Wendy K. Mages

  • Professor, Childhood Education
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Wendy Mages earned a master’s and a doctoral degree in Human Development and Psychology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a master’s degree in Theatre from Northwestern University.  Prior to joining the faculty at Mercy College, she taught graduate and undergraduate students at Boston University and at Harvard.  In addition to her work with adults, she has designed and taught a preschool performing arts program, worked as a museum educator, and wrote and performed for children’s television. 

Her research, which focuses on the effect of educational strategies and contexts on language, cognitive, and social development, has been published in a variety of peer-reviewed journals, including the Review of Educational Research, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, Research in Drama Education, Youth Theatre Journal, Scenario, and Library and Information Science Research. In 2016, she completed a Fulbright Specialist Fellowship focusing on Drama and Theatre in an Austrian Teacher Education Program.

As a complement to her research and scholarly publications, Dr. Mages performs original stories at storytelling events and festivals in the US and abroad. Her stories appear in literary publications, such as 3cents Magazine, 50-Word Stories, Antithesis Journal Blog, Five Minutes, Funny Pearls, Harpy Hybrid Review, Hearth & Coffin, The Journal of Stories in Science, New Croton Review, Potato Soup Journal, Quibble, Route 7 Review, Sea to Sky Review, Star 82 Review, and Young Ravens Review. A triptych of her poems appears in Scenario. To learn more about her stories and storytelling, please visit Wendy Mages: Storyteller.

EdD and EdM, Human Development and Psychology, Harvard Graduate School of Education

MA, Theatre, Northwestern University

BA, Summa Cum Laude, Theatre Arts, Brandeis University

Peer Reviewed Journal Publications

Mages, W. K.  (2021). Storytelling content, contexts, and controversies: A conscionable calculus. Scenario Journal, 15(2), 67-70. https://doi.org/10.33178/scenario.15.2.5

Mages, W. K.  (2021). Triptych: Ethical quandaries in personal storytelling for teaching and research. Scenario Journal, 15(2), 63-66. https://doi.org/10.33178/scenario.15.2.4

Mages, W. K.  (2020). Perseverance, performance, and pedagogy in the pandemic: The power of storytelling in face-to-face and virtual learning environments.  R & E Source: Open Online Journal for Research and Education. Retrieved from https://journal.ph-noe.ac.at/index.php/resource/article/view/958/849

Mages, W. K.  (2020). Educational drama and theatre pedagogy: An integral part of training English-as-a-foreign-language teachers. Scenario Journal, 14(1), 12-24. https://doi.org/10.33178/scenario.14.1.2

Mages, W. K.  (2018). Does theatre-in-education promote early childhood development?: The effect of drama on language, perspective-taking, and imagination. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 45, 224–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2017.12.006

Mages, W. K., Nitecki, E., & Ohseki, A.  (2018).  A college-community collaboration: Fostering developmentally appropriate practices in the early childhood classroom. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 18(3), 174–188. https://doi.org/10.14434/josotl.v18i3.21761

Mages, W. K. (2017). Practice makes perfectible: The impact of training and rehearsal on intervention fidelity. Youth Theatre Journal, 31(1), 7–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/08929092.2017.1298542

Mages, W. K. (2016). Educational drama and theatre: Paradigms for understanding and engagement. R & E Source: Open Online Journal for Research and Education. Retrieved from http://journal.ph-noe.ac.at/index.php/resource/article/view/328/348

Mages, W. K. (2016).  Taking inspiration from Reggio Emilia: An analysis of a professional development workshop on fostering authentic art in the early childhood classroom. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 37(2), 175–185. https://doi.org/10.1080/10901027.2016.1165763

Mages, W. K. (2015). Drama in early childhood: Promoting language development and supporting academic transitions. R & E Source: Open Online Journal for Research and Education. Retrieved from http://journal.ph-noe.ac.at/index.php/resource/issue/view/9

Mages, W. K.  (2013). Building a strong ensemble of teaching artists: Characteristics, contexts, and strategies for success and sustainability. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 14(8). Retrieved from http://www.ijea.org/v14n8/

Mages, W. K.  (2012). Preschool characteristics influence the success of professional development: Is your preschool ready, willing, and able? NHSA Dialog: A Research-to-Practice Journal for the Early Childhood Field 15(2), 195–200. https://doi.org/10.1080/15240754.2012.665513

Mages, W. K.  (2012). Professional development in the context of a Head Start theatre-in-education program. NHSA Dialog: A Research-to-Practice Journal for the Early Childhood Field 15(2), 159–186. https://doi.org/10.1080/15240754.2012.665508

Mages, W. K. (2010). Creating a culture of collaboration: The conception, design, and evolution of a Head Start theatre-in-education program. Youth Theatre Journal 24(1), 45–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/08929091003732989

Mages, W. K., & Garson, D. S. (2010). Get the cite right: Design and evaluation of a high-quality online citation tutorial. Library & Information Science Research Journal 32(2), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2009.10.004

Mages, W. K. (2008). Does creative drama promote language development in early childhood?  A review of the methods and measures employed in the empirical literature. Review of Educational Research 78(1), 124-152. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654307313401

Mages, W. K. (2007). Motivation, classroom management, and pedagogical vision: An investigation of the psychosocial development of two actor-educators. Youth Theatre Journal 21, 94–112. https://doi.org/10.1080/08929092.2007.10012599

Mages, W. K. (2006). Drama and imagination: A cognitive theory of drama’s effect on narrative comprehension and narrative production. Research in Drama Education 11(3), 329–340. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569780600900750

Mages, W. K. (2006). How many words is a picture worth? The importance of comprehensive reporting in drama research. Youth Theatre Journal 20, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/08929092.2006.10012583

Mages, W. K. (2004).  Urban Improv: A portrait of an educational drama organization.  Youth Theatre Journal, 18, 30–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/08929092.2004.10012562

Book Chapter

Mages, W. K.  (2017). Drama-based interventions and narrative.  In N. Kucirkova, C. E. Snow, V. Grover, & C. McBride (Eds). The Routledge international handbook of early literacy education: A contemporary guide to literacy teaching and interventions in a global context. (pp. 296–307).  New York, NY: Routledge.

Literary Publications

Mages, W. K. (2023). Before the last snow melts. 3cents Magazine, (5). https://www.3centsmagazine.com/issues/slipping/before-the-last-snow-melts

W. K. Mages. (2023). City girls. In J. Howard & C. Mayer (Eds.), Potato Soup Journal: Best of 2022 (pp. 262-264). Potato Soup Press. https://amzn.to/3JrAlgA

Mages, W. K. (2023). Geneses: Traces and tribulations. 50-Word Stories. http://fiftywordstories.com/2023/03/09/wendy-k-mages-geneses-traces-and-tribulations/

Mages, W. K. (2023). Portrait of a family: Swans carry on. Sea to Sky Review. https://www.seatoskyreview.ca/january-2023-life-issue/portrait-of-a-family-swans-carry-on

Mages, W. K. (2022). City girls. Potato Soup Journal. http://potatosoupjournal.com/city-girls-by-wendy-k-mages/

W. K. Mages. (2022). Dirty words. Funny Pearls. https://funnypearls.com/2022/11/dirty-words-mages/

Mages, W. K. (2022) Embracing strangers. Antithesis Journal Blog. https://www.antithesisjournal.com.au/blog/2022/9/6/embracing-strangers

Mages, W. K. (2022). Framily. Hearth & Coffin. https://www.hearthandcoffin.com/post/framily

Mages, W. K. (2022). Hatchling. Potato Soup Journal. http://potatosoupjournal.com/hatchling-by-wendy-k-mages/

Mages, W. K. (2022). Memory of treasured worlds. New Croton Review, Summer 2022, 34. https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=ealuEAAAQBAJ&rdid=book-ealuEAAAQBAJ&rdot=1&source=gbs_vpt_read&pcampaignid=books_booksearch_viewport

Mages, W. K. (2022). Mirror, mirror. Quibble. https://www.quibblelit.com/mirror-mirror-by-wendy-k-mages

Mages, W. K. (2022). Pollinators. Route 7 Review. https://www.r7review.com/post/pollinators

Mages, W. K. (2022). Ridiculous rituals: Reasons, rules, and a rationale. Young Ravens Literary Review, http://www.youngravensliteraryreview.org/yr16-wendy-k-mages.html

Mages, W. K. (2022). Salad dazed. In T. Green (Ed.), Our pandemic: Personal experiences of COVID-19. (p. 11). The Writer’s Workout. https://www.writersworkout.net/our-pandemic

Mages, W. K. (2022). The spitfire. Star 82 Review. http://www.star82review.com/10.3/mages-spitfire.html

Mages, W. K. (2022). The stray. Five Minutes. https://www.fiveminutelit.com/five-minutes/the-stray

Mages, W. K. (2022). A toad of a man. Harpy Hybrid Review. http://www.harpyhybridreview.org/hybrid_works/a-toad-of-a-man   

Mages, W. K. (2022). Victor the Koala. Funny Pearls. https://funnypearls.com/2022/07/koala-w-mages/

Mages, W. K. (2022). With time. Potato Soup Journal. http://potatosoupjournal.com/with-time-by-wendy-k-mages/

Mages, W. (2021). A tale of 2020. In Manfred Scewe (Ed). 81 Sprüche zur enthärtung unserer welt: On the softening of our world 81 sayings. (p. 140).  Schibri-Verlag. https://www.ucc.ie/en/scenario/scenariobooks/series/

Mages, W. K. (2019). Lima beans: An epiphany. Journal of Stories in Science. Retrieved from https://storiesinscience.org/2019/06/04/lima-beans-an-epiphany/

2023 Poetry Society of Virginia

  • "The Tortoise" awarded 2nd place in the Handy Andy Award for a Limerick
  • "Meeting on Zoom (again)" received Honorable Mention in the poems about Technology award
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  • 2022 Pushcart Prize Nominee
    Nominated by Quibble for a 2022 Pushcart Prize for "Mirror, Mirror."

Mercy College 2020 Faculty Innovation Award
This award recognizes the fundamental importance of faculty innovation.

Fulbright Specialist Grant 
Fulbright Fellowship awarded to collaborate with colleagues at Pädagogische Hochschule Niederösterreich (University College of Teacher Education, Lower Austria)

American Educational Research Association Arts & Learning Special Interest Group
2011 Arts & Learning SIG Dissertation Award
This annual award recognizes excellence in an article based on a recently completed dissertation study.

American Alliance for Theatre and Education
2009 Distinguished Dissertation Award
This dissertation award recognizes excellence a recently completed dissertation study.