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The City of Marco Island Parks and Recreation’s idea to offer free math tutoring to local kids became an overwhelming hit this month, with numbers almost doubling expectations. Starting Thursday from 4 to 5:30 p.m., Joan Van Glabek will begin tutoring five to 13 year olds, one evening a week. Glabek, who holds a master’s degree and PhD in mathematics, says it’s easy to “turn someone off” to any subject in school. Her goal is to get students “turned back on” to math.

“Students can generally tell you right where they got lost,” explains Van Glabek. “They can usually say, ‘I missed school for a week when I was sick and I never could get caught up again.’ Most of them know exactly where they missed the boat. Hopefully I can fill those gaps in,” she says.

Students get behind for a variety of reasons. Teachers may leave and a new teacher’s style may be difficult to follow. Parents may move, forcing a child to change schools. In order to prevent the need for tutoring, parents should regularly keep in touch with the teacher, sit down and look over homework with the child and, according to Van Glabek, work on homework even if the teacher hasn’t given an assignment.

“If the child doesn’t have homework, a parent should still ask the child, ‘What were you doing today? Can you show me something you did in school?’ Just keeping an eye on things really helps,” Van Glabek explains.

“Having kids sit down and work on something other than playing a game or watching TV, helps them to focus on math. Teaching them to get pleasure out of solving problems or answering questions is vital,” she says.

HARMONY OSWALD / Eagle staff

Lauren Orr (left), a sophomore at Lely High School, looks at a quiz she took last week in precalculus class, as math tutor, Joan Van Glabek goes over the theories behind some of the problems missed.

Van Glabek, who has taught mathematics for over two decades at Edison Community College, plans to answer questions, help with homework and practice memorization skills during her tutoring time with the kids. She will speak to parents to find out more regarding a child’s particular area of weakness. When necessary, she will give parents “homework,” to help kids throughout the week from home.

“There have been times when I’ve said to the parents, ‘when you’re driving in the car, please do this drill, your child is having trouble multiplying the eights.’ And so the next week, when they’re driving around in the car, they drill the child on it. And it’s enough! It works to get them back on track!” she confirms.

Van Glabek assures that adults and children are completely different to work with. Paying out of pocket for classes is a whole different kind of motivator, which children don’t experience. However, Van Glabek notes that people of all ages deal with similar feelings of math-related anxiety. She says it’s nice to sit down with someone to make them feel comfortable, whether they’re five years old and in kindergarten, or 60 years old taking college level math.

HARMONY OSWALD / Eagle staff

Math tutor Joan Van Glabek, left, helps Lely High School sophomore, Lauren Orr, get organized, as they prepare to go over a precalculus quiz Orr took last week.

“Usually once someone can work a problem, they’re quite happy with math,” Van Glabek reflects.

“So, I try to be a confidence builder. Memorization is one important aspect, but there’s a lot more that goes into it. You sometimes have to be able to make certain leaps, and that often comes with age and experience. I have never found a student who couldn’t figure it out,” says Glabek.

“It solely depends on whether a person is willing to put the time into it. Anybody can learn this stuff.”

Due to a high level of interest in Marco Island Parks and Rec’s new Math Tutoring for kids, a waiting list has already begun. However, Glabek assures that as she works with students and gets them back on track, new students will cycle through. She encourages parents who may be interested in the service, to call and get on the list now.

For more information or to get your child on the list, call 642-0575.