Huntington Teacher Publishes Children’s Book
One of the hallmarks of Jim Lauter’s teaching career is the dedication to his classes at Jack Abrams Intermediate School. He encourages students to read and write as much as possible and routinely shells out his own money to acquire more classroom materials, including the latest book titles.
Mr. Lauter’s creativity is well-known and he strives each day to get his students to think outside the box, as well. One way he does this is by assigning biography reports that he calls “This is My Life.” When the youngsters are finished with their work, they dress in a way related to the person they just researched and wrote about.
A fourth grade teacher since 1989, Mr. Lauter turned his attention to classroom education after an earlier career as a copy writer for a radio station. “His love of writing is evident with his assignments and his students’ success in the competitions that they enter,” said Patricia Dillon, the Jack Abrams School librarian.
It was evitable that the teacher’s love of writing would ultimately result in him penning a children’s book. The topic was one close to his heart. “Understand Oma” is the story of Mr. Lauter’s mother, Dorothy Heldt, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in the late 1990’s. The book is about the family’s efforts to care for its matriarch and the story is told in the voice of a grandchild.
The book is on sale for $10 with proceeds earmarked for Alzheimer’s research. A book signing is scheduled for Saturday, June 12 at Flowerdale Florists located at 1320 New York Avenue in Huntington Station.
Mr. Lauter credits Joan Fretz, Huntington’s district director of fine and performing arts, for helping find the book’s illustrator, art teacher Ayallah Jeddah. Retired faculty colleague Joe Rodomista provided computer technology assistance and district physical education teacher Lynn Hefele helped generate the spark that reenergized Mr. Lauter’s interest in bringing the book project to fruition.
The Jack Abrams School teacher is relentless in his quest to push students toward success. When student Dan Mollitor was in Mr. Lauter’s fourth grade class, he won the Long Island Ducks essay contest and the team’s duck mascot showed up at Jack Abrams School for an assembly program in the gymnasium. This year, another one of his students, Christian Verfenstein, earned an award in the Huntington Youth Writes townwide contest. (Jacob Fuller, another Jack Abrams School student, also garnered an award in the same contest.)
Although teaching is a serious business to him, Mr. Lauter also has a sense of humor that’s second to none. He’s been known to invite former fourth graders back to his classroom for a reunion when they are seniors, using an original class photo on the invitation. When the teenagers arrive, they have been created by the teacher’s current class, decked out in Jack Abrams School Husky tie-dyed blue shirts.
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