Day 5 in Rivera: Dolphins, Quadratic Formulas, and Unexpected Observations

Kevin Michael Agtarap
Jun 15, 2025
4 min read

Updated: Jul 10, 2025

Celeste Villamil teaching her students Algebra.

Woke up this morning feeling much better than I have the past couple of days. A little rest and some medicine really made a difference. Our plans for the day shifted unexpectedly, which led us to a truly insightful experience: a visit to Liceo N°5, a public high school, to see algebra teacher, Celeste Villamil, in action.

We settled into her math lesson, and I was immediately struck by how engaging it was. Celeste is an awesome teacher! The hook for the lesson was a captivating YouTube video of dolphins swimming. She then expertly wove this visual into her word problems, using dolphins as the subject. The students were tasked with applying the quadratic formula to analyze a dolphin's jump. Specifically, they had to:

a) graph the dolphin's jump,

b) calculate the height the dolphin reaches after 2 seconds of jumping,

c) calculate the maximum height the dolphin reaches and at what time,

d) at what time the dolphin begins to fall, and e) how long it takes to fall after reaching its maximum height.

It was impressive to see how engaged and participative the students were. As a non-native Spanish speaker, I found myself challenged to follow along at times, a feeling that resonated deeply with the experiences of many English Learner (EL) teachers back in the States who navigate similar linguistic hurdles every day. Celeste was teaching without any extra support or differentiation, meaning if students fall behind, they'd need to attend school on other days to see a different teacher for tutoring.

Later in the day, we had the opportunity to observe a physics classroom taught by Daniel Monzon. Some interesting things to note here: the class size was remarkably small, with only 8 students. All were female, except for one male. When we inquired about the small number, Daniel explained that this was a lab class, and they couldn't accommodate too many students at once. The other half of the class was in different subject areas during that time.

There wasn't much opportunity for students to design their own experiments; instead, they took copious amounts of notes. One girl, in particular, had beautifully detailed notes, a testament to the amount of teacher lecture. I didn't observe any student interruptions while the teacher was speaking, nor any noticeable differentiation in instruction. It became clear that students in this class were there because it was a pathway to future employment, with one girl specifically aiming for a career in medicine.

Another interesting point was the grading system: students only take an exam if they have failed a subject. Daniel also shared that student academic levels are declining, a phenomenon he attributed to politicians. Oh, how we can relate to that sentiment!

The school we visited operates on three different shifts, which I found interesting:

7:45 am - 12:20 pm for 10th graders
12:30 pm - 5:00 pm for 10th, 11th, and 12th graders
5:05 pm - 10:00 pm for 11th and 12th graders

This type of scheduling would be difficult to implement back in the United States, primarily due to factors like transportation logistics, extracurricular activities, and the challenges of maintaining consistent student support services across such varied hours.

What truly surprised me, however, was the lack of laptops for students, especially given that just the other day we visited CEIBAL, where they stated that all students across Uruguay are provided with a laptop for school use. When I asked Celeste about this, she mentioned that it takes CEIBAL too long to repair laptops, which was not the information presented to us at CEIBAL. This really highlights that schools often lack the necessary resources to be truly effective.

Furthermore, the requirements to obtain a laptop seem to change annually. As our host, Maite, mentioned, when she was a teacher, she requested a laptop one year, only to find they were only distributing them to teachers of a certain grade. The next year, the criteria might change again. I truly feel for both teachers and students; they deserve better. Instead of school-issued devices, students here are utilizing their iPhones and the website Geogebra.com for the graphing calculator function, which proved incredibly helpful for students in Celeste's class.

The rest of the afternoon was ours to enjoy, and we decided to dive headfirst into the local foodie scene. For lunch, we headed to Cyro Burgers, where I had my very first Chivito, Uruguay's national dish. Let me tell you, it was absolutely delicious! A true highlight of the day. After satisfying our appetites, we took a leisurely stroll through the neighborhood, eventually stopping at a cozy coffee shop for some much-needed cappuccinos and sweet alfajores.

Our wanderings then led us to Plaza Internacional, a truly unique spot where you can quite literally stand in two places at once: Uruguay and Brazil! We ventured onto the Brazilian side of the plaza, on a quest for a supermarket to stock up on water and snacks. Along the way, we stumbled upon some fantastic street vendors selling a variety of artisan crafts. I couldn't resist picking up a beautiful leather embroidered belt and, of course, a traditional mate cup with its accompanying straw or bombilla, pronounced (bom-bee-shyah). It was the perfect way to cap off an afternoon of exploration.