I like VCLA's logo. In fact, I LOVE VCLA's logo! It is colorful, fun, and energetic - just like the decor in my office. Becky Gallamore of Rocky Top Embroidery in King George told me it is the "prettiest logo" she has seen; it looks really nice on the shirts I asked her to embroider.
The words depicted in the logo are important to me. They represent how I feel about education and form the basis of my philosophy when working with my students. I love teaching. I love working with your children. I love helping them discover that learning can be fun, and I want to ignite in them a passion for life-long learning. The center "explosion" represents the many, many new neurons that are connecting in the brains of the students who attend VCLA!
When I was a kid - from elementary school through high school and college - there were no computers for the average person. We had the Dewey Decimal System and the card catalog in the public library. It is there I discovered the world is bigger than Southern Maryland's Charles, Prince George's and St. Mary's counties, the "New World" when my ancestors settled there in the late 1600s. My mother took me to the public library at least once a week. She never complained, but by second grade my parents had bought my sister and I a set of the World Book Encyclopedia and a dictionary that was published in two HUGE volumes - my mother still has them! I read each of the books, including the dictionaries, cover to cover!
When I needed to write a paper, the encyclopedia was where I conducted my initial research. If I needed to learn more than what was written in one of the tomes, my mother would drive me to the library. When children are passionate about learning, they willingly explore more than what is taught in the classroom. Their exploration empowers them to achieve more than they dream possible.
Never when I graduated from college did I envision sharing photographs and musings with the world via the Internet. The best I envisioned was writing a book and finding my name in the card catalog! Becoming a television personality was an option (I am old enough to remember rabbit ears, no color, and no remote!). We had an 8mm movie camera, but it cost a lot of money to have the film developed and not everyone had a projector. You Tube wasn't even a thought, nor was its creator!
Scientists, clever inventors, and astute visionaries created many new products, businesses, and jobs as I advanced through my education, but many of the jobs for which my peers trained no longer exist. When I graduated from college, no one was interviewing at Google, Instagram, and Sprint. It is very likely that current K-12 students will be employed with firms and using technology that does not exist today. Yet they need the skills that will allow them to migrate to those jobs.
How do you prepare for a job that doesn't exist? You learn how to learn. You develop a passion for learning. You read EVERYTHING! You learn EVERYTHING there is to know about your current field of employment, and then you learn something new. You stay abreast of current events, and you instill that passion in your children. When every child feels that excitement, we won't need Standards of Learning developed by big business. That excitement, that passion will be THE standard, and that can't be measured by a computerized test.
My husband is grumbling that he needs my help to clean the garage, so I will get down from my soapbox. However, I need to say one last thing about VCLA's logo: I am so grateful to graphic artist Brian Knott, who works with Stafford Technologies. He captured graphically and PERFECTLY the exact message my heart wants to shout to the world! Thanks, Brian!
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