VSE teacher turns in grade book after 26 years

By: 
Jamie Hult, staff writer

Wanda Logan wraps up a 26-year teaching career this year. 

Submitted photo

Wanda Logan, pictured with her second-grade class, is retiring from a 26-year teaching career. She does plan to continue to substitute teach.

Submitted photo

Jamie Hult

Staff writer

 

After 26 years of teaching youngsters, Wanda Logan is bidding adieu to her Valley Springs Elementary students.

While the longtime second-grade teacher won’t be heading up a classroom full-time in the fall, she hopes to substitute teach in the Brandon Valley School District in the future.

“I do plan on going back as a substitute, so I don’t feel as though I’m saying ‘good-bye,’” said Logan, who got her start at a country school in Nebraska, then worked part-time when her kids were young. She earned BV’s Teacher of the Year in 2008 and is now wrapping up her 24th year at VSE. 

You might say teaching has always been her calling. 

“Way back, even in high school, I really enjoyed working with smaller children, taking care of them,” Logan said. 

Logan said she was always excited for the start of the school year – and the end of the school year, too.

“The beginning was always exciting because you’re meeting the new students, getting your room refreshed and you look forward to being with your co-workers,” she said. “The end of the year was exciting because you know your students so well, you have field trips to look forward to and your students are more independent.”

Over the years, she’s had to adjust to seeing technology creep into the classroom. Trends, too.

“Sure enough, after being in education long enough, you see different trends and practices come around again,” she mused. 

Teaching one-on-one and small groups has gone in and out of style, she said. Even food has changed.

“Allergies have come into play,” Logan said. “We used to always have Valentine’s parties and treats and birthdays, and now with various allergies, just for the sake of your students, you can’t do that anymore.”

She’s seen teaching styles evolve, too, as learning styles have changed over the years.

“The kids are still wonderful,” she said. “Students’ attention is sometimes more challenging to maintain, because they have so much outside of school to keep their attention – these bright lights and fast-paced things. We can’t have all those bells and whistles like all the advances in technology.”

Logan will never forget the first time she had a child in her class whose parent she also taught, and all the good moments in the classroom.

“When a lesson comes together, and I’m having as much fun as the children – that’s a pretty awesome feeling,” she said. 

Her students will long remember her for her Kermit, the frog puppet, and her classroom birds, Polly the Parrot or Roxie the Cockatiel.

Kermit has been a mainstay she’s used to welcome her students.

“At the beginning of the school year, Kermit is shaking and tells me that he’s scared he won’t have any friends and worried what he’ll do at lunchtime,” she said. “The kids solve his problems, which in turn, I hope, helps them solve their problems.”

As for Roxie, she’s hoping the second-grade teacher who will take over her classroom will also want to take over Roxie’s care.

Logan chose to retire this year for opportunities: “I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to go visit in their classrooms,” in addition to traveling with husband, Bob, and to take advantage of the early retirement benefit.

“I’m still young enough to try some other opportunities out there, having some flexibility and seeing if God has a better plan for me.”

The Logans are parents to three grown children, Paul (wife Carly), Molly (husband Matt) Lindgren, and Mariah Logan, and four grandchildren – Cora Logan, and Grady, Madelin and Lucy Lindgren, and a grandson that’s due in late May.

She says she’ll definitely miss the relationship with families.

“Being in one district so long, I didn’t just have one, I maybe had two or three or four of their children,” she said. “They just become a really important connection and relationship in your life.”

 

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