As president of Team Prairie, LLC, Marge oversees the development and production of all Team Prairie's products. She is also the proprietor of the online center for parents, tutors, teachers and individuals with learning disabilities, Net Haven. She brings to the team the perspectives both of a learning disabled adult-- she is dyslexic-- and of a parent of grown (and successful!) learning disabled children. Check the Net Haven home page for a schedule of chats.
Pete is both editor and also the head of Prairie Wordsmiths, where his nearly 30 years in daily newspapers prove he's got the "write" stuff!
Susan Jones, M.Ed.- Education Consultant
Sue brings her experience as an educator to Team Prairie's educational products. She is a reading and learning disabilities specialist trained in multisensory structured language instruction, specifically Orton-Gillingham methods. Sue has her Masters Degree in Learning Disabilities, a B.S. degree in Wildlife/Fisheries, and 14 years' teaching experience in middle and secondary schools. Her teaching experiences includes teaching students in tutorial and small groups with Orton-Gillingham methods at The New Community School in Richmond, Virginia, a college-preparatory independent school for students with specific langauge learning difficulties. With additional experience and coursework in gifted education, history, and instructional design and technology, she brings a deep yet diverse background not only to the team, but to ResourceRoom.net, her site full of resources for tutors, teachers and home educators. Sue also consults for issues such as instructional technology, curriculum developement and accomodations, and IEP analysis.
Dr. Steve Chinn is founder of Mark College, a specialist school for dyslexic students in Somerset, UK, a school recognised by the Government as a Beacon School (center of excellence). He is also an international lecturer on numeracy and dyslexia (including November1999 and November 2002 at the International Dyslexia Association conferences in Chicago and Atlanta). Dr. Chinn is the author of several books, including Tools for the Times Tables.
When writer Frances Jones began teaching adults to read, she searched for stories that adults would find interesting to read-- but found nothing. She began writing her own materials, and was surprised to get unsolicited orders for her books. It became clear that adult education programs were in desperate need for short, easy reading materials for adult students. Feeling that tutors and literacy programs would welcome inexpensive yet appropriate materials for their older students, Ms. Jones published a number of her books for new readers. Upon her retirement from teaching adults to read full-time, Team Prairie offered to keep these materials available and continue her goal of making reading materials for adult new readers affordable and accessible.