Biology teacher Riccardo Magni’s classroom looks a little like a taxidermist’s office—but not as creepy. In one corner there’s a collection of bone-dry skulls, including a rhinoceros cranium. A stuffed pheasant perches on the cabinets, ready to take flight. There are living animals, too: two hissing cockroaches from Madagascar, a giant millipede, and three different kinds of king snakes.
It’s the kind of classroom one would expect from a great teacher.
The Santa Barbara County Office of Education recently named Pioneer Valley High School’s Magni the county’s Teacher of the Year for 2012-13. Superintendent of Schools Bill Cirone announced the honor at a press conference on May 3.
According to Magni, this is only the second time in the history of the award a Santa Maria Joint Union High School District teacher has won; the last time was in 1988.
A committee of former teachers, administrators, PTAs, and school board members selected Magni out of a pool of several nominees. School officials are expected to name another distinguished educator at the June board meeting.
At the press conference, Cirone lauded Magni’s “professionalism, enthusiasm, creativity, and remarkable successes inside and outside the classroom and in the community.”
Magni said he first thought about teaching high school biology when he was a senior in AP Biology—his favorite class.
“A lot of my friends already knew what they wanted to do, but I didn’t. … I loved high school and did very well in high school, so I thought maybe I’d be a teacher and a coach,” he said, adding that he called his biology teacher back on Long Island, N.Y., when he won the Teacher of the Year award.
Magni teaches courses in biology, AP biology, and environmental science to students in ninth through 12th grade. He also serves as assistant varsity track coach, assistant varsity basketball coach, and a library tutor. He said one of his biggest goals as a teacher and coach is to foster independence. And it’s important to “know your people,” he said.
In addition to being named Teacher of the Year, Magni has obtained numerous grants totaling $45,500 for educational programs at his school, where he’s also head of the science department.
He also initiated the Pioneer Valley Summer Science Institute, in which he mentors students on college-level scientific research projects. Last year, the students entered their projects in the county science fair—the district’s first-ever entries in the 56-year history of the science fair—and won two third-place awards. Magni’s students have also competed in the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge.
“By encouraging students to adopt independent-reading and study skills in his AP courses, he is ultimately teaching us valuable skills that will carry us through college,” student Shannon Patterson wrote in an e-mail to the Sun. “Mr. Magni is also available every day at lunch so students can ask questions and get help on anything from the previous test to the SAT.”
Magni’s nomination will next be reviewed for consideration as California Teacher of the Year in the fall. The California winner will then be considered for 2013 National Teacher of the Year award.
This article appears in May 10-17, 2012.