Participant News
Karin Bradberry , a participant in Levi Romero's poetry workshop at the 2007 Teachers' Institute, has won two prizes for her villanelle entitled "Wolves." She took 2nd place in the poetry genre in SouthWest Writers Annual Contest, and 8th place in the rhyming poetry genre in Writer's Digest Annual Contest. She teaches English, Creative Writing, and Spanish at Creative Education Preparatory Institute 2 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Teresa McGuire , who participated in Levi Romero’s Contextual Bilingualism workshop at the 2007 Institute, has published a historical romance novel, Amulet of the Anasazi, and is working with a literary agent on the publication of her book, Taos Poetry and Photographs, which she created during the institute, as well as a children’s book. Teresa is currently working on a project about Eya Fechin growing up in the Taos Artist Colony era and a historical novel with La Llorona as the protagonist. Teresa comments, “ . . . your institute helped me to gain the confidence to know that I do write well and that others enjoy my writing. I want to thank you wholeheartedly for the experience. Meanwhile, keep your eyes and ears open for future books of mine.”
Rudy J. Miera , who served as Teacher Facilitator in Levi’s Contextual Bilingualism workshop in 2007, has published a piece, “All the Worlds that Fit,” in the NCTE’s English Journal (November 2007). “Piaget,” writes Rudy, “once said that disequilibrium is the first step toward growth. We as teachers should be the disequiliberators.”
The Albuquerque Journal (September 17, 2006) reports that Martha Bedeaux has been awarded the Nancy Thomas Harris Award for Excellence in Teaching Literature. This award, administered by the Albuquerque Community Foundation, is given in memory of Nancy Thompson Harris, who was an honors English Teacher at Sandia High School. Martha, who teaches at La Cueva High School, has been involved with the Institute since it began. Here’s what she had to say about her teaching: “If I make a difference in my students’ academic lives, that power comes from a passion for and a deep understanding of my subject, a desire to fill the world with fun-loving, smart, empathetic human beings, and a striving for fearless candor about what I see in my classroom.” Congratulations, Martha!
Also from the Albuquerque Journal, news that Tim McLaughlin’s student Fantasia Lonjose has won the New Mexico state finals in the Poetry Out Loud competition; Fantasia and Tim will travel to Washington, D.C. for the national finals at the end of April. Fantasia is a student at the Santa Fe Indian School, where Tim teaches and coaches the Spoken Word Club. He says of performing poetry, “You need to be a writer first, to clarify your voice, have something to really say.” Tim has attended the Teachers’ Institute at TSWC in 2005 and 2006; we look forward to seeing him again this July and learning more about his work at SFIS.
