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# Roosevelt teacher pens work to assist fellow educators
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/roosevelt-teacher-pens-work-to-assist-fellow-educators/
- Published: 2008-06-13T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T19:54:03.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Education, Downtown, #archive-import

*Teacher still looking for publisher for book*

DOWNTOWN While summer break is within sight, there’s a lot of excitement unrelated to the upcoming vacation these days in Room 27 at Roosevelt Elementary School, the focus instead being paid to a book.

The excitement comes as a result of the author of the two literary works — long-time teacher Steve Reifman, whose professional development book for educators hit the shelves just three weeks ago.

Reifman recently celebrated the publication of “Eight Essentials for Empowered Teaching and Learning, K-8” with a launch party on Wednesday at the Borders Books on the Third Street Promenade, the cookies and milk event hosted by parents of his third-grade class.

The resource book was 12 years in the making for Reifman, who took his own teaching methods in the classroom at Roosevelt and translated them into a 192-page piece.

“At many times I didn’t think it would get published and to have it happen after all these years is exciting,” Reifman, who also teaches professional development courses at UCLA Extension, said.

The book covers eight essential teaching methods that Reifman said will lead to a successful classroom experience, including establishing a sense of purpose for students to understand why they are coming to school, determining goals, and encouraging parental involvement. The book was inspired in part by W. Edwards Deming’s book, “14 Points of Quality,”which addressed management skills.

“Even though he didn’t specifically write for educators, every time I read something by him, it struck me that what he said had tremendous potential for the classroom,” Reifman said.

While “Eight Essentials”is Reifman’s second published piece — the first also an educator resource book that came out in 1996 — the well-liked teacher is perhaps most known in the Roosevelt community for authoring two children’s books, which he is currently trying to find a publisher with the help of two former students.

Reifman first read “Chase Against Time,” a story about a fourth-grader who investigates the mysterious disappearance of a cello, to his class two years ago. The book, which took the teacher about a year to draft, inspired two students who were in Reifman’s class at the time,deciding last year that they wanted to get it published.

The students — Samantha Hsieh and Natalie D’Amico — formed Sam & Nan Literary Agency and began meeting with Reifman weekly to find ways to market the book. One year later, the students are still meeting with Reifman every Friday morning and plan to continue the business until the book gets published. The students will graduate on to Lincoln Middle School in the fall.

Their efforts have led to a few interested parties.

“We haven’t had any offers yet, but we’ve had people read it and compliment it,” Reifman said. “But we haven’t gotten to the final step of someone saying yes.”

The book, which was inspired by FOX hit show, “24,” takes place during a typical school day, between 8:30 a.m. and 3 p.m., at Apple Valley Elementary School, which was modeled after Lincoln. Reifman followed up the book with sequel, “Chase for Home,” in which the title character searches for his missing lucky batting glove on the day of the big playoff baseball game.

He is currently reading the book to his class for the first time.

“The book has a lot of details,” third-grader Brigitta Szucs said during the launch party. “They try to make you know who the suspect is but it’s not who you think it is.”

While Reifman’s newly published piece is targeted for educators, several parents purchased a copy.

“He’s a fantastic teacher,” Tamara Szucs said. “He listens to his students, he’s very respectful of children and he gives them an outline to follow.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 13, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/061308.pdf?ref=smdp.com)