‘Where the Magic Happens:’ OKCPS Elementary Teacher Prepares Classroom For Back-To-School

Teachers in the district are hard at work getting ready for the new school year.

With some controversy over what's being taught in class in the spotlight, one OKCPS teacher says he's focusing on getting back to the basics.

Adelaide Lee Elementary 3rd grade teacher, Dylan Smith, said his focus heading into the new school year is making sure each of his new students feel safe and supported, and learn a lot in the process. 

“Sometimes school can be boring,” Mr. Smith admitted. 

But Smith's classroom is anything but boring, and he’s preparing to welcome a new class of students for the 2024-25 school year. 

“They want a space that they can come into that excites them, that brings them joy and makes them want to come to school,” Smith said. 

Smith does whatever he can to keep his students engaged.

“Gen Z, Gen Alpha attention span is like about 8 seconds,” Smith said. “So yeah there’s a lot of silly involved but we get the job done and we learn a lot.”

The new school year comes at a time when what students learn is a hot topic.

“The things that are impacting kids on the daily are not necessarily the things that, you know, the news and social media are always talking about are always talking about when it comes to the problems in schools,” Smith said. 

He focuses on the daily battles in his classroom.

“You’ve got kids something they come to school without breakfast or maybe they don’t get much sleep that night because mom and dad are working two jobs or whatever it may be,” Smith said. 

Those daily battles lead to small victories.

“I mean we’re going to be hitting all those classic, state standards,” Smith said. 

Standards like science, math, and, Mr. Smith's personal favorite, reading and writing. 

“When kids fall in love with reading and writing both, I feel like that is where a lot of the magic happens in education,” Smith said. 

Inside these four walls, he’ll get to know each of his students. 

“What brings them joy, what engages them in the classroom,” he said. 

OKCPS heads back to school this coming Tuesday.