20/08/2019

Teacher's motivation makes winning a medal at OBMEP possible.

Deivison e uma de suas alunas, Rosane Teixeira, premiada na OBMEP 2018

Karine Rodrigues

Deivison Albuquerque Cunha, a public school teacher in areas with some of the worst crime and human development indicators in the state of Rio, deals with unfavorable scenarios daily. Nevertheless, he does not resign himself to the situation.

His restless spirit led him to try and find ways to include the Alberto José Sampaio Municipal School on the list of award winners of the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools).

Located in Pavuna, in the northern part of the capital, bordering the Baixada Fluminense region, the institution serves 779 students from the 6th to the 9th grade of elementary school, in two shifts. At night, it becomes a state-run unit where students from the Youth and Adult Education program (EJA) study.

In addition to evaluating teaching practice, Deivison considered that involving students in a challenge prior to the national competition could contribute to their preparation and give them a boost in morale.

“We created an Olympiad within the school to try to encourage our students and show that they can, indeed, win awards in the OBMEP,” says the 38-year-old teacher, about the competition at Alberto José Sampaio, which has been held annually since 2013.

Premiação da olimpíada interna, realizada em 2018

Organizing it is also a challenge. The work is voluntary, and the awards are acquired with resources that the teachers themselves gather to fund something they consider fundamental: recognition for their achievements.

The internal Olympiad is held approximately two months before the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools). Like the competition held by IMPA (Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics), it has two phases: the first, objective, multiple-choice; the second, essay-based.

Deivison com o grupo do Meninas Olímpicas do IMPA

There are similarities and differences, explains Deivison. While OBMEP divides students into three levels, the competition at the Pavuna school has four levels, one for each year of middle school.

The second phase of the competition, which brings together the top 5% of students, may also include someone who didn't qualify but achieved the highest performance. "This way, all the classes in the school participate in the competition. Everyone gets involved," he explains.

This year, the exams have already been administered. The awards ceremony for the 12 medalists will take place with pomp and circumstance in the coming days. “We invited renowned mathematicians to the ceremony. They come to the school and offer words of encouragement to the students. We have already had the honor of receiving Marcelo Viana [director-general of IMPA] and Gugu [Carlos Gustavo Moreira, researcher at IMPA].”

Given the results achieved in the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools), Deivison believes they are on the right track. Not only has participation in the Olympiad increased, but the school has also started to feature among the award winners. He says, however, that the journey is long. “We improve year after year. Now, we have honorable mentions and a bronze medal. We know it's a process.”

Cinthya Tebaldi, who has been at the helm of Alberto José Sampaio for a year and a half, celebrates the results and notes that the performance needs to be contextualized.

Alunos da José Alberto Sampaio, na cerimônia de premiação da olimpíada da escola

“We are in a neighborhood with a very low HDI (Human Development Index), with a high level of poverty. We have students with many difficulties in every sense, from learning to social issues. This directly interferes with the student's and the school's performance. We have been reaping positive results. One student motivates another. The same happens with the teachers. But we know there is room for improvement,” says Cinthya, describing Deivison as a “mathematics enthusiast.”

The students join in the chorus.

“My relationship with math was a struggle. I didn’t understand the subject. Until I realized the problem was with me. I needed to pay more attention to it. Deivison’s relaxed classes helped me,” says Nathan Matos, 15. Also in 9th grade, Gabriela Alvim, 14, already liked math, but began to value the subject more. “An extra incentive is always good.”

Deivison knows how much more important encouragement becomes in areas where absenteeism is common. With an exhausting work routine, common to so many Brazilian teachers, he lives and works professionally in high-risk regions.

On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, he divides his time between teaching elementary school at Alberto José Sampaio and at the Roberto Weguelin de Abreu Municipal School in Duque de Caxias (a city in the Baixada Fluminense region). On the other two days of the week, he spends a good part of the day in Nova Iguaçu (also a municipality in the region), where he lives and teaches elementary and high school at the EME College. In the evenings, he is committed to classes at Estácio de Sá University.

Finally, she coordinates the RJ05 region of the OBMEP in School Program, whose goal is to improve the quality of teaching the subject in the country, encouraging the adoption of new teaching practices using materials from the Olympiad. She meets with the scholarship-holding teachers once a month. "It's a marathon," she jokes about her daily schedule.

Deivison e seus alunos: “É uma maratona”, brinca, sobre a agenda diária

Still, since the beginning of the year, Deivison has added another activity, which he is enthusiastic about. He spends Thursday afternoons at Alberto José Sampaio, where he coordinates the IMPA Girls' Olympic Project. With support from CNPq, the initiative aims to encourage the participation of female students in activities related to Mathematics, such as Olympiads.

“Of the 12 students, ten have qualified for the second phase of the OBMEP,” says Deivison proudly, recounting that his career as a teacher began as a primary school monitor in Nova Iguaçu. He developed a passion for it, worked in preparatory courses for university entrance exams, and completed his degree in Mathematics at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (Uerj). He took competitive exams for positions in the municipalities of Rio de Janeiro and Duque de Caxias, where he remains to this day. In 2012, he participated in one of the first classes of PROFMAT (Professional Master's Program in Mathematics in a National Network), supported by IMPA.

Despite her hectic schedule, when she's with her two children, she manages to find some time to… teach math. "Every now and then the oldest brings a friend or his girlfriend for a lesson," she says, laughing. When the teacher is good, everyone wants to have a little fun.