Her dedication to students is part of what earned her the honor of San Diego County teacher of the year last Saturday night at the Balboa Theatre in downtown San Diego. Blome, 39, who lives in the College Area, and four other local educators were recognized as the best among the county's 25,000 public school teachers.

NANCEE E. LEWIS / Union-Tribune Patty Blome (left) with student aide Jennifer Valdez, a former student of Blome's who wrote a letter supporting the San Ysidro High instructor's nomination as teacher of the year.

Last year, she discovered five weeks into the semester that one of her former students wasn't enrolled in an English class. She marched to the counseling office and got her into a class. She hosts an after-school homework club in her classroom that is so popular that some students – some of whom aren't in her classes – sit on the floor.

Blome used her application for the award as a call for more dedicated, bright people to join the teaching corps, and to warn away those who are just entering the profession because they don't know what else to do after five or six years of college.

“These are the most dangerous teachers in our profession as they pose a threat of imparting mediocrity upon our students,” she wrote.

Veteran teachers, too, can lose their way, like the teacher who told her early in her career, “Don't work too hard, because chances are the kids won't.”

Now in her 15th year of teaching, Blome immerses herself in her job so completely that her husband calls the first two weeks of the school year “hibernation” because he never sees her. It's when Blome is busy grading the first essays her new students submit.

2008 county Teachers of the Year Four other local educators were also named county teachers of the year. Theodosia Ballard, Porter Elementary School, San Diego Unified Alex Kajitani, Mission Middle School, Escondido Billy Dean Kvitli, Valley Center Primary School Tom Waldron, Valhalla High, Grossmont Union

“I'm poring over these papers and looking for every single thing they can do,” Blome said during an interview Thursday.

The way she sees it, unsuccessful students' failure is frequently reinforced by being told what they can't do, like score high on tests. By revealing to students the skills she observes in them the very first week of class, she attempts to prove to the students that they can learn.

It can get complicated at San Ysidro High, where more than 40 percent of the students do not speak English fluently and many come from low-income homes. It requires Blome to approach each student as an individual.

She manages it by dividing her 30 students into smaller groups. While some students work on computerized reading programs, others do individual reading in Blome's lounge area of comfy chairs and ottomans, while still others work with Blome on reading and writing. It allows her to have direct conversations with most of her students on most days.

“What students come back and tell me is you always took the time to talk to me,” Blome said. “Sometimes the only mentorlike adult interaction they have is with their teachers.”

Chris Moran: (619) 498-6637; chris.moran@uniontrib.com