About

Anarchy sounds scary. Especially if you’ve ever taught classes of unruly children who were able to figure out how to unravel you. That has happened to most of us at some point as teachers and it’s enough to make us want to develop classroom management systems of control and subjugation in order to maintain the peace. But as teachers, we have the opportunity to teach in ways that empower students to have their own voice, to create, to build, and solve real problems. It isn’t easy, but if we work on ways to disrupt any voices that tell us to turn kids into test scores or treat them as if they belong on an assembly line, we will find out that most of those voices don’t have teeth, and that there is a large and amazing community standing behind us. That is what anarchy is really about, freedom, empowerment, and life. Who’s ready for a new school year?

I’ve taught for 18 years at public high schools, community colleges, and one private school. I cut my teeth in California, then New York, then grew up as a teacher in the land of enchantment in Albuquerque, New Mexico where I spent 11 crazy and amazing school years. I was a math teacher, then a bilingual math teacher, then a project-based learning teacher. That was when I finally realized teaching has nothing to do with academic content but everything to do with making connections with real humans. The ones who will one day pay for your social security.

I am also a family man and a songwriter with 9 full-length albums for sale in a time where people don’t buy music or listen to albums. My family and I have moved back home to the San Francisco Bay Area after 12 years away where I took a year off from teaching, stayed home with my kids, and finished my first book. Now I’m back in the classroom causing anarchy, where I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Find me here:

Twitter: @anarchistmath

Email: thayermath@gmail.com