Meet Our Authors and Contributors
Here are brief biographies of our talented authors.
Carol Seibert
Carol Seibert is a passionate and committed educator and parent of a struggling learner. As a 20-year veteran in the field of educational technology, her contributions have ranged from design and development of research-based educational software and supplemental curriculum to development and presentation of professional development programs. Her dream is that all learners might discover and use their gifts to experience success every day.
Carol authored the four-part series on the basics of Universal Design for Learning that appeared in the LeaderLink newsletter, November 2006 - February 2007 and collaborated with Jerry Stemach to create lessons using the principles of UDL for the February - May 2007 issues of the LeaderLink. These articles can be found in their entirety in the Articles section of the Experts tab on this website. Look for more articles and lessons in 2007-08.
Carol welcomes your questions and comments. Email her at cseibert@donjohnston.com
Carol's favorite quote:
The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as that every child should be given the wish to learn.
~~ John Lubbock
Jerry Stemach, M.S. CCC-SLP
Jerry began his career as a special education teacher in middle and high school settings in San Francisco. As a Speech and Language Specialist at the Scottish Rite Institute for Childhood Language Disorders, he studied the language, comprehension and reading skills of older, struggling learners.
His work led to publication of Word Express, the First 2,500 Words of Spoken English. He co-authored the Lifespace Access Profile, a team-based assessment for evaluating students with multiple disabilities. He has taught adults who are English Language Learners. He has been instrumental in the publication of over 100 “considerate” narrative and expository texts for the Start-to-Finish series by Don Johnston. He speaks his mind and holds to high standards and knows the teaching environment from first-hand experience.
Jerry lives in Kenwood, California and when he’s not writing or advocating for teachers, he grows grapes for the famous wineries of Sonoma County.
Oh, and one more thing about Jerry: he has a great sense of humor!
About Jerry's Column
We asked Jerry Stemach, author, editor and visionary to share his literacy expertise in a regular LeaderLink column. Jerry agreed pending a few conditions. He wanted his column to:
- Highly engage you with materials and ideas that you could immediately integrate into your lesson plans.
- Publish information from other colleagues and literacy experts to share a collective vision to improve all students’ ability to learn.
When asked about his passion for this, Jerry said,
“I want teachers, curriculum directors and administrators to hear from the people who have their finger on the pulse of research and best practices. My column will lead directly to application and give teachers sound pedagogy they can immediately implement with their students. My columns include out-of-the-box lessons and materials such as PDF files, MP3 audio files, QuickTime movies and good offline and ready-to-print materials.”
You can read Jerry's Reading Series in the LeaderLink archives and in the Articles section on the Experts page of this website.
Jerry would love to hear from you with your questions about Start-to-Finish books and considerate text. Email Jerry at start-to-finish@earthlink.com.
Gail Portnuff Venable, MS, CCC-SLP,
is a speech, language, and reading consultant in San Francisco, California. She is the Senior Language Editor for Start-to-Finish Books.
Look for their contributions in the LeaderLink newsletter, professional development articles and more.
