Confessions of an Anarchist Math Teacher

“Teaching is about taking risks and crossing borders. It’s an unpredictable road trip with your family dog. You have responsibilities and worries, but the dog is always ready to go forward, to jubilantly explore and happily negotiate a way out of a gunfight.”

John Thayer learned this the weird way after teaching in many schools throughout the country, and being open to learning from his experiences. Like the time in the ambulance on the first day of school one year, “That kid has probably always wanted to do that to a math teacher,” he joked to the paramedics after they found him flopping around on the pavement like a fish, and wishing he’d taken the bus.

In this candid look at teaching, he challenges the status quo and asks hard questions to get at the heart of how teachers can solve problems.