STURGIS - Beth Talley teaches eighth-grade social studies, but she's done the math: the Sturgis Williams Middle School teacher has only been out of middle school herself for eight years.

Talley grew up in Sturgis and has always been an early bird - she entered kindergarten early, graduated high school early and took summer school in college to finish early. Today she stands in front of a class full of students, 22 years old, just 30 days into a brand new teaching career and sure this is where she's supposed to be.

'Find it'

She strides around the room, moving slowly in front of the purple "Roots of Democracy" bubble letters on a bulletin board and the U.S. presidential timeline.

"What are the three most powerful countries today?" she asks her second-hour students. "Write them down."

Then it's up and down the rows, each student answering. There's Russia, Japan, North Korea, China, Canada. Everyone says the United States.

Then she asks the same question, but for the 1700s. No one says the United States. Mission accomplished. She wants them to understand that America hasn't always been powerful, and they seem to have caught on.

It's the plight of any teacher, new or not, she says - getting the students engaged and taking their education seriously.

In a different exercise, the discussion is stalled because several students didn't do the required reading - an issue she knows will be a long battle.

"Find it, find it in your book if you don't know it," she says, prodding them. "Some of you tell me you don't understand, and history doesn't make sense … a good strategy is to read. … You have to know your past, guys, to know where you're going in the future."

Teaching is not new to Tally. It's been the occupation of choice for many of her relatives, and that was enough to make her run in the other direction - at first.

"Teaching was the last thing I wanted to do," she says, remembering all the negative things that can come along with the job.

She attended Black Hills State University and originally dabbled with the idea of being an architect, then a lawyer.

"I was all over the place," she says, laughing.

But something brought her back to education. In her junior year at college, it dawned on her.

"I realized everything I talk about and think about comes back to education," she says. "I felt it was one of the most important things in society."

Burn out

Talley earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education and is certified in social studies and English, but still feels the need to prove herself in the classroom.

"I was concerned parents and the kids wouldn't take me seriously," she says. "But I haven't had any problems. I've been respected."

It's one of the first hurdles a first-year teacher faces, says Whitewood Elementary fourth-grade teacher Carol Waider, who also started teaching when she was 22. Talley did her student teaching in Waider's classroom.

The kids don't seem to question the authority or education of a young teacher, but many parents do, Waider says.

"The parents remember when they were 22, and very few people are holding down that serious of a job at that age," she says. "They will tell you what they think you should be doing."

The solution: be firm, fair and consistent, she says, an adage passed along to her by a mentor.

"I really stressed that to Beth," she says. "That will cut down on the discipline problems and keep parents from being angry. Discipline and parents will burn you out the fastest."

For the students in Talley's second-hour class, who spend part of class working on 1700s brochures advertising the northwest territory, many don't know or seem to care that its her first year or that she's 22.

"I like her a lot," says 13-year-old Zoe Nevadomski. "She goes over the lessons, and I understand."

It even helps that Talley's young.

"I just feel more connected to her," she adds.

Zach Murray, 13, agrees.

"She makes it fun and enjoyable; she doesn't just stand up there and preach," he says.

Talley spends the rest of the hour pacing the room, leading the students who remind her of herself less than a decade ago. Her classroom now is where the courtyard was when she attended classes at Sturgis.

"I didn't really have a good middle-school experience - I don't think a lot of kids do," she says. "I've been trying to make it enjoyable for them."

One student approaches Talley and hands her his brochure, a smirk on his lips.

"Hmmmm," she says, laughing before sending him back to his desk to do more work. "It's beautiful and sarcastic - but does it really make you want to move there?"

It's needed in all schools, Waider says - the energy, the naivete of a new teacher.

"It's very important to have new, young blood in schools, especially for the veteran teachers," says Waider, who has been teaching for eight years. "That youthfulness is so inspiring."

"Having that new teacher changes the whole perspective," she continues. "You remember what it was like to be excited, and it drives you to want to get back to that. I absolutely love it when young, new teachers come in," Waider said.

The benchmark

"Don't base everything on the first year."

It's the one piece of advice Sturgis Williams Middle School principal Lon Harter doles out to first-year teachers.

"Give it two years," he says. "Every day is a new experience."

Harter has been a principal for 29 years, 24 at Sturgis. But before that, he was a teacher.

"I tell them: 'Don't get discouraged the first year,'" he says.

Talley says she knows the dangers of getting overwhelmed the first go-round.

During class, she's often on her knees next to a student's desk, eye-to-eye to answer a question, but then there's also the football player with the swollen finger, the student that keeps falling asleep and the question of when she will bring in cupcakes. By day's end, she has been a mentor, role model, nurse, mediator and disciplinarian.

She doesn't mind helping out, she says. She used to help coach the high school debate team and she wants to see the kids in this community succeed.

"It's my home, and so I have a vested interest in the community," she says. "I want the students to take a leadership role."

She plans to be around to see it.

"I think this could be a very long-term thing for me," she says.

Little moments make it all worth it, she says.

"It's seeing success, on any level. When they figure something out and the light bulb goes on … or they hand in a project or paper they're pleased with … or they just want to be here."

Kayla Gahagan can be reached at 394-8410 or kayla.gahagan@rapidcityjournal.com