Mr. Rodriguez believes that students should feel at ease when engaged in their education. This idea fuels his idea of what a classroom should look like, and what the learning environment should feel like: welcoming, engaging, and zen. He introduces students to real world concepts as he engages students in their learning, using real life experiences and story times that tie life-themes into the work that students produce. He believes that every student learns differently, which means that every student showcases their mastery differently. He allows students to display their mastery via different modes and mediums, in combination with Project Based Learning (PBL) modalities, allowing students to take ownership of their learning. This might look like a dramatization that represents the theme of the current story; a poem that shares the students’ understandings of a characters’ hardships; or a pictorial representation that displays an analytical approach to the text. Mr. Rodriguez plays on students’ strengths, encouraging students to always push forward—to continue to grow as a student and as an active citizen of the world.
Mr. Rodriguez is currently in his fifth year of being an educator. He has earned a B.A. in Dance from the University of California—Riverside; an M.A. in Secondary Education from the University of Phoenix; and an M.A. in Educational Leadership and Administration from Concordia University—Irvine. Ultimately, he plans on becoming an administrator; an educational leader—to continue reforming the traditional classroom and establishing a student-centered environment. This school year, Mr. Rodriguez will be teaching 9th and 10th-grade English at the Bert Corona Charter High School. he is also the sponsor of Knights on Fire Ensemble Dance Team (KOFE).