Teacher of Year gets drenched for school

At 6 feet 4 inches tall, Mike Zehm is an imposing presence in his third-grade classroom. Knowing this, he strives to put his students at ease.

“They need to know immediately that I am there for them,” he wrote in an introductory letter to the Ramona Unified School District. “The sooner the student feels this way, the sooner he or she will be able to learn.”

He greets each student with a “good morning” at the start of each school day and waits for their return “good morning.” It’s one of his ways of bonding with his students.

Zehm, a teacher at Ramona Elementary School for 34 years, is the district’s Teacher of the Year. He will be among honorees considered for San Diego County Teacher of the Year in the fall.

Based on comments from colleagues and parents, Zehm exhibits the same enthusiasm for his profession as a new teacher.

After school on Friday, he didn’t leave the campus. He was the first to sit under a toilet at the Friends of Ramona Unified Schools (FORUS) Royal Shower station at Ramona Elementary’s Spring Carnival. For 30 minutes students, co-workers and other adults continually pulled the string and drenched him with cold water on a chilly afternoon.

Proceeds from the Royal Shower and other carnival booths will pay for a second new drinking fountain at the school. That was enough reason for Zehm to be repeatedly soaked.

Zehm didn’t plan on being a teacher. At age 25 a construction accident left him seriously injured. As he recuperated in a hospital, his mother, a special education teacher, suggested he change careers.

“She reminded me of my past experiences with children, teaching swimming lessons at the beach and coaching Little League,” he said.

He thought about adults who had inspired him and realized that, in addition to his parents, “the two people who were most influential to me were my fourth-grade teacher and my high school football coach.”

He earned multiple subject and visually handicapped specialist credentials at Northern Illinois University, and two days after graduation learned of a job in Ramona.

“I loaded up my Maverick and headed west in the summer of 1981 and 34 years later, here I am.”

He’s taught special education and first, third and sixth grades at Ramona Elementary. He’s represented the school on the Ramona Teachers Association, served as student council adviser for 14 years, and led intramural sports during lunch periods.

As trends in education changed, he’s adjusted.

“Change is always taking place in the educational world because of many factors,” he said. “I believe they occur primarily because no one educational ideology works for all students, and not all teachers buy into all educational trends.”

During the Spring Carnival, FORUS member Dave Patterson talked with Zehm and later said he was surprised when Zehm asked about Patterson’s 31-year-old son, Matt, by name.

Zehm, Matt’s first- and sixth-grade teacher, also remembered Megan, Patterson’s daughter, “and she wasn’t even in his class. It shows what kind of a teacher he is.”

“I thanked him for giving Matt such a good start,” said Patterson.

Zehm, father of three adult children, has two grandchildren.

“I’m thrilled to be a grandfather and enjoy taking the grandchildren to Gillespie Field to watch the planes take off and land...and taking them to swim lessons,” he said.

He’s unsure when he’ll retire, but “I do know this. When I greet a student in the morning, my primary thought is what can I do to help this student grow academically and socially? This is the challenge that motivates me to continue to explore new educational strategies. I owe this to each child in my room.”