This week I talked to one of Timpview’s finest teachers, Bruce Gabbitas. He teaches AP computer science, Programming, Robotics, Game Development and Drones.

• What is your favorite class you teach

My favorite class I teach? That is a tough call. People ask me that a lot. I honestly like them all equally. I just like different aspects of them. Game development is really fun because of the projects we do. Programming one is fun because I like to break down something difficult into something easy. AP Computer Science and robotics are fun because it’s just people trying to figure out how to do something really complicated. Through all of it I just like working with people.

• What was your favorite class in high school?

My English classes. And I took a lot of music classes too.

Do you play any instruments?

I play the saxophone. And I sang in the choir.

• If you could teach another subject what would it be?

If I could teach another subject I would teach history. History is really fun. I love history. I’m a history hobbyist. I love reading history, and learning about history.

What’s your favorite time period in history?

Right now my favorite is the Roman state and Roman empire. I know that’s a really long period but it really fascinates me. I like to learn what helped it become great, what its downfall was. A lot of lessons from that period.

• What inspired you to start teaching?

I just really enjoy teaching. I could have gotten into a lot of different careers and a lot of different subjects but It wouldn’t matter because I just love teaching. I love helping people learn and have good experiences.

• You have the nickname Dr. G. Where does that nickname come from?

So I have a PhD, and when you’re at a university people call professors “doctors.” So someone knew I had a PhD and wrote “Dr. G” on the whiteboard. I didn’t notice it until people started calling me that, and it stuck.

What do you have a PhD in?

It’s a field that’s called instructional technology. It helps you build and create things while also looking at the psychology of learning, and helps you understand how people learn. This refined the way I look at what learning is. Everything I do and teach is around my own philosophy of teaching.

• How do you feel about AI in the classroom?

I am super excited about what AI is gonna do in society. There is also that kind of fear of how AI is going to upend society. How are we gonna get through that? Because of that view of anticipating the future I’m pretty excited about it in the classroom. About finding ways to use it and finding ways to marry it with what we try to do in our daily work and how it can aid us and mentor us. Another interesting thing about AI in the classroom is it sets up the ideal teaching environment. The ideal classroom is to have as many teachers as you do students so you can have a 1:1 ratio. AI makes that possible. There’s gotta be ways we can leverage that really well where there’s a teacher that manages everything but then everyone has their own personal tutor.

• What is the most exciting technological development while you have been a teacher

While I was teaching? It would have to be AI. If it wasn’t while I was teaching it would be transistors, but while I was teaching it’s AI. I would do little lectures on AI because I thought it was interesting, but then all these LLMs came out and fast-forwarded what I thought was 75 years away into the present. So that’s been incredible.

Mr. Gabbitas is one of the best teachers at timpview. He is a rare breed of teachers that genuinely cares about what he does, and genuinely cares about his students. If you ever take his class, you are sure to have a brilliant experience with a brilliant teacher.