JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Students at Jean Ribault High School know when they are in Charles Darwin Magdaluyo’s class they need to be ready to stand in front of the class and speak up.
That’s because for Magdaluyo, who was named 2022 Duval County Teacher of the Year on Saturday, teaching students to conquer their fears of public speaking is important.
“Most of the time we do oral and verbal examinations because I want to expose them to, you know, conquering their fears whenever they talk or speak in front of their classmates. So that is something that I also develop inside the classroom,” said Magdaluyo, who is originally from the Phillippines. “So my students know me well, whenever we have examinations, it’s not always written, it’s sometimes verbal or oral and most of the time is group examination, where their responsibility to make sure that everybody in their group does their task.”
Those same students that he helps learn every day celebrated a new title with him when he returned to school on Monday.
“When I got into the school right now, a lot of my students before going to their first period, they were so happy they were hugging me, they were saying congratulations,” a smiling Magdaluyo said Monday on The Morning Show.
The seven-year teacher, who is known to his students as “Mr. M,” was given cash and a car as a prize for winning the award. He said a grant that he also received will go right back into the classroom.
“I’m thinking of some laboratory equipment and other things that they would use in our day section because human anatomy is about, you know, knowing all the organs, so most of those funds will be used in exposing the students to realize organs from animals, because that’s what we do inside the classroom to make sure that aside from understanding it, getting to see all of those things that we are trying to discuss about,” he said.
Magdaluyo was one of five finalists who was honored alongside other Teacher of the Year colleagues.
The EDDY Awards are presented at the yearly gala to honor and elevate the role of the district’s top educators. Each school’s Teacher of the Year is eligible to apply to join JPEF’s Teacher Leadership Initiative, which offers world-class professional learning and leadership coaching to help teachers make an even bigger impact in their schools.
