Gettysburg Elementary teacher lets love of kids S-P-A-R-K-L-E

Clovis native inspired by her third-grade teacher who later became a colleague

By Ian Holmes / Special to The Independent Friday, Mar. 28, 2008

With five minutes to spare before dismissal, the teacher enthusiastically said to her students, "Let's play a quick game of Sparkle."

It's a simple game. Students are given a word and individual students call out one letter in succession. The last speller calls out the word sparkle. "The next word is thought," she quizzed the second-graders. "I thought about it in my mind."

As she pointed to the students, the designated spellers called out the letters, t-h-o-u-g-h-t. "SPARKLE," shouted the last speller.

The spelling game isn't the only thing sparkling in Valerie Casado's second-grade classroom at Gettysburg Elementary School. Casado's personality shines as the 53-year-old energetically discharges her teaching duties, instilling her students with self-esteem along the way.

"I like making kids feel good about themselves," Casado said. "If they are happy to come to school and they feel good about coming to school, then I can teach them anything."

Casado, a native of Clovis who received her teaching credential at California State University, Fresno, attributed her desire to enter the teaching profession to the inspiration of her third-grade teacher, Irene Seeley.

"Irene played the piano and she square danced, and I absolutely wanted to learn," Casado said. "That's when I started to play the piano and I played all through high school."

When Casado arrived at Temperance-Kutner Elementary School, her first teaching assignment, she was pleasantly surprised to find Mrs. Seeley, her mentor, on the teaching staff.

"She was teaching fourth grade then," Casado said. "I remember she would say to me, 'You know Valerie, you can call me Irene.' I would say, I can't call you Irene, you are Mrs. Seeley."

Casado keeps a piano in her classroom, thanks to Mrs. Seeley, accompanying her students each morning as they sing "The Star Spangled Banner." She honors Mrs. Seeley each spring when she and the other second grade teachers instruct the entire second grade class in the art of square dancing.

"She gave me her square dance records when she retired and she said, 'Valerie, I want you to keep the tradition going,' and I have ever since," Casado said. "Square dancing and the piano, I think about her all the time."

Casado taught first and second grades at Temperance-Kutner for three years before getting married and raising four children. When the family moved into the Gettysburg community, she and her husband Chris became active volunteers at the school. Casado held the office of parent club president while her husband started the Gettysburg Soccer Club.

When her youngest child, Tony, was in kindergarten, Casado decided to return to teaching, choosing the school where her children had received their education. She has taught at the school for 15 years, 13 of them in the second grade.

"I feel that Clovis Unified has given so much to my own kids," Casado said. "This is my opportunity to give back to these kids, and every year I get 20 new kids to parent, mother and teach a combination of all that together."

Principal Carl Tomlinson agreed that Casado's love of children is what makes her an outstanding teacher. He said she creates a warm, caring and friendly atmosphere in her classroom.

"Her kids instinctively know that she cares tremendously about them," Tomlinson said. "She always has a well-run, disciplined classroom and she is knowledgeable about the curriculum. She goes the extra mile for her kids."

Tomlinson, who has been a principal for 20 years in Clovis Unified and a principal for two years at Gettysburg, said Casado devotes hours to co-curricular activities, going beyond her teaching day to help the school, community and staff.

"She's a great team player, a can-do type person," Tomlinson said. "I have yet to go to her and ask for anything for the good of the kids that she hasn't said yes."

Casado's largest co-curricular activity is the annual drama production and dinner show. This year Casado and choir director Kathy Blumer produced "Annie Jr." with a cast of 51 students and a stage crew of six from third to sixth grade.

Casado said parent support for the project is phenomenal, with parents painting three different scenes for the production and grandparents donating their time to cook the dinner.

"One of our parents, she sewed 17 orphan costumes," Casado said. "She's an over the top mom, awesome. We have a lot of moms like that at Gettysburg."

Casado said parent help and communication is a vital part of teaching. She sends newsletters to parents each week to keep them informed about events in her classroom.

Sally Wittenborn, also a second grade teacher at Gettysburg, agreed Casado excels at home-school communication.

"She spends a lot of time contacting the parents, letting them know exactly what is going on with each child and where she and the child and the parent can work together to improve things," Wittenborn said.

Casado helps her students gauge their progress through data graphs. Each student sets a personal goal of what percentage he or she wants to reach in each subject during a conference held after the first report card. The second graders graph their test scores each week.

"I wish you could hear the conversation on Monday when I pass back the tests," Casado said. "I made my goal, I went above my goal or I didn't make my goal. I think it makes the kids accountable."

As well as personal graphs, Casado and her second graders graph their class averages each week.

"That's really a good check for me as a teacher," Casado said. "If my class average is like 60 percent, then that's telling me as a teacher that I need to go back and do some re-teaching. If I see it in the 75 to 80s, we're OK, we're doing good."

Casado, a 1999 recipient of Clovis Unified School District's Crystal Award for exceptional employees, often brings papers home to correct for the next day.

"I can't let papers go uncorrected for more than a day because how will I know what my kids have done, are we ready to move on or do I have to re-teach it," Casado said.

Along with helping her students achieve, Casado, married for 28 years, has raised four successful children. Chris, 27, has a master's degree in International Pacific Asian Relations and is fluent in Chinese. He works in San Francisco. Sarah, 26, is a doctor doing her residency in emergency medicine at St. John Hospital in Detroit. Denver, 24, with a degree in music technology from New York University, lives in New York and composes music for commercials, while Tony, 20, a music major at University of Southern California, has toured Thailand, Korea and Japan with the USC chamber choir.

Casado said her children, all graduates of Gettysburg Elementary School, are "scattered" across the country.

"We told our kids to reach for their dreams," Casado said, "and we are so proud of our children."

Friendly Faces is an occasional series about people in Clovis who make it a great place to live. To nominate someone to be profiled in this series, please e-mail Patti J. Lippert at plippert@clovisindependent.com.