TAHLEQUAH DAILY PRESS — One day they think they’re ready to be adults and make their own decisions, demanding cell phones and “privacy.”

The next day, they’re playing with toys they haven’t touched in years.

They’re “tweenagers,” children ages 9-12, and possibly the most difficult nuts to crack when it comes to finding a balance in teaching them.

Nancy Geiger, sixth-grade social studies teacher at Tahlequah Middle School, is getting her feet wet this year - her first teaching tweens. Geiger was a teacher assistant at Greenwood Elementary, helping out with children in pre-kindergarten through fourth grade.

Although school has only been in session for a week, Geiger is excited about the prospects.

“I love teaching middle school students, because I feel they are just starting to form opinions and develop their identity, and it’s a wonderful time to provide positive motivation,” she said.

Geiger also realizes there are bound to be challenges with kids who are working through issues of opinion and identity. “I think that just getting them to focus in class, instead of wondering about what their friends are doing, or how people are thinking about them, is definitely a hard thing to overcome,” said Geiger. “My goal is to make my learning environment fun, so that they forget what’s going on outside the classroom door.”

Katy Felts, TMS sixth-grade language arts teacher and daughter of longtime Tahlequah educator Becky Felts, is in her second year teaching tweens. She thinks the changes this age group faces is tremendous, but she embraces the challenge.

“A positive aspect of teaching middle school students is that it is such an exciting time in their lives,” said Felts. “Middle school students are transitioning from dependent children to independent teenagers. The social change they go through at middle school is huge. It’s great, as teachers, to be able to give students the tools they will use throughout the rest of their lives.”

Felts said in addition to the social changes, middle school is also an exciting time academically, as students are learning more complex material.

“Middle school students have to take more responsibility for their educational time,” she said. “One of the biggest challenges I had to overcome as a new middle school teacher was discovering a way of dealing with group dynamics of this age student, while meeting the individual differences, needs and learning styles of every student. The system I had used with younger children just didn’t fit the middle school students’ need for boundaries and independence.”

TMS sixth-grade language arts teacher Shelly Bailey is also in her second year of teaching, but she may have an edge on knowing how tweens think. Bailey is stepmother to two teenage boys – one who is beginning his first year at Northeastern State University, and another who is a senior at Tahlequah High School. She also completed her internship at TMS, teaching seventh-graders.

“I was surprised at the difference in maturity between sixth-graders and seventh-graders,” said Bailey. “They still have an innocence to them in sixth grade. Most of them have not developed the problems and worries that are so often associated with teenagers, such as peer pressure and dating. They still like to play outside and just have fun. It’s refreshing.”

Bailey said one of the challenges she has faced is getting some of the students to embrace their new-found independence, as they aren’t as comfortable making decisions on their own.

“I try to develop a relationship with each of my students, and let them know they can come to me with problems, and I will do everything in my power to help them,” said Bailey. “If I’m not able to help them, I find someone who can. Sometimes, all they need is someone to listen. Becoming a teenager can be a scary time, and the more support they have, the easier the transition.”

Retired Tahlequah educator Beth Herrington spent 48 years in the trenches, educating kids ages 5 through adult. She particularly enjoyed the tween years, saying this group of kids has special gifts and needs.

“The tweens are really eager to learn, but some of them do not want people to know that,” said Herrington. “They contribute much to any learning session, are creative and independent to some degree, and respond to appreciation and interest from others.”

Herrington was always amazed at how quickly tweens could “charge ahead” in the learning process, noting they have “growing-up challenges” and need to fit into their peer groups, “but don’t we all?”

“The challenge for the teacher is to know when to give the student leeway and when to really reaffirm the parameters of the task at hand,” she said. “Embarrassment is never the way to deal with tweens. Consistency and fairness are the keys to everything in teaching. And it never hurts to admit a mistake. One of the nicest things, among many from former students, was a statement from a former student who said, ‘I always felt safe and accepted in your class.’ That made my day!”