stories, and wore down the freshly sharpened pencils doing their assigned work. They probably didn’t appreciate the extra math worksheets I got from my 5th grade teacher; rather, I found no shame in pulling them out of the recycling bin when no one was looking. My most favorite parts of teaching are found in the moments when we laugh while reading a funny story together, have meaningful conversations about life, and the “A-ha!” when a student finally understands something he has been struggling with.

Outside of teaching, my favorite things are my four beautiful daughters, my amazingly supportive husband, hiking the mountain trails, photography, music, reading, and live theatre. I’m the mama who cheers the loudest for my girls after a performance, who loves sitting in my husband’s art studio just talking while he paints, who enjoys the quiet time while digesting a good book, and who loves a good dance party in the kitchen. Oh, and I like owls.

Email: Aashby@mwmacademy.org