MEET MAGEN RODRIGUEZ
As an experienced and esteemed professional educator, Magen Rodriguez aims to impart knowledge, delve into conversations, and inspire engagement to a variety of audiences. She strives to make every teaching or conference experience a memorable one, placing a large emphasis on delivering actionable content and critical reflection for learners of all ages.
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As a very proud Nuyorican from Brooklyn, New York, Magen’s personal journey is critical to the "why" in this work. She was born to a single mother of five children and attended public school all her life. She did not have many opportunities or many access points to individualized support or mentorship but Magen did take advantage of the few that were presented to her. Education always provided Magen with safety and purpose. When she became an Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program scholar at New York University, her world of opportunity grew exponentially. Her literal life broke down walls and allowed her to travel and study in foreign countries. Living, studying, and working in Argentina, Ghana, and Spain awakened her to the limitless stories and possibilities for living. Coming back home to NYC, Magen knew she wanted to impart these life lessons to other young people who, like herself, do not have access to many opportunities. Through her research and experience, exposure through education and CRE are powerful tools that can not only transform learning but empower young minds.
Becoming a teacher at a school that grounds itself in Expeditionary Learning (EL), Outward Bound explorations, restorative practices, project-based learning, and dedication to equity has offered Magen a platform to design and implement culturally relevant language instruction that often gets left out of content and action. As a very active teacher-leader, she constantly develops and facilitates professional development for staff on culturally responsive education, EL practices, remote instruction, language acquisition, and mastery grading. She also participates directly in annual strategic planning meetings to organize and delineate benchmarks, data analysis. Magen has become immersed in many professional learning communities which include cohorts with the Critical Conscious Educators Rising at NYU Metro Center, NYU’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the Understood x Blue Engine (UxBE) Teacher Fellowship, and the Emerging Leaders for Social Justice Institute with Dr. Gholdy Muhammad.