It’s the first day of high school, and like other students, you are headed to your technology class, nervous for your first encounter with computer science. The atmosphere is tense. Suddenly, a teacher with a dinosaur costume stomps in with an upbeat and lively attitude and starts class. This is how students know Anthony Shadman; a teacher who makes computer science classes exciting and relatable.
Although Shadman is known as a computer science teacher, after his studies at UMBC, Shadman moved to New York to pursue the record labels business. Although he found the career fun, Shadman felt disconnected from its social environment. With an emphasis on family and caring for loved ones, Shadman’s values contrasted with his career. “A lot of the people I was surrounded with came from really broken lives where they didn’t have the time, energy, attention, or care for the people that they were supposed to be caring for,” Shadman said.
To change pace, Shadman took a job teaching a summer class on video game design, after which he learned what he needed to do to become a computer teacher and began a new career. “I loved it, so I said I should just do this all the time,” Shadman said.
Shadman’s career in education was also inspired by his time spent in his mother’s computer class, helping set up computers and observing the class. So, a career in education was in the back of his mind. Shadman’s experience with his mother has also influenced his lively teaching style. Talking about his humorous outfits, “That’s the kind of teacher my mom was,” Shadman said.
This lively outlook that Shadman brings to the school environment is representative. His goal of help students connect to activities in a new way. “I try to make computer science classes relatable to them, and make it so that it is not a new thing they are learning, it’s about understanding what they have already been surrounded with,” Shadman said.
Students have taken a liking to Shadman’s outlook toward teaching and his lively spirit in the school. Junior Ehsan Yousefi said, “I like his funny costumes, especially during holidays such as Halloween.”
Additionally, corroborating Yousefi’s outlook towards Shadman’s teaching, senior Sina Jafari said, “He makes class fun.”
Shadman also likes to spend his free time exploring AI, whether it is generating movies, photos, or code. He believes that AI offers insight into how humans approach creativity as creativity in AI is trained on human-made samples. “In understanding the way that the computers approach creativity, it kind of holds a reflection up to how we approach creativity,” Shadman said.
He has brought this topic of AI into the classroom, teaching students how to use these newly emerging tools in a strengthening way. Beyond school, Shadman emphasizes family and spending time with his daughters. Just like at home, Shadman is here for students who need help.”There are students that I’ve had years ago that still know they can come back to this room as a place to get help,” Shadman said.
