On Dos Pueblos High School history teacher Adam Shive’s classroom window, a sign proclaims him as the “minister of silly walks,” but it was more of an adventure rather than a silly walk that got him into teaching.
The adventure that led him to teaching actually started on Broadway in Manhattan, New York City, where he was a production manager and director.
“I originally started off as a director, and then I decided that I didn’t actually like directing,” Shive said. “I worked in film for a little bit, but decided that I liked theater more.”
Over the course of his 22-year career on Broadway, he was able to put on 13 shows—each one coming with its fair share of unexpected moments and memorable stories.
Shive said that out of those shows, “Martin McDonagh, the Lieutenant of Inishmore” was his favorite.
“So the play is [Mad Padraic] going and taking revenge on the people who killed his cat,” Shive said. “He starts with these two guys that were supposed to be taking care of the cat, having to saw up all the bodies, then of the [other] people that he’s killed.”
This show required a lot of fake blood and fake body parts that needed to be disposed of after every show, Shive explained.
“We’re throwing them in a dumpster behind the theater, but there are holes in the dumpster,” Shive said. “ It had been raining, so blood is running out from behind the theater and out onto the streets.”
While doing so, Shive shared that there were two patrol officers in the area who saw what seemed to be suspicious behavior and immediately came to investigate.
“They handcuffed us all and waited for management to come and actually answer, and for a crime scene investigation team to come down and open up the dumpsters and make sure that those were not real body parts,” Shive said. “And then we got released, but we learned a lesson about bagging all [the fake body parts].”
The next step on his path to his teaching career was in New Orleans because his wife, Julia, and her family are from the area. The carpentry skills that Shive acquired while working in theater prompted him to connect with a youth for a project: rebuilding parts of New Orleans after the effects of
“For the next 10 years,” Shive said. “I took different groups of youths down to New Orleans to do these volunteer reconstruction projects and just [learned] more and more.”
Shive said his time with the “young and open-minded” group, while simultaneously learning about the history of New Orleans, affirmed that history and teaching was a career he wanted to continue pursuing.
“I got really invested in both working with this group of youths, who are just incredible,” Shive said. “All of us were on this process of discovery together about the history of challenges and inequalities of the entire area.”
At the same time as the reconstruction project, Shive was traveling extensively for his theater work.
“I was watching my daughter grow up on an iPad long distance because I was touring the world with theater companies,” Shive said. “And that got frustrating.”
Shive explained that after feeling like he was “missing out” on his daughter’s childhood decided to leave the theater life behind and move to be with his family in California.
In California, Shive further developed his found love of history and teaching the youth
“I decided that I was going to become a teacher, I didn’t want to be a theater teacher, I wanted to be a history teacher,” Shive said “There is no story that is weirder than a real story. People are more bizarre, strange and make weird choices, amazing, incredible, and brave choices.”
Shive has taught at DPHS since 2017, and currently teaches a range of different courses. He is an Innovate World History, Advanced Placement World History, International Baccalaureate Film Studies, and an IB Global Conflicts teacher.
Annabelle Gren (10), one of Shive’s current AP World History students, said she enjoys Shive’s overall classroom environment.
“I really like how much energy he brings to the class,” Gren said. “He makes you really enthusiastic and excited to learn, and he makes the subjects and stuff we learn about really fun.”
While the majority of class time is spent taking notes, Shive includes hands-on activities for students, including creating world maps and artwork. On occasion, his students even dress up as characters to reenact different eras in history.
“He’s super nice and he always comes with an [excited] personality or attitude towards learning,” Gren said. “He’s very engaging, and he makes a lot of sense when he’s teaching, and I feel like I learn a lot.”
