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mathworks-front end developer 14528-GMAR

MATLAB and Simulink are ideal ways for engineers to describe their new innovative ideas. Transforming those innovative ideas in to a form that allows efficient implementation on an embedded device is challenging. MathWorks is continuously advancing technologies to automate that design work.

The goal of this position is to make the power of MathWorks embedded design automation software amazingly easy to use. By skillful application of the latest web app technologies, you’ll make the power of MathWorks tools easy to learn and a pleasure to use. The software interfaces that you will develop will enable engineers around the world to bring their innovative designs to market with minimum effort and maximum enjoyment.

Responsibilities

You’ll be a member of a talented software development team. The team is committed to delivering world class design automation tools. The team is also passionate about increasing their productivity and bringing quality features to market at an unbeatable pace. You’ll need to be a great teammate that shares these values.

Your role is to develop front end interfaces and workflows that makes our design automation technologies easy to learn and maximally productive to use. You’ll employ design patterns and SOLID object-oriented principles to achieve excellence in software architecture. You and your partners will bring the interfaces you’ve crafted to market with rigorous testing and outstanding quality.

You’ll need to be a quick and enthusiastic learner. Team members help each other learn from their areas of mastery in JavaScript, User Interface Design, Object Oriented Programming, and much more. You and your teammates will continuously invest in expanding the breadth and depth of your knowledge.

You will work to develop a strong understanding of the needs of MathWorks customers for embedded design automation. You will use your expanding knowledge of customers and technology to take on greater responsibility for designs. Your aim is to be an innovator that drives the next generation of advancements in embedded design automation.

Minimum Qualifications

A bachelor's degree and 3 years of professional work experience (or a master's degree) is required. Proficiency with object oriented design Experience with JavaScript Additional Qualifications

Experience in one or more of the following technologies is preferred:

Experience with MATLAB Experience with design patterns Experience with C++ Experience with unit testing frameworks

http://sitebuilt.net/mathwks/VectorCalculator.html

presentation

The Presentation

The Presentation is intended to be a 45 minute overview of your background and professional abilities. The purpose of the presentation is to:

1. Give an overview of your background and abilities.

2. Avoid repetition of standard questions during one-on-one interviews.

3. Allow people who may not be able to meet with you during the day to learn about your background.

The presentation will start with a review of your CV/resume to familiarize the team with your background. This is also a good opportunity to share why MathWorks and this opportunity match your interests and goals. Following this will be a detailed overview of one or more recent projects or case studies.

Planning Your Presentation

Topics for Your Presentation

Within the next few days you should contact the hiring manager to discuss which project or case study to present. Contact information for the hiring manager will be provided to you in a separate email. Two business days before your interview, please email your final presentation to the hiring manager and your recruiter so that it can be uploaded to the conference room computer in advance. (Please also bring a backup copy on your laptop, a USB memory stick, or a CD-ROM.)

Please note that it will not be necessary to provide a question and answer section in your presentation, as team members occasionally ask clarification questions during the presentation. They will save more detailed questions for your individual interviews.

Introduction - 5-10 minutes

The first part of the presentation is a quick overview of your background. The most effective use of this time is to briefly walk through your CV/resume.

Good topics include:

 Education? Which degrees? What was your core concentration or focus?  Past employment and brief highlights of your responsibilities  Reasons for leaving a company  Reasons for taking new positions  Reasons for changing focus or direction in your career  Why MathWorks?

Project/Case Study Overview – 30-35 minutes

The next section is the focus of the presentation - the project portion. Select a recent and/or significant project(s) which you had an impact on or led. Focus specifically on your role and hands-on contribution to the project (rather than team accomplishments). It is a good practice to include content that describes the results of the project and a reflection of what could have gone better. Be sure to discuss your presentation with the hiring manager well in advance of your interview day.

On the Interview Day

Please bring your professional references - they will only be contacted if we decide to move forward.

Systems

For your presentation we will have the following equipment available:

 Windows 7 computer with USB ports, Internet access and basic office productivity software (e.g., MS Office/PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat, Internet Explorer, etc.)

 1280X800 WXGA or 1024x768 XGA projector. VGA connection if you are bringing your own laptop

(you are responsible for any adaptors required to connect to VGA)

 A whiteboard or drawing easel

  • Please let the recruiter know 48 hours prior to your presentation if you will require anything not listed above for

your presentation (e.g., wireless access for own laptop, a different operating system, MATLAB).

ideas

Hi Andy,

I have included a list of possible topics for my presentation. Any sense you can give me of the audience would be great. Will they be front end developers or software developers from other teams? Which of the following topics might be appropriate or interesting?

across projects
  • compare approaches to front-end design across deployed projects
  • compare approaches to controlling state across deployed projects
  • compare reusable components in react and angular in current projects
  • on moving page creation, intelligence and computation to the front end in current projects
particular projects
  • syncing shared lists from multiple users using set algebra.
  • using externally hosted restful server to augment capabilities of arduino http server in Internet Of Things(IOT) projects
  • controlling state in an IOT application with a react.js frontend

compare reusable components in react and angular in current projects

resume overview

construction
automation
productivity and ease of use
research
modeling hard problems, implementing models in matlab
computer vision and adaptive resonance theory
education
learning to code by reading code
accessing through a clear api
consulting
creating spaces
hvac design and optimization
portfolio
technology choices
front end vs full stack

reusable components

angular directives
removing controllers
react components
custom buttons
component hierarchies


clear company

I would be awesome at this job. I am ready to break into this field. Ready with a portfolio of deployed web apps that explore the power of the front-end. Ready for es6 by (re)writing React and Angular though babel et al. Ready and able to modify the DOM and make it responsive to mobile. Ready with back-end's deployed on LAMP and nginx/node that are mostly RESTful and have good test coverage.

I've got a BS in Physics and an MA in Cognitive Systems. Along the way I have taken at least a bachelors degree worth of computer science courses including C++, Java and SAAS and Agile dev. Now my C++ isn't in web applications, it's in the microcontrollers (along with python) that control my hvac, run my ponds, water my garden and tell me where my dog is. Might as well make things better around here as I put together a portfolio.

I really want to be part of a team, contributing to an organization. Please consider my rather non-standard application in a favorable light.

vertelligence

Hi Tim Hope your vacation is off to a good start. touched base with Beth Park again. As mentioned yesterday, she thought that you interviewed well. they like you as a candidate and she and her team will scope out the project more next week. they decision they are trying to make is that they want to see what type of work they have in the pipeline.

They feel that you’d need a few months to a year to come upto speed to some of their other developers, so they want to make sure, they have enough work onhand to allow them to give you that ramp up time.

In a nutshell, they like you, but they are scoping out projects to see if they can accommodate you in. They said they will have a definite answer towards end of next week.

Will keep you updated on things as much as I can.


Hi Nox, Thanks for the update. My trip is great though I am pretty isolated from the internet. I hope that its timing doesn't adversely effect my chances for the job in Newton. I was wondering if you could forward this thank you note to Beth Park.

Tim

Dear Beth,

Thanks for taking the time to interview me last week. Hearing of your group and its interesting challenges and knowing Sharon from her contributions to the Angular community only strengthened my desire to be a member of your team. I under stand your concerns around the time required for me to ramp up.I don't expect any consideration for that and realize the responsibility that I have to quickly provide value to whatever project I am on. I fully intend to continue my education and immersion in the field but do not think that it should done on your time.

It is a happy coincidence that the technologies that you are using are the ones I am most enthusiastic about.

Thank you for your consideration. I wish you luck as you take on more challenges within the company and ask that you keep me in mind going forward.

submitted to

  • Cengage
  • Sabra


PHT Bill Calderwood

Hi Bill,

I wanted to thank you again for taking the time to talk to me on Thursday and let you know that I am very interested in the job opportunites that you described. Your teams are working with cool technologies and the idea of creating clean, modular and maintainable software that makes a difference in peoples lives is very attractive to me. My wife is a case manager RN for diabetes and asthma patients in a Dorchester community health center. I see how quickly the treatment options advance and how outcomes improve. Seems like you will continue to have interesting work to do.

Though I flubbed the question on closures, I do have a solid understanding of 'modern' object-oriented javascript. Using Angular and Ember exposes you to and almost enforces the use of advanced javascript features. Though I love jQuery, I can see the arguments for disentangling the DOM from the model and the controller. As I rewrite old jQuery/jQueryMobile/PHP/MYSQL code as test-driven, Restful, Angular/Bootstrap/Express/Node/Mongo apps, the advantages become even clearer. I have been immersed in the same technologies that you use. Though I have no industry experience, I believe I am a good candidate for one of your teams.

Thanks for your consideration and willingness to move me forward in the process. Please let me know if there is anything I can prove to assist in the process.

All the best,

Tim McKenna
(857)498-2574
http://mckennatim.github.io/mckennatim/

Hi Bill,

As a job applicant and potential team member, it was a pleasure to speak with Eric and ? and Colly? (Ugh, so not cool to forget names). I appreciate their time and their kindness. I am sure my responses were not perfect but I came away from the conversation sure that I would quickly integrate into the team and be a solid contributor.

I found it interesting to hear your developers views on creating software. It came after I extolled the virtues of Angular and Ember as the standard bearers for good design. I then find out they are a bit skeptical about 'overarching, decides-everything-for-you frameworks'^. I ask that you please assure them I am drawn to particular frameworks more because they have active Meetups or a perceived job potential and that a toolkit to craft clean modular 'modern' object oriented code is all I really advocate. This afternoon I took a look at Backbone, it does look cleaner; I think I will put up a quick app in the next couple of days to get myself up to speed.

I ask that you find a way to keep me in the running for a position at PHT. I would be happy working in any capacity on any of your teams. I love to code but if somebody needs to write that functional specification by next week, I would do a good job at that as well. Please extend my best wishes to those who spent time with me yesterday.

All the best, Tim McKenna

^Backbone.js docs

patrick

Hi Patrick,

I am looking to break into the software industry, particularly to join a team that uses agile methodologies and test-driven development. I am currently becoming adept at AngularJS, and other front-end technologies as well as nodeJS & MongoDb on the backend. My prior skills include jQuery, PHP and MYSQL. Don't be put off by the diverse experience you will see in my resume. This is what I am ready for and passionate about doing even though technically I've never done it exclusively. Writing software made my business more efficient and gave my students powerful tools.

I have attached a resume. I would be a strong candidate for junior software engineer. Please feel free to contact me. I am actively looking for a position and am currently available.

All the best,
Tim McKenna
(857)498-2574
http://mckennatim.github.io/mckennatim/


charles mckenna

Hi Charles,

Thanks for the heads up on the opportunity in Concord for Mobile Web Developer.

I am looking to break into the software industry, particularly to join a team that uses agile methodologies and test-driven development. I am currently becoming adept at AngularJS, and other front-end technologies as well as nodeJS & MongoDb on the backend. My prior skills include jQuery, PHP and MYSQL. Don't be put off by the diverse experience you will see in my resume. This is what I am ready for and passionate about doing even though technically I've never done it exclusively. Writing software made my business more efficient and gave my students powerful tools.

I would be a good candidate for this position. I have some reasonably complex mobile apps that your client could see in github: http://mckennatim.github.io/mckennatim/ and they use cool parts of HTML5 like LocalStorage for performance. There are examples of REST API's implemented in LAMP stack and NodeJS/MongoDb with testing suites for the latter. I am rewriting old jQuery/javascript/PHP/MYSQL apps in AngularJS/Bootstrap/javascript/NodeJs/MongoDb and some of those will be deployed and show up on github soon.

I have attached a resume. I would be a strong candidate for junior software engineer. Please feel free to contact me. I am actively looking for a position and am currently available.

All the best,
Tim McKenna
(857)498-2574
http://mckennatim.github.io/mckennatim/


charles mckenna

Hi Charles,

Thanks for the heads up on the opportunity for Javascript developer.

I am looking to break into the software industry, particularly to join a team that uses agile methodologies and test-driven development. I am currently becoming adept at AngularJS, and other front-end technologies as well as nodeJS & MongoDb on the backend. My prior skills include jQuery, PHP and MYSQL. A close reading of my resume will reveal that all of my software development has been done outside of the software industry. Yet this is what I am ready for and passionate about. Writing software made my business more efficient, built models of how the brain works and gave my students powerful tools.

I have attached a resume. I would be a strong candidate for junior software engineer. Please feel free to contact me. I am actively looking for a position and am currently available.

All the best,
Tim McKenna
(857)498-2574
http://mckennatim.github.io/mckennatim


Preliminary submission on an RFP for online educational modules in HTML 5 targeted for tablet computers

Education publishers are facing the dual challenges of rewriting curriculum and content for the new national standards and in moving that content from books and computers to tablets and small devices. Part of a larger proposal, my work involved design of a module for guiding students from a 'word problem' to the equations that would solve them. The computer agent would act as guide as students interacted using the full capabilities of HTML5, CSS3 and javascript, dragging and dropping sections of text and receiving instant feedback from the agent. The publisher decided to use in-house staff for the project.

Alternative energy system design for low temperature solar, radiant domestic hot water and hydronic heating system

The future of residential heat is for systems operating at temperatures of 120 degrees F or less under design load conditions. This system takes advantage of the efficiency inherent in a condensing hot water heater operating at low temperatures using an well insulated tank as a preheater for domestic hot water as well as a storage tank for radiant and low temp emitters for residential heating. Dual heat exchangers within the tank transmit heat from solar collectors and draw some heat from the instant hot water heater in order to maintain tank temperature of 120 degrees F.

Estimating and Job-Cost Accounting for Permaculture Startup

Knowing the current status to multiple projects and categories within those projects is essential for small businesses. This enterprise, in its second year, is a worker-owned coop and is designing systems for compensation and accounting based upon real-time data comparing incurred costs to contract category totals. I provide business advice and system design on an as needed basis. It is interesting to me as another example of enterprise systems ripe for deployment as SAAS product.

cengage=

Hi Chris Hansen,

Sorry about that awful coding exercise. Thanks for your patience and time. I am a better coder, easier person to talk to and quicker at grasping concepts than I demonstrated. I would be happy at any position at Cengage that would get my foot in the door of software development.

All the best, Tim Mckenna 857 498 2574 http://mckennatim.github.io/mckennatim/


btw; http://jsfiddle.net/L906L6sc/#run

<code>
newarr =[]
var idx 
console.log(a2)
for (i=0; i<a2.length;i++){
     idx= newarr.indexOf(a2[i])
     if(idx > -1){break}
     newarr.push(a2[i])
}
console.log(a2[idx] + ' is the first to get repeated' )
console.log(newarr)
</code>

F. Christian Shields Senior Recruiting Associate

Hi Christian,

I have been doing as much as I can think of to get considered for a position at Cengage. A few days ago I was contacted by Jake Simard after speaking with a project manager named Dick Williams at an AngularJS Meetup. I am passionate about creating software in the way Cengage is heading; agile methodologies and test-driven development using tools like AngularJS. Cengage's focus on the needs of students and on creating tools for professors will, I believe, lead to technology that transforms education.

I have educated myself in the new ideas and explored their practical implementations in AngularJS and in various testing suites. Now I am in a race to build a substantial portfolio in the new frameworks and paradigms while the opportunity exists. I am sure I would be a valuable team member as a junior software developer even though, technically, I've never done it exclusively. Writing software made my business more efficient and gave my students powerful tools.


I was drawn to your company based upon a short conversation with Dick Williams at your Boston 10 Channel Center location. Cengage was hosting a Meetup for AngularJS, one of the most active communities in the Boston software development scene. Dick intrigued me by the interesting prospect of moving the knowledge and tools of Cengage into the digital device arena. The potential for transforming the way we learn is enormous. I also liked the direction in which his software team was headed and agree that test-driven agile development using tools like AngularJS is the future of software development.

stackdriver

Dear Software Developers:

It would be great to work on a team that has people like David Colwell on it. He just spoke at the AngularJS Meetup. To be able to iterate quickly implies a good workflow and well structured code. What that means today is what you see at the Angular group and other groups in the Boston area. Front-end engineer is the place to be.

I am ready and able to be a contributing member of a Stackdriver team. Don't be put off by the diverse experience you will see in my resume. This is what I am ready for and passionate about doing even though technically I've never done it exclusively. Writing software made my business more efficient and gave my students powerful tools.

When I was writing neural network models of vision and learning we were using big datasets like satellite images and genome data. Finding what was salient and figuring out how to interpret and view it were the name of game.

Please consider this application favorably enter me in the interview process.

Tim McKenna

I've been an advocate for craftmanship and have been using design patterns in building things for many years. But that was as a master carpenter. I have an abiding curiosity about how our minds work and how we make sense of what we sense from the world. But that was as cognitive scientist and teacher. The thread that runs through it all is a love of writing software.

talener

revolabs Scott Wilson

Hi Scott,

I wanted to thank you again for taking the time to talk to me earlier this week. You were easy to talk to and a good listener. I may have spoken at too great length about things like teaching. I may have failed to highlight the areas where my interests align with your job opportunity.

I have recently been exploring creating front-end applications for microcontrollers running C++. The microcontrollers are used to sense temperatures and control relays and 'talk' to a remote server. You can check it out here http://hvac.sitebuilt.net/www/hsc.html on phone, tablet or computer. I truly like the idea of creating intuitive interfaces to numbers and settings and states.

Writing interface software for wireless microphone systems and conference phones is in my mind similar to controlling a heating system from your phone. It would be very satisfying to me. I would like to be part of a diverse engineering team and believe would contribute solid applications for the devices and for the cloud management initiative. I have experience managing AWS instances and would quickly get up to speed on firebase. Please consider my strong interest in the position and feel free to contact me if you have any concerns or require any further information.

All the best, Tim McKenna
(857)498-2574
mckenna.tim@gmail.com

linkedn profile

Summary

I am interested in working in software/hardware development as part of an Agile team.

My working experience includes:

  • Running a construction company that created over $20 million dollars worth of housing
  • Working in a cognitive sciences research lab building computer models of memory, learning and visual recognition
  • Teaching Humanities, Math and Physics in an urban high school in which every student had a laptop.

My skills include:

  • Software development for the construction industry
  • Project management of scattered site development projects with budgets in excess of $1 million.
  • Workforce development and training.
  • Ability to model complex systems and big data.
  • Software development for education.
  • Curriculum development, implementation and evaluation.

dice

http://www.edrnet.com/about-edr/careers/listings/current/user-interaction-designer

Building a Better Response (BBR)

Strengthening NGO Capacity and Engagement in the International Humanitarian Architecture

Terms of Reference Blended Learning Consultant Duration: Approx. 3 weeks Program Background The “Building a Better Response: Strengthening Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Capacity and Engagement in the International Humanitarian Architecture” project aims to strengthen the capacity of national and international NGO personnel to engage with the humanitarian systems and architecture in a manner that improves overall coordination and response to the needs of affected populations. Funded by the US Agency for International Development Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance, the project is being implemented through a consortium that brings together a combination of operational and technical expertise, spearheaded by International Medical Corps in collaboration with Concern Worldwide and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Deliverables of the Building a Better Response Project include an e-learning course and several series of workshops on the international humanitarian architecture. Job Summary The consultant will adapt the existing 2-day training workshop curriculum on the international humanitarian architecture (IHA) into a multiple-day blended learning workshop curriculum. The consultant will combine face-to-face learning styles with web-based educational technologies and integrate elements of the e-learning that is currently being developed as part of the project. The consultant will work in close coordination with the Building a Better Response project team. Essential responsibilities Design and develop content and curriculum for a multiple-day blended learning workshop based on the existing IHA workshop curriculum and the available e-learning course modules. This includes identifying suitable blended learning approaches for the project. Produce a final curriculum package including Facilitator’s Guide, Participant Handbook, visual presentations, and any other relevant materials for the blended learning workshop curriculum. Qualifications: Skills and proven background in curriculum development and blended learning workshop approaches, preferably with experience with workshop facilitation. Experience with the international humanitarian architecture, including the cluster system, humanitarian leadership (e.g. HCT/HC), and humanitarian finance mechanisms, is desirable. Experience working with students who speak English as a second language and extensive experience teaching students from other cultures.

While my qualifications are not a complete match I would like to make a quick case as to why I would be great for the position. You could look at http://pathboston.sitebuilt.net/hum4, a 12th grade site for a blended learning class in the Humanities. It was exciting for me to be in a room with kids from 13 countries helping them try to make sense of their place in the wider world. When we started this school there was no Humanities curriculum, it was our job to develop it drawing on state standards for ELA and history. We did it with case studies, the literature of the time and place, looking for answers to our developing essential questions. Yes this is at best peripherally related to what I would be doing on this project but I would bring to it my respect for the global struggles for a better life, and an understanding of the challenges English language learners face in the classroom. I would work hard to be a contributing member of the team and create deliverables that are engaging and of high quality.

Thank you for your consideration.

Timothy McKenna
mckenna.tim@gmail.com
(857)498-2574
http://sitebuilt.net


shorelight

For years I have been writing software, though it has always been an ancillary part of my main job. Writing AutoCadLisp functions allowed me to take a 3D wireframe version of an architects plans and render the joists, beams and framing of the houses I built. Then the software would send the vector data to a database to be turned into cutlists and stocklists. Writing software increased my bottom line.

Accessing the API of mediawiki allowed me to write PHP scripts that modified that platform for the particular needs of my high school classroom in which every student had a laptop.

Recently I have been working with frontend tools like html5, css3, javacript and jquery to create applications that work on any device format. I have been exploring the potential of the 'internet of things'; devices with sensors sending their data to a restful api every few seconds, having a system that activates relays moderated by an app on a mobile device.

These last endeavors are not helping my bottom line. Though fascinating, they are a means to an end.

I want to work as a software developer, to be a valuable contributing member of a team. I like the idea of being an apprentice in a new trade. I am intrigued by what I see in meetups and workshops like the recent Web Unleashed in Boston. I have studied the SAAS model, taught using the Rails stack at BerkeleyX and have bought into the views espoused by Robert Martin and Ken Beck. Writing the tests or behaviors, failing and then refactoring code that is always passing all the tests is improving my designs and forcing me to write better code.

I am interested in working at your company. I believe I meet the requirements and am excited by your description of what a junior developer is working towards.

Sincerely,

typical questions

What I was asked is a lot of questions like these:

Write a function that takes two sorted lists of numbers and merges them into a single sorted list. Given an array of integers (positive or negative) find the sub-array with the largest sum. Determine if a given string is a palindrome. Given a large hash table whose keys are movie names and whose values are a list of actors in those movies, write a function to determine the Bacon number of a particular actor.

list of references

  1. Matthew Anthes-Washburn
    • Technology leader
    • Boston Public Schools - (now at Vernier Software)
    • mateoaw@gmail.com
    • 971-295-7485
  2. Steve Gordon
    • Writing instruction evaluator
    • Boston Public Schools - National Writing Project
    • swingordon@rcn.com
    • 781-643-7617
  3. Barbara Ohrstrom
    • ELA instructional development
    • Boston Public Schools
    • ohrstromb@gmail.com, b.ohrstrom@neu.edu
    • 857-345-0978
  4. Mary Grady
    • mgrady@boston.k12.ma.us>,
  5. Francellis Nunez
    • fnunez@boston.k12.ma.us>,
  6. Marilyn Matis
    • 781-439-4275
    • MARILYNMATIS@GMAIL.COM
  7. Gail A. Carpenter
    • Boston University
    • gail@bu.edu o
    • 617 529 5277

LAMP engineer

Interview with: Jason Donald – Chief Software Developer

Their website: http://www.agrivida.com/index.html

Dear Jason,

Thank you for the phone interview. You gave me a great sense of what the job entailed. I could feel your enthusiasm for the company and your affection for your fellow employees. Working independently and providing tools and resources for a team is a challenge that would give me great satisfaction. From your description I am sure that I would be a good fit for the position. I can keep a LAMP server in good shape and extend it as the need arises. I would be well suited to turning requirements into clear, well documented useful tools with programs having a strong PHP component. I am experienced in understanding, maintaining and extending legacy code. I am skilled in relational databases and competent at querying them and providing tools that produce useful reports. I am careful about data security and skilled at the most secure methods for accessing and manipulating data in MYSQL. My skills extend to data analysis. For my graduate school research we used Matlab extensively in modeling memory and learning, and recently I honed my statistical skills by putting up an R server on my LAMP stack and taking a Coursera course in Data Analysis taught out of John Hopkins.

Agravida is at the forefront of science. I was drawn to the sciences as a Physics major and was fortunate to continue in scientific research in the cognitive modeling program at Boston University. Though I feel nothing but fortunate to have spent six years amidst the huge unrealized potential of urban high school students, I had always hoped to get back to being part of a cutting edge scientific enterprise. I am very interested in the LAMP engineer position. I am a good match and very confident that I would be a valued team member.

All the best in your new endeavors.

Tim McKenna


Job Details

We are the producers of a revolutionary technology in the biofuel industry that's quickly emerging as one of the most promising options for domestic energy independence. Top 3 Reasons to Work with Us 1.) We employ some of the sharpest minds in the biotechnology industry and cultivate in intellectual atmosphere where ideas are freely exchanged and expertise contribute to common goals.

2.) Our business model is one that aims to achieve far-reaching goals like energy independence and biosustainability.

3.) Our opportunity provides little oversight and requires candidates to contribute to team collaboration as an expert in the software development field. What You Will Be Doing Candidates for this role can expect to serve as the designated software development professional embedded in a highly scientific research A-team reporting directly to our Chief Scientist. Responsibilities will center on gathering technical requirements. developing custom tools & analytic applications for critical research projects, database administration with MySQL, and extensive PHP coding. What You Need for this Position At Least 2 Years of experience and knowledge of: - PHP / LAMP Engineering - Bioinformatics - Statistical Analysis - MySQL Administration - Protein Modeling - Structural Modeling - Biotechnology - INDEPENDENCE - Requirement Gathering What's In It for You We are a fantastic company that believes in taking care of its employees. If hired, you will be rewarded with an offer that will include a solid base salary ($75,000 - $95,000), 401k matching, Bonus potential (depending on co. performance), full benefits, incredible job stability, a great and fun working environment, and other cool perks! Interviews are occurring early next week, so apply now if you are interested. Local candidates preferred, but we will offer a relocation packages for the right candidate! So, if you are a LAMP Engineer with experience in the biomedical industry, please APPLY TODAY!

BFBB

Hi Matt,

I was wondering if you could field another job reference.

Today I have my second interview for a job as teacher/woodworker at Boston Family Boat Building, a program built around taking 5th graders out of school once a week to build a wooden skiff. They go through the process of 'lofting', transferring from the plans to a white painted floor the lines of the boat in plan, section and elevation. Then they build from those lines. It is sold to schools as STEM 3D thinking, but there are other aspects including giving the kids a sense that Boston Harbor is their harbor. (the school is on the harbor).

I've taught a lot of apprentice carpenters how to read plans, these miniature apprentices will be an interesting challenge. It would be nice to strengthen their sense of ratio, proportion, fractions, shapes and angles while helping them to gain the satisfaction of completing a tangible project.

I think you are a good reference for this given our work together helping the kids build robots and understand physics algebra and geometry.

I hope you and your family are all well and happy. We are all fine. I get to see all my boys together in less than 2 months. I've been hanging out in hacker spaces a bit, learning electronics and languages from C to JQuery as I read sensors, collect data and run my world from my smartphone. Freelance work creating a common core online transformation of education has been less interesting.

Hi Steve,

Today I have my second interview for a job as teacher/woodworker at Boston Family Boat Building, a program built around taking 5th graders out of school (the Haley and a new one in Charlestown) once a week to build a wooden skiff. They go through the process of 'lofting', transferring from the plans to a white painted floor the lines of the boat in plan, section and elevation. Then they build from those lines. It is sold to schools as STEM 3D thinking, but there are other aspects including giving the kids a sense that Boston Harbor is their harbor. (the school is on the harbor).

While there are many great things in the existing program, much could be done to more fully realize the intent of having students grow in their intuition, analytical skills, story-telling, confidence and engagement. It is a rich environment for a teacher as researcher. I think the approach we used in our Humanities seminars would work here too. I am forever grateful for that professional development, it became the foundation of my teaching.

So your name is on my list of references. I hope that is OK.

I hope you and yours are enjoying this delightful spring. Since I last contacted you I have been freelancing in the world of the online common-core providers. I wish I could say it was going to transform education.

Tim McKenna (857)498-2574

Hi Barbara,

I was wondering if you could provide another reference for me. You were important to my teaching as a sounding board and source of good advice. You got to see my students engaged as writers.

Today I have my second interview for a job as teacher/woodworker at Boston Family Boat Building, a program built around taking 5th graders out of school (the Haley and a new one in Charlestown) once a week to build a wooden skiff. They go through the process of 'lofting', transferring from the plans to a white painted floor the lines of the boat in plan, section and elevation. Then they build from those lines. It is sold to schools as STEM 3D thinking, but there are other aspects including giving the kids a sense that Boston Harbor is their harbor. (the school is on the harbor).

Before I was a teacher, I taught young apprentices how to read plans and build houses. This is a very interesting combination of project based teaching. I'd like students to strengthen and reinforce their new-found technical skill by being able to tell the story of how you build a boat.

I hope springtime finds you and yours health and happy. I've been doing some god-awful freelance work for companies wanting to get into selling online common-core curriculum stuff to the schools. Suffice it to say that innovation in education will not be forthcoming from most of this sector.

All the Best,



To Whom It May Concern:

I have followed with great interest the development and growth of Boston Family Boat Building and its contribution of kids and families in the Boston area. As a teacher in the Boston Public Schools it was clear to me that students who had access to high quality programs and other adults interested in their progress were the students who were succeeding in reaching their potential.

I would be very interested in working at Boston Family Boat Building. I particularly like the phrase “Ability to react positively to a rapidly changing environment” as it subtly captures something essential about being a teacher. You’ve come in with a plan and then you’ve got as many as 30 young people for whom you need to create a custom version of that plan.

I have been very interested in the dynamics of groups of young people, the roles they take, the energy they bring and how sensitive they are to each other and to their teachers. I have come to see my primary job is to contribute to and encourage a positive environment for all the kids. It was the same with running a construction crew or coaching a soccer team.

I am very skilled as a carpenter/woodworker and serious about safety. In 20 years of building 80 houses there were 3 broken bones and a handful of cuts requiring stitches for all the crews present on my jobsites.

It would not be a problem to get Mass RMV 7-D van driver’s license. I would love to log enough hours on the water to be eligible for a captain’s license. I know the harbor well, it has been the primary exploration grounds for my current and former (little) boats

PHP programmer

I took a keep it simple approach and wanted to meet the core requirements. Given the data schema, it made sense to use the field_names as form_field_names so going from GET/POSTarrays -> associative_array -> sql was easy. 'Displaying all the information' wasn't very user friendly. An associative array with field_names as keys and labels as values was the quick fix I wasn't quick enough to get back to.

Somehow I thought that a backend request meant 2 servers talking to each other so I lurched right into curl, perhaps unnecessarily. My quick test at producing/displaying an XML page had a glitch so I fell back to html. That would have been my first fix since you were asking for XML.

Before going back to that I would have added some error code for a graceful exit.

So the big hole was my confusion on how a query string with username and password could ever return more than one record. Together they seemed to be a unique key and it wasn't obvious what kind of join would produce the rest of the record.

To be honest, I probably couldn't have quickly whipped up some PHP Ajax even if I had figured out what returning more than one person would look like. I have become so accustomed to the ease of Jquery.get() and its brethren that I generally run all my asynch on the javascript side. A rather generic piece of PHP can then handle the request and return some JSON (or XML) that can be parsed and injected anywhere you can reach by a selector.

Had I completed the requirements I would have gone back and done some basic validation and double checked that input data was well sanitized and there was no route for SQL injection.

Scientist, Cognitive Systems Charles River Analytics

To Whom It May Concern:

For five years I concentrated on modeling cognitive systems of vision, audition, memory and learning at Boston University. Our process entailed reviewing current research in biology, psychology, neural network and machine learning in a particular domain, implementing models from other researchers and then developing new models to explain the data. For two of those years I worked in a lab working on pattern recognition using satellite data.

Other research at BU included using phenotype and genotype data to create systems of decision support for physicians to be used in selecting protease inhibitor drug regimens for HIV patients based upon their genotype.

During my last year I was involved in a NSF project to build and modify curriculum to reflect current knowledge on memory and learning.

Beyond modeling in Matlab, I have experience in software development and interface design for use in high school classrooms in which each student has a laptop. It is in the well defined classroom domain that I spent the last six years. It was indeed and arena of applied research.

I would like to continue in applied research and in designing high quality user interfaces.

Thank you for your consideration.



matlab Technical Writer

job: Technical Documentation Writer (8659-SBIS)

1. Writing sample URLs

2. Why I want to be a Technical Writer.

I enjoy the process of interacting with s

3. Why I want to work for MathWorks.

4. My experience with MATLAB or MathWorks products.

As a student and research assistant at Boston University Cognitive and Neural Systems department, almost all of our models were created in MatLab and they were complicated enough that we would run them all night using every spare cycle of computing power on the BU network. We modeled vision and object recognition algorithms using satellite data and predicted an HIV drug regimen’s effectiveness using genome data.

5. Salary expectations

$60,000

6. I am authorized to work in the U.S. on a full-time basis for any employer, without restriction.

7. I will not ever require employment visa sponsorship (i.e., an H-1B visa).

Senior Math Editor

Dynact math2

We are seeking a senior editor with subject matter expertise in math to manage projects in both math and science for our publishing clients. We are looking for an editor who is experienced and excited about helping to create or to manage the creation/repurposing of content for educational technology products.

The successful candidate must be flexible, very detail-oriented, and a skilled communicator. He or she must be comfortable creating initial product samples to fully understand project requirements, and be able to communicate these requirements effectively to the project's internal or freelance staff. This position requires the ability to problem solve both editorial and technical solutions as issues arise, and comfort with working both at the "in the weeds" level and at the "30,000 feet" management level, often simultaneously.

The ideal candidate has a proven track record of delivering projects on time and within budget, an in-depth knowledge of math education, and at least 3 years of editorial/writing experience.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

Working with our clients to ensure they get the best service possible; this may involve communicating project status, issues, and resolutions, and training clients' staff Editing/review of math materials for accuracy and adherence to guidelines Managing internal and freelance staff Creating writer's guidelines and project specifications from client project descriptions Assisting in the conceptualization of innovative new interactive product ideas for online instruction and assessment Setting high standards for editorial content and pedagogical approach, and ensuring that the final product reflects these high standards Skills & Experience

3+ years editing/writing school math materials; science experience a plus Experience developing or working on technology projects Familiarity with the Common Core State Standards Excellent writing and editing skills Detail oriented Comfortable using new technology Knowledgeable using Excel Bachelor's degree required; master's degree in math education or some teaching experience in math a plus Please e-mail your resume and cover note indicating your interest to our CEO, Stephanie Rogalin, at stephanie@epublishingpartners.com

refs

Hi Matt, You may get an inquiry from someone from ePublishingPartners. I'm applying for a 'senior math editor' job. They seemed interested in the pilot we did to combine math and physics.

I trust you had a fantastic Halloween. Love to your family.

Tim 857 498 2574

Hi Steve,

You may get an inquiry from someone from ePublishingPartners. I'm applying for a 'senior math editor' job. They are looking at innovative ways to use technology in education.

When I started I thought I would teach math. But Humanities was wide open and they were already providing rote scripts to math teachers. After tutoring for MCAS I decided that the problem with math was in large part a reading problem anyway. Matt Antes-Washburn and I tried combining math and physics. There is work to do in Math education.

Hope you enjoyed the wind without any major problems.

Tim McKenna 857 498-2574

Hi Barbara,

You may get an inquiry from someone from ePublishingPartners. I'm applying for a 'senior math editor' job. They are looking at innovative ways to use technology in education. They might like to know that I used the laptops to good effect and based my Humanities classes on standards.

Thanks,

Tim McKenna (857)498-2574

boundless

Hi tim,

I noticed you signed up for Boundless as an educator, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the service we're providing. In particular,

  - Would you assign Boundless as is, or would you need more, such as the ability to customize, teacher materials, homework assignments, or other features?
  - How would you rate Boundless based on your initial experience?

I’d love to hear any feedback you have via email, or if you’d like to set up a quick phone call, please let me know!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts,

Hi Ariel, I love your blog. You guys are master aggregators of knowledge. The interface is cool. Search is great.

notes and highlights
I taught that the process of highlighting is also the process of getting rid of extra words but still conveying a sentence-like idea. I'd like the added notes to be inline with the quoted material and I'd like an easy way to delete words. I don't need to know YOU HIGHLIGHTED and ADDED NOTES but would like my highlights categorized in bigger categories (like chapter) and smaller categories .
glossary and other mining
Your technology seems ripe for other way to sort and mine and present the material. I look forward to your progress here.
questions exercises and problems
both interspersed in the presentation and at the end of sections. You can correct them and grade them and redirect students to the appropriate material and to supplementary material and track them for the student because you're not a textbook. Isn't adaptive the big investor buzz word. (second only to accountability systems):(
where is the writing?
Doesn't take much server space to store a lot of text. You could store writing exercises with the notes. Geez you've got a writing text that never asks you to write. You don't have to read it. But you have an potentially huge...
social network
that might like to see how somebody else responded. Don't be afraid of plagiarism. It only happens if you've got nothing to say. In theory, in online learning you would have more to say to more people. And they could...
help
each other. Like Stack Exchange.

BTW, I signed up because I'm looking for a job in this ed-tech space:)

Good Luck, Tim McKenna (857)498-2574 http://sitebuilt.net

EdX Course Manager

Course Managers support edX Fellows and related content staff in the creation and implementation of online courses and other learning products. Course Managers are involved in the complete life-cycle of edX courses, from initial concept through development, launch, and data collection. EdX is seeking Course Managers who have a masters or doctorate degree. An ideal candidate will have:

  • significant operational experience with online teaching and learning environments; CMS, LMS systems, and with API feature sets.
  • a broad knowledge of higher education content disciplines
  • experience with innovative instructional design practices
  • exceptional organizational and communication skills
  • proven success in digital project management
  • a working knowledge of basic computer programming skills, e.g. Python, XML, HTML5
  • Ability to work in a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment is essential.

Content Engineers support edX Fellows and edX Course Managers in the overall technical development of course content, assessments, and domain-specific online tools. Tasks include developing graders for rich problems, designing automated tools for import of problems from other formats, as well as creating new ways for students to interact with domain-specific problems in the system. A candidate must have:

  • Python or JavaScript development experience
  • A deep interest in pedagogy and education
  • Knowledge of GWT or Backbone.js a plus.

If you are interested in this position, please send an email to jobs@edx.org.

email

edX Course Manager

I am applying for the course manager position. I am interested in other employment opportunities at edX as well. I have attached a cover letter and resume.

Tim McKenna 857 498 2574 http://sitebuilt.net

cover letter:

12 Parley Vale Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 857-498 2574 Mckenna.tim@gmail.com September 19, 2012 EdX 11 Cambridge Center Cambridge, MA 02142 jobs@edx.org

re: EdX Course Manager

To Whom It May Concern:

I have an ongoing interest in technology and education and in the creation and implementation of online courses. The school I began teaching in 7 years ago was brand new and every student had a laptop. English and History were combined and became the core standards of a new Humanities curriculum. It didn't exist. The teachers wrote it. We piloted a class combining Algebra, Geometry and Physics for ninth graders, writing exploration modules for students using Geometer's Sketchpad. A group of us started to meet every week to figure out this new technological territory, putting up Moodles and wikis, blogs and forums, hacking existing packages and developing new learning tools with PHP, MYSQL and Javascript. Puzzled by the huge disconnect between bright kids and poor skills, I worked with National Writing project teachers and began to see research as integral to the teaching process. The answers were in front of me if I figured out the right questions to ask. Data was easy to come by. I was in a very rich research environment.

I began to see some substantial changes caused by technology. In my Humanities classes, each student had a repository of all their work in their section of the wiki. Quotes they liked from a novel, bits of notes from class and groups, homework, in-class writing, quizzes, exams, everything was there for them to draw on. Their writing began to improve. The other students could see their work online. Surprisingly, plagiarism went down. Students would cite each other, writing more for their audience of peers than for the teacher. Their writing became another aspect of their individuality.

Last week I decided to check out edX, signing in for 6.002x Circuits and Electronics. I could see that whoever was putting this together was paying attention to the details. There were practice exercises interspersed with the lectures, each with embedded discussions. In my experience, it is craft at the fine level of component interaction that makes of breaks a learning system. How is each exploration different from the lecture example? How does it stretch the student, point in a new direction, cause brain networks to exercise and give useful feedback? The social component of that class is in an early stage of development. Mostly it catalogs the confusions, still it is creating a useful source of data for additional adaptive exercises; it looks very 'mine-able'.

The whole edX enterprise is intriguing. There is the opportunity to create a student culture that spans the world, a space where an amazing range of student types can each get exactly what they need to be successful. As a teacher, having success with some students was rewarding yet ultimately unsatisfying. It was the moments when I had the whole room engaged that I truly felt I was doing the job. A successful edX would be phenomenal and the path to that success treads on unexplored territory.

I would like very much to be involved. I am easily inspired, work tirelessly and enjoy an environment rich in ideas. Please consider this application favorably.

Sincerely,

Timothy S. McKenna

826 Boston, In-School Program Coordinator

General Expectations: The In-School Program Coordinator manages the writing and publishing program in BPS partner classrooms. This staff member works closely with and reports directly to the Program Director. Primary Responsibilities: ● Coordinate in-school tutoring projects and major publishing projects; ● Direct the workshop program by recruiting teachers and students and promoting and coordinating workshops; ● Develop new writing curricula, publishing projects, and collaborations with schools and partners; ● Build and manage relationships with teachers and administrators at BPS partner schools; ● Coordinate Saturday tutoring program with Program Coordinator; ● Support administrative and program staff as needed. Qualifications: · Minimum of 3 years experience teaching writing to students ages 6 to 18 in an urban setting; · Extensive experience teaching or working in urban public schools; · Experience developing writing curricula for students ages 6 to 18; · Knowledge of publishing and design; · Exceptional organizational skills & the ability to multi-task; · Strong written and verbal communication skills; · Proficient Spanish speaking ability (ideal, though not required); · Enthusiastic belief in the mission of 826 Boston as evidenced by a passion for writing and teaching. This part-time position will entail 3 full days of week or approximately 24 hours per week. Benefits include health insurance and nine vacation days per year and an option of a 401K plan. Interested parties should send a resume, cover letter, 1-page writing sample, and three references to: Daniel Johnson, Executive Director 826 Boston 3035 Washington St. Roxbury, MA 02119 hiring@826boston.org

cover letter

For six years I marveled at the tremendous potential of the students in front of me. The job of teaching was to entice their curiosity and ease them into the words of others. Here they could connect to ideas and develop a response. Learning to respond in writing brought them back to the words of others as my students worked to craft their own words and develop their own ideas.

I worked in an innovative environment. The big high schools had just been broken into smaller learning communities, class blocks were 80 minutes, each student had a laptop. English and History were combined and became the core standards of a new Humanities curriculum. It didn't exists. The teachers wrote it. Students saw history through the literature and arts of the time. The readings had a context, the whole enterprise connected to students lives through big ideas and essential questions. It was working and we could see the progress as I developed a relationship with each student around their writing. The National Writing Project provided the theoretical underpinning. I was becoming a teacher/researcher with plenty of student data to mull over with new things to try limited only by my need for a modicum of rest and family time. I had never worked harder.

The Gates money funding the operation ran out, the computers got old. BPS administration lacked continuity; we had 4 headmasters in seven years. Innovation got replaced by homogenization. Technology was reserved for test prep. Reading the book was replaced by telling students what the book said so they could write a scripted response about the character development or something. Daily writing was reduced to filling in graphic organizers. Average SAT scores stayed at 370.

826Boston has been on my radar for years and I have enjoyed your success. You have always struck me as a different kind of program, one working from the bottom up by focusing on students and teachers and classrooms. There are too many of the other kind. This job would be very interesting.

Boston is a great place to put together workshops; the resources are abundant.

Projects have timelines, milestones and develop their own mass and momentum. I like how they work like islands in a sea of randomness.

I'm happy to take credit for what my students have done in creating publications.

I speak enough Spanish so that student's parents would feel welcome and comfortable on parents night though when my students are speaking to each other I guess as much as I hear what they are saying.

I can multitask but, unlike my students, I don't claim to get anything done while I'm texting, checking Facebook and watching a Youtube video.

Working at 826Boston would move me in the direction I desire. Please consider me for this position.

1-page writing sample

25,000 teachers are on a strike that touches a chord ringing throughout the nation. It has something to do with teacher evaluations. Though the contract is settled in Boston, there are issues unresolved and ideas both complex and wide ranging. Some see evaluations as a straw man for the push to eliminate the unions and leave education to private enterprise. For them it bodes ill for the survival of a middle class. They know that charter school teacher salaries max out in five years at $20,000-$30,000 less than union salaries. That makes it hard to live in the city you teach in and difficult to send your kids to college. Forget that little place at the Cape. New evaluation standards make it easier to reduce the unionized workforce and open the cities to charter operators and their investors.

Narrow it down to the 'Race to the Top' and smart people still disagree. Data driven, directed from the top->down with an empowered administration is the government prescription for a better urban school system. Evaluations are a tool to help fill that prescription.

Life in the trenches is a little confusing. Students wonder if they should get back to working hard on a pre-Civil War project that just got interrupted for 4 days of computer testing of random paragraphs and comprehension questions that have nothing to do with Antebellum America. But they know the adults think it's important.

Historically, evaluations have been ineffective with ninety-something percent of teachers getting good evaluations. It is thought that the unions are too powerful and able to protect the jobs of bad teachers making the process of dismissal too long and onerous. Solutions have been negotiated to preserve some teacher rights while attempting to objectify the evaluation process. Perhaps it will work.

So what is the main idea of this piece. What is the author's bias. These are good questions that our kids need to be able to answer. If they can their teacher is good. So we hire a consultant to develop a 'main idea' product and a set of modules and worksheets with scripts for teachers to follow and graphic organizers for student to fill in in diverse groupings of 4. Everybody is professionally developed. The kids figure it out quick. They just have to read the title. The experts keep producing the products. Good teachers follow the scripts, buy into the concept, talk the talk. But who is paying attention to the students?

Well that's the teachers job. Administrators are too busy monitoring the various measures of the Whole School Improvement Plan, getting trained in the latest orthodoxy and providing constituent services to individual students to be thinking about anything particularly academic or educational. In my school one year the headmaster didn't come down to the third floor until June. So they don't really know. They need to rely on some evaluation instrument. But perhaps they need not.

Evaluation is about a conversation about what and how the kids are learning and what is working in the classroom. First you would have to be sure your administrators know as much about Math and Literature and Biology as we expect our students to know. Perhaps a new class could be added to the Broad Institute, Harvard Business School, Harvard Graduate School of Education collaboration on training administrators. Have headmasters trained to ask kids to show what they wrote today, to explain what they learned. Set a goal of 100 such questions a day. Reorganize administering so that half the time is spent in the classrooms. Drop in on a teacher and ask what are you going to try today. Add your ideas. Stop by the class and then chat about it at the end of the day. Do that for 10 classes a day, every day. A person not really suited to teaching will see themselves where they are lacking and either improve or move to a more suitable field of endeavor.

Programs like 826Boston that are working from the bottom up have the potential to help in this process. They open the classroom to other adults and a wider world. The focus shifts to the student. Students crave the attention of other adults and they respond with greater effort. What they are doing in the classroom is validated. The rest of the school community gets curious. The paradigm shifts a little.

three references for Tim McKenna

  1. Steve Gordon
    • National Writing Project
    • swingordon@rcn.com
    • 781-643-7617
  2. Barbara Ohrstrom
    • 857-345-0978
    • ohrstromb@gmail.com>
  3. Marilyn Matis
    • 781-439-4275
    • MARILYNMATIS@GMAIL.COM

Hi Steve, Ah fall in New England. I am happily returned from a summer on the west coast rebuilding my sons house in Portland with my 3 boys. I hope you and your family are well and content.

It is possible 826Boston will contact you for a reference. They are part of that network of writing centers set up by David Eggers. They are looking for a coordinator and curriculum developer for writing projects. I like their work.

All The Best,

Tim McKenna 857 498 2574

Hi Barbara,

When I think back on teaching at PATH and the people who had some idea what I was doing in my classes around reading and writing and creating a coherent story of history I realize it doesn't really include any of my administrators. I always enjoyed talking shop with you, however. I was teaching a World History focused 12th grade Humanities back then.

I am applying for a job with 826Boston, one of a bunch of writing centers set up by David Eggers. They are looking for a coordinator and curriculum developer for writing projects. I like their work. I was wondering if I could use you as a reference?

Hope you and those dear to you are well and that you are enjoying fall in New England.

All The Best,

Tim McKenna 857 498-2574

Hi Marilyn,

I was teaching at PATH while you ran the tutoring program for Westie. Mine were 12th grade Humanities Classes on the third floor down a narrow hallway in a corner of the building, right before the lovely teacher's bathroom/ teacher lounge complex/hovel.

It is strange to think back about who knew what I was trying to accomplish around reading and writing and creating a coherent story of history for my students. You and your tutors, even more than my teaching colleagues and administrators did have a connection to my students.

I am applying for a job with 826Boston, one of a bunch of writing centers set up by David Eggers. They are looking for a coordinator and curriculum developer for writing projects. I like their work. I was wondering if I could use you as a reference?

Hope you and those dear to you are well and that you are enjoying fall in New England.

All The Best,

Tim McKenna 857 498-2574

Pfizer: Pharmacometrics Developer (PWR6717)

Hi Timothy, Per our conversation, I am confirming details for your interview. The details for the interview appear directly below. In addition I have taken the liberty of including the position description below the interview details.

As part of the interview process I am required to ask for references from you. Please type out their name, title, company and their contact details as an email titled "list of references" and send it back to me prior to the date of your interview. Please do not include references for managers where you are currently working if you do not want that manager contacted.

Recently we have been tracking placements and we have noted that there is a higher incidence of placements when a candidate sends a thank you note to the manager after an interview. We recommend that after your interview that you "dash off" a quick email to us for us to pass on to the manager.

Also note it is a breach of Pfizer policy for candidates to ask managers for their contact information during the interview process. Please refrain from doing so.

Finally I have attached some interview tips for your use. Good luck, contact me after your interview to let me know how things went and please confirm receipt of this email so I know you are all set!

INTERVIEW DETAILS

Requirement Name: Pharmacometrics Developer (PWR6717) (#3033-MH904)
Meeting Request Date /Time: 08/27/2012 1:30 PM EDT
Meeting Request Type: Phone
Additional Information - Dial into the Confrence number 1-877-580-3949 and enter the access code
                                           54078149#
                                           Interview with potential manager Steven Martin and Business technology
                                           consultant Andrew Hill
                                          

POSITION DESCRIPTION


Position Code: PWR6717 Position Title: Pharmacometrics Developer Position Length: 6 - 12 months Position Status: W-2 Position Location: Cambridge, MA

Company Profile: Our client is a global, broad-based health care company devoted to discovering new medicines, new technologies and new ways to manage health for people and their valued animals. Their purpose is helping people live longer, healthier, happier lives- adding both years to life, and life to years. Position Summary:

Pharmacometrics Developer Support Role: The synergy between advanced knowledge management, quantitative drug development and statistical study design are central to the clients' drug development strategy. A 6 month to one year position in our pharmacometrics group at Cambridge park Drive, Cambridge, MA, is available for an individual with experience of Mediawiki and FCKEditor page editor as well as possessing data/analytical skills. The successful candidate will help our scientists develop Wiki pages to help integrate pharmacometric knowledge from various sources both internal and externally generated and share this information internally for a variety of disease areas and new medicines. This is a unique opportunity to develop and apply your programming and analytical skills in a research environment, at one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. You will contribute to the continual improvement of the drug development process. Candidate should be familiar with the Mediawiki collaborative wiki platform. In particular they should have demonstrated experience designing, creating and editing wiki pages, and using categories to organize page collections. Candidate Skills: Additional desirable skills would include experience with wiki page Templates, the FCKEditor page editor, and Mediawiki extensions such as Dynamic Page Listing (DPL). An enthusiasm to develop excellent skills in R/S-Plus , and/or similar data-analytical/mathematical modelling tools is expected. Excellent oral and written communication skills, as well as an ability to work effectively in a team environment, are essential. The successful candidate will also have a background in a quantitative science such as mathematics, statistics, pharmacy, medicine, physics or engineering. During your placement with us you will gain an understanding of the drug discovery and development process and see how quantitative skills can contribute towards it. You will be supervised by an experienced pharmacometrician and will be working as part of a small drug development team. You will encounter a friendly, encouraging and supportive atmosphere. Must have excellent mathmatical experience; must have excellent communication skills as the resource will be working with multiple users (Globally; NOT required to work off hours); confirmation that the candidate MUST have solid Wiki experience. MUST HAVE A BACHELORS DEGREE IN COMPUTER SCIENCE AND/OR BIOLOGY).


Breakthroughit Michael Lyman

Main Phone 561.362.7179 (X-7) Direct Office 561.594-1718 Cell Phone 561.702.6114 Direct Fax 888.561.1914

jobs@breakthroughit.com | www.breakthroughit.com | Michael on Linkedin


Attachments: BreakthroughIT, Inc. (BreakthroughIT Inc ( #78839).DOC, Timothy McKenna (BreakthroughIT Train #78939).DOC, Timothy McKenna (Timothy S. McKenna P #79551).DOC

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It's great to hear from you! I very much enjoyed our work together while you were in CNS, and would be more than happy to provide a reference to you for this or any other job. Your references can send me email (gail@bu.edu) or call my cell ( 617 529 5277).

The main reason for you to alert me to such a call is to give me as much information as you can about what the work would be and why you're interested. Can you also please send me (e.g.) a CV and (if available) a short narrative about what you've been doing over the past 6 years -- and earlier, if you'd like.

BTW: Pfizer is (weirdly, admittedly) spelled with an F. I don't care, but they might ...

I hope that you and your family have had a good few years and are enjoying the summer.

Hi Gail,

Thanks for providing a reference.

The job involves creating a platform through which researchers on different projects at Pfizer can be kept abreast of each other's work. Part of the job is to adapt and customize a wiki for this purpose. The work involves creating connections to the scientific programming platforms that they are using, statistical packages and Matlab like modeling environments. I miss being immersed in science and think I'd enjoy connecting with different research teams.

Over the past six years I have been teaching mostly Humanities in the Boston Public Schools. I have done some other things like mentor the Robotics team and co-developed a course combining algebra, geometry and physics for 9th graders. I started teaching the first year of a new school. Following trends of the time (and Gates money), big urban high schools were getting broken up into schools of 300-400 students. All my students had laptops and there was a spirit that encouraged innovation. We wrote the new Humanities curriculum in which students increased there understanding of history through the arts and literature of the time and visa-versa. We focused on case studies and broad questions that always came back to helping students understand the current world and their place in it.

It was an amazingly data-rich environment. CNS was all about modeling data so I was in data heaven. I got involved with a 'teachers as researchers' approach to education and the process of collecting data from students writing and other measures, analyzing it, developing an plan from it, implementing the plan and collecting more data became endlessly fascinating and rewarding. The students had laptops. They all had a accounts on the class wiki and everything they wrote, every essay and quiz and quote they liked lived on the wiki. Students could see others each work. Their writing became part of their identity. It improved.

In 2011 with the Gates money gone they closed the school, re-combining small schools into big schools. Th laptops weren't getting replaced. You could requisition a cart a week in advance for an hour so students could work on some test-prep package. Trying new things was frowned upon. Pacing guides were introduced. Every teacher and student would now be working on the same lesson each day. Problem was that lesson didn't really involve reading or writing, students fill in graphic organizers and teachers tell them what the book was about. It was not at all interesting to me. I resigned.

I loved teaching. It was the hardest job I ever had and it took me ~53 hour a week to do it well. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I also think I am on to something on how technology can transform education and I am looking in that area as well. Part of that is creating little apps that explain a difficult idea. This Pfizer job would be a step in the direction I want to go.

I hope you and your family are doing well. I've been out on the west coast for the second half of the summer. The ocean is freezing, the coast is rugged, not at all like our coast. I trust you are enjoying your summer. I stopped building houses when my son Tobin was 14. We had some unfinished business. So I'm showing him how to build his house in Portland Oregon. He's a mechanical engineer for Vestas.

Again thanks for the reference.

Tim McKenna
(857)498-2574 http://sitebuilt.net

Minus

How are you! My name is John, cofounder of http://Minus.com - We are an image sharing startup based in midtown Manhattan. We are looking to grow our team this summer and you can learn more at http://minus.com/pages/careers

I came across your profile on Github and was wondering if you would be interested in a fulltime position or have potential referrals. Hope to hear back soon and I'd be happy to answer any questions as well.

Cheers!


BoundlessLearning

Dear Nick, Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.

I would imagine that being an educurator would be an interesting job for someone recently minted in a field of study. The adage that you cannot claim to really know something until you can explain it comes into play here and the process would have a good bit of intrinsic reward.

Coordinating a group of educurators would be about reinforcing that connection to intrinsic reward as you develop standards of clarity and create an infrastructure that is easy to plug into. You would likely be part of the team creating that infrastructure as well. That's the job I want. There you are thinking more like a teacher, a builder, an orchestrator, a facilitator.

Good luck with your second iteration. There is an awful lot of work to do in this sphere. Perhaps other lead positions will open up. I would be interested.

Tim McKenna http://sitebuilt.net (857)498-2574

US Greendata

To Whom It May Concern:

I have always written code, creating routines that get something done, be it automating the building process in AutoCad's Lisp, running simulations of neural network models of vision using Matlab, or extending Mediawiki for classroom use using PHP and MySQL. Recently I have been exploring using HTML5 and jquery-mobile to illuminate something complicated (like designing an income tax system) within the constraints of a mobile device. I am figuring out Amazon Cloud Services and NOSQL database services through Python. Some repositories are at https://github.com/mckennatim. I like the Agile philosophy of development.

I just got back from Portland Oregon where my former partner, Bill Clumpner, runs an energy consulting company. With my son who works as an engineer at Vestas, I am designing a system that uses junk heat from a wood stove, a solar collector and on demand water heater to warm up a tank enough to put 100F water into the radiant coils in the first floor slab and under the bathroom tiles. In the process I have seen the promise in this sector and the need for software tools to make it comprehensible. What does beyond the solar-calulator look like?

I like the things that you are working on and feel that I could contribute. Thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Tim McKenna

Tech content specialist - MATLAB

I like to puzzle about the best way to explain something. When I was a builder, I'd give my crews cut-lists and assembly instructions produced by Autocad LISP programs. At first they thought it was crazy but in the end they had developed a deeper understanding about building.

I went on to different kinds of teams where well crafted code contained within it the explanation and by 2AM we were using every available machine at BU to run our MATLAB simulations: models of the brain for memory, vision and recognition.

As a teacher, you are not really creating a team but more a positive atmosphere where everyone supports everyone else and students felt comfortable taking risks. It was here where I really tuned in on how stage my writing and speaking to optimize understanding in the class in front of you.

I am interested in the job. I like writing and puzzling out how to meet the needs of my audience. Please consider me for this position. You might find one of my class websites useful in assessing my writing. Try: http://www.pathboston.com/hum3. As evidence of familiarity with programming languages you could check my repository at https://github.com/mckennatim.

Thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Tim McKenna

Director of content- front end prototyper

Fortunately for you, Boundless is like a 360° mullet: party in the back AND party in the front. We need you to design and build rich HTML5 web-apps that change the way college students learn. This beauty contest has a serious talent portion, so our platform needs to both look pretty AND flow seamlessly while delighting students with innovative, interactive learning tools.

We take a thoughtful approach to the front end. We continue to move further down the HTML5 app path, and invest heavily in tools that make us productive. Backbone/Spine. ExtJS/Sencha. CoffeeScript. SCAML (like HAML, but w/ Scala). SASS (Of course, how can you make front-ends without it??) And it's not just software that keeps us productive: all engineers have standing/sitting desks, Apple laptops, cinema displays, and head-phones so you can focus and GSD. And infinite coffee—that's a big piece too.

You're a straight shooter. Like us. Since it's high noon, here come the bullets:

Manage Content Creation Process

Manage a team of in-house domain-specific Content Managers Help source, train, manage, and evaluate independent freelancers Help manage and optimize the content curation process. Continue leading ongoing optimization and improvement of the process, with eyes on how to increase quality and efficiency Maintain detailed real time analytics and metrics of status of project, including efficiency, status, and quality Product Development Support

Lead the Product Development of the internally created Content Management System Interface with product development about user experience and learning features Input on front end product development and user experience Development of additional features to support and improve the learning experience Desired Skills & Experience

Ideal work experience includes:

Managing an in-house team (3+ people) Experience working with dozens of outside freelancers/contractors Very strong analytical skills (Advanced/Expert in MS Excel) Product Management with digital products Entreprenurial experience a plus Excellence working in a digital-only environment (no paper) Incredible work output, like a force of nature, or like The Beast from X-Men Adventurous and entrepreneurial spirit, like Indiana Jones, and ability to work independently without detailed direction Craftsmanship and incredible attention to detail Fun and sociable personality that adds to team culture —Team Boundless

I'm looking for my next thing and am curious where you are going with this. So you have this system and workforce for culling content and aligning it with different texts. So you get to some critical mass of users and material and you index the hell out of it. Then what?

I suppose you could jump in do something with the questions, problems, open responses. Or you could tackle the presentation. Go beyond video clips and create some simulated environments for each discipline that ease the acquisition of difficult concepts. Or socializing seems a reasonable play. A Stackoveflow for Biochem, students competing to help each other out.

What you are doing now and all your future possibilities are very interesting to me. And your space looks cool and its eminently bike-able, in the city and near the water. I'd love to work at your company.

We used to have ping pong tournaments at lunch when I was building. Cost me a fortune in hourly wages, but it was worth it, pumped everybody up a bit.

I have some problems. Coming from mainly teaching high school seniors I think textbooks are a big part of what's wrong with education. You get enough editors satisfying enough editorial boards (TX, CA NY) and you end up with lifeless prose devoid of passion, controversy or voice. Do you really want to mimic bloat? That TIMSS study out of BC tells us we have the fattest textbooks in the world; algebra 1 in Taiwan is 1/4" thick. And we know they do better than us. But you don't do high school and college texts are better.

I don't exactly know what I am applying for. I meet a lot of your content manager specs but find the front-end possibilities for creating something fantastic pretty limitless. I will mold myself to the job at hand. I am flexible and generally can out-work most people I have ever been around.

Please take a look at my blog and resume and linkedin.

Thanks for your consideration.

Tim McKenna (857)498-2574

So if you’re comfortable wielding Javascript, HTML/SASS through enough backend MVC to create & deploy compelling features, let’s talk, we've got a lot in common!

tim

wireless generation

Six years as a teacher in a school where every student had a laptop has proven to me that technology has the power to transform education. I like the work you have done in writing and see your company as well positioned to expand and realize the potential of students.

In my classes all students work was online and visible to every other student in the school. Students were writing for each other almost as much as they were writing for their teacher. As writing became part of their identity, their identity expanded to include their take on Macbeth or the style of Steinbeck.

To do that required hacking Mediawiki to be able to inject pages into each students repository. I accessed the API's of Quizlet and Visual Thesaurus scraped the web a little to create resources for my students. I needed tools to create assessments from open response to the multiple choice style of SAT/Accuplacer. On Friday afternoon I would meet with a group of teachers and we would help solve each others problems on Moodle, upgrade our servers, write scripts to help us harness the power of technology. I think the potential in the education sphere is limitless.

My software skills have always been in service of a particular task at hand. As a PhD student in cognitive science the name of the game was building model of how the brain accomplished pattern recognition, memory, vision and motor control. We would run simulations all night long on every available server at Boston University. As a builder I used AutoCad to creat 3d wireframes of the houses I was building and then wrote lisp routines that would create all the building elements, sized, labeled and illustrated.

Perhaps I am not the perfect fit for this position. I ask that you factor in my experience in the classroom and my passion for creating software solutions. Thank you for your consideration.

Timothy McKenna

Edmodo

phone interview on 11/29/11 with Steve Edwards.

Hi Kanika,

I just had a phone interview. Thanks for organizing it. Steve Edwards asked that I forward other sample scripts.

On the phone I referred him to a Github repository of a site that helps small groups organize projects that take s place on a specific date. The link to the repository is: http://github.com:mckennatim/OBsoup The prototype site is at http://soupteam.com. If it still has a bunch of silly soup names it isn't live, you can create an account to see it work.

Steve asked for links to scripts that I wrote and used as a teacher. Here they are:

vocab scripts

The idea here was to identify interesting vocabulary contained in the readings of the class and to give the students some tools that would cause them to stumble upon those words the 7-10 times it takes before new words become part of the way you express yourself. From the teachers perspective the goal was to expand what I could do, save time and shift responsibility to the students.

The workflow is as follows

grab the vocab
using visualthesaurus, you send a chapter or an article in and out comes a wordlist like: http://www.visualthesaurus.com/wordlists/40290 after a few minutes of finetuning. Now I've got the words and the sentence each word showed up in.
get the definitions
this is a scraping operation that goes out on the web and finds definitions and parts of speech and maybe another sample sentence. Then it takes the word definition, context etc. and posts it to various tables and categorizes it by topic unit and course. (http://pathboston.com/assess/vocabgrab/vocabgrab.html stick in the wordlist link and for source type in 'mule' (jquery autocomplete) but you won't see much of anything (code on github))
verify definitions
Here I needed a tool to verify and modify the 10-15% of the definitions that were incorrect for the context. This is also where usage submitted by kids for extra credit shows up. (http://pathboston.com/assess/vocabgrid/uses.html# 'select source articles' gets you a list. Alas this is why I don't use ajax. It only works in browsers of the firefox 6 generation)
use the vocab
Now those words are available in lots of ways. Among them:

City on a Hill

cover letter

City on a Hill Charter School
July 29, 2008

re: Teaching Opportunities



To Whom It May Concern:

I always found young people to be interesting. I coached youth soccer for 15 years in Jamaica Plain and was intrigued by the dynamic between the kids. We had very diverse teams both in skill level and ethnicity. Left alone the skilled kids would just want to show up for the games; they wanted to be in for 80 minutes. The other kids either thought that was OK or very unfair. My job was to make a case why it was important to show for practice and work toward being a team. The trick was to do it without using the threat of benching or guarantees of playing time. The kids needed a strong adult who was reasonable and held values. Then they could play.

I find high school teaching to be similar. If I can make a strong case for what we do each day, students will work. There is as diverse a spectrum of skills in a high school classroom. My job is to help each kid to recognize where they are and where the need to be moving to. It is the best job I have ever had. There is something about getting tuned into a young person's thinking mind. It is fascinating.

Recently I attended and all day workshop by BATEC at Bunker Hill Community College on "Why Johnny Can't Learn". It attempted to address the remedial education problem. I already knew that 70% of BPS, non-exam school students need at least 1 remedial class and that only 20% of students in remedial classes ever graduate from college, but I was surprised to hear that 60% of the resources of Massachusetts community colleges are spent in remedial education. I believe that we can prepare Boston kids to be ready for college level work when they graduate. I gauge my success by how many of my students successfully complete freshman year of college (in one year). My three years of teaching in BPS has reinforced that belief.

Thanks for your consideration.


Sincerely,

Tim McKenna


MATCH

cover letter

Mr Alan Safran
MATCH Charter High School
alan.safran@matchschool.org
July 29, 2008

re: Teachers (Science, Math, English)



Dear Mr. Safran,

I always found young people to be interesting. I coached youth soccer for 15 years in Jamaica Plain and was intrigued by the dynamic between the kids. We had very diverse teams both in skill level and ethnicity. Left alone the skilled kids would just want to show up for the games; they wanted to be in for 80 minutes. The other kids either thought that was OK or very unfair. My job was to make a case why it was important to show for practice and work toward being a team. The trick was to do it without using the threat of benching or guarantees of playing time. The kids needed a strong adult who was reasonable and held values. Then they could play.

I find high school teaching to be similar. If I can make a strong case for what we do each day, students will work. There is as diverse a spectrum of skills in a high school classroom. My job is to help each kid to recognize where they are and where the need to be moving to. It is the best job I have ever had. There is something about getting tuned into a young person's thinking mind. It is fascinating.

Recently I attended and all day workshop by BATEC at Bunker Hill Community College on "Why Johnny Can't Learn". It attempted to address the remedial education problem. I already knew that 70% of BPS, non-exam school students need at least 1 remedial class and that only 20% of students in remedial classes ever graduate from college, but I was surprised to hear that 60% of the resources of Massachusetts community colleges are spent in remedial education. I believe that we can prepare Boston kids to be ready for college level work when they graduate. I gauge my success by how many of my students successfully complete freshman year of college (in one year). My three years of teaching in BPS has reinforced that belief.

I sat in on a conference session with some of your teachers 2 years ago. They were making a compelling case for assessing students frequently, as much as 3-4 times a day. I was impressed by how well the teachers worked together in making their case. I am intrigued at how much the teacher's union hates your school. It's not that I am against empowering teachers. I don't believe we are doing urban kids a service by programs and products imposed by NGO consultants + the free marketeers. We need teachers who share some principles, and are willing to relentlessly question the status quo and test new methods on insights shared, by planning, carrying out and evaluating initiatives as the normal course of business. I am looking to work in a place like that.

Thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Tim McKenna

BPS

applied for all jobs up to 7/29

codman academy

Position:: Humanities teacher, Math teacher
Contact: tbrown@codmanacademy.org


Why are you interested in teaching? More specifically, why are you interested in teaching in an urban high school serving primarily low-income students of color?
Urban high school kids are interesting and intelligent. While most of my students talk the talk on the importance of education, on some level many are skeptical, not sure the system will work for them. For them, being compliant, doing what the teacher says because we know what is good for them, does not really make sense. There is little data that proves they win in that game.

As a teacher, this is an exciting challenge. I feel like I have about ten minutes every day to make a case for what I am doing, for what I want them to do. Sometimes I make a good case, other times are not as good.

Most of my work over the past 3 years has been with seniors. We want our students to be ready to engage, prepared to compete with any kids anywhere. The data on remedial college courses, the lack of financial aid for sub-500 SAT scorers is sobering and instructional. Bridging the gulf, between smart kids and kids able to represent that intelligence in the form that society deems valuable, is a compelling challenge.

The character of my students has been an unforeseen delight. Once you can peel away and see through the defenses it is apparent. We have to get these kids out in the world with some skills. They are attractive, supportive, fair. I want them to be in charge.
Go to the school’s main webpage. Click on “Best Practices”, then on “Curriculum Examples.” Choose “Stairs” or “Justice/Injustice”. What do you think is the most challenging thing about teaching this way? What excites you the most?
Both the stairs and the social justice projects had a strong group component. I believe that there can be synergy in a group though you cannot take for granted that there will be.

Projects have a tendency to get drawn out. I am always running a side calculation in which I list the important skills being gained vs the skills that students should have or have further developed over the year.

Through their research students are taking responsibility for creating their own knowledge. Yet I am always concerned that they have a framework through which to judge their research. What are the compelling ideas that the projects have in common? I believe this shared lens is important and through it I can bring readings that challenge, a shared vocabulary, a precision in language, a literary take on the subject, an historical perspective. I fear leaving them to the New York Times, AP, BBC alone.

Along the way of a project I like to see milestones. I value them as much as or greater than the final show. Did you understand that paragraph, that line? Wasn't that described beautifully? Where is that author coming from? Sure, write a report but make a compelling argument while you are at it. That is a little tricky in a group. I'm not sure that seeing it in the reflection is enough. As we lead our students to draw on their personal narrative as they transition to writing about things outside of themselves, and in doing so, develop an individual voice, how can we structure group work to facilitates that process?

I'm not sure I can separate the stairs project from my experience as a house builder for 30 years. I look at the examples and there are no fractions, the rise is exactly 4" or 8". They might be the only stairs in Boston without a them. I think it is important that young mathematicians develop a precise understanding of language, words, sentences in reading a problem. In putting a problem in words themselves, synapses fire that otherwise would not. This is all good. I like data collection and analysis. The process here however seems too long and drawn out. This then is, to me, the challenge of the stair expedition. I agree that you can boil down most of Algebra 1 as the study of y= mx +b, yet I am not sure that you get facile problem solvers out of long math projects. I know you don't from 800 pages of Glencoe. This is a very interesting problem.

I am excited about the willingness to experiment that I see in these initiatives. I like the way the social justice project has developed over three years. Teachers are empowered and creative. The administration must be good.
How would you describe your approach to classroom discipline? Where do you think you would fall on the spectrum from authoritarian to relaxed?
Where I fall on the spectrum depends on the age of the students and the type of infraction. I do not have any problem with students walking around the room, the lyrics in hip-hop are not necessarily offensive to me. As as student, I was always in trouble. I see acting out students as an leading indicator.

Younger students may need a little more structure than seniors. If 14 year olds didn't think they know everything they need to know I might be worried. If I didn't challenge that notion, I'd be irresponsible.

Discipline is in service of creating a positive classroom environment. It takes a while. I find students to be surprisingly risk-averse. Aside from heightening your attention level, being willing to take risks seems to be the most important precondition to learning. Students will not take risks if they don't trust you or fellow students. I am uncompromising in disciplining students who put down fellow students. I work hard on this. Students who disrupt the ability of fellow students to learn represent another case where I might be considered strict.
How do you envision yourself contributing to the school community (for both students and colleagues)?
I work hard and accept that this is a job that will always require hard work. If the classes I teach are engaging and challenging then I contribute to an academic environment in the school. I like to do my prep at school so that I can open my room to students for extra help, to work on projects, read or just hang out. I will strive to establish working relationships with other teachers. I enjoy developing curriculum and finding the correlation between a teacher's passions and that material. As a humanities teacher I am aware of the power of words, and believe that ELA skills are essential across the curriculum. As a math teacher I see that logic underlies every argument, that precision is at least as important in words as it is in numbers. I believe in teachers. It is essential that we move beyond shared platitudes and develop ways to talk about the minutia of collecting our own data and developing our own specific solutions every day.

humanities teacher

Position:: Humanities Teacher

Status: Full-time (for 2008-2009 school year)

Date Available: August 2008

Contact: tbrown@codmanacademy.org

Description: High School Humanities - an integrated English and History course

Qualifications: Must have a bachelor's degree in American Studies, English or History and/or pass Massachusetts History/English subject matter tests. Seeking candidates who share Codman's mission and Expeditionary Learning philosophy, which focuses on experiential learning and social justice. Successful candidates possess extensive content knowledge, experience working with special needs students, classroom management expertise, and a love for collaborative curriculum development. Successful Urban teaching experience and Master's degree strongly preferred.

math teacher

Position:: Mathematics Teacher

Status: Full-time (for 2008-2009 school year)

Date Available: August 2008

Contact: tbrown@codmanacademy.org

Description: High School Math Teacher

Qualifications: Must have a bachelor's degree with mathematics major and/or secondary certification in mathematics. Seeking candidates who share Codman's mission and Expeditionary Learning philosophy, which focuses on experiential learning and social justice. Successful candidates possess extensive content knowledge, experience working with special needs students, classroom management expertise, and a love for collaborative curriculum development. Successful urban teaching experience and Master's degree strongly preferred.

thanks for the interview

Thank you for considering my application for a job as a teacher at Codman Academy. Should your require any further information or recommendations just let me know.

I thought it was an interesting if very short conversation. I asked the question, what would you like you students to know when they leave Codman Academy. I heard about the importance of being able to work in groups, the value in expeditionary learning and facility with functions.

I wished I had gotten to answer the same question. My answer would be that I would want to see young people who were good problem solvers; who could draw on a limited but powerful set of fundamental relations to solve problems that they have never seen before. I would like to see young people who have worked at becoming quick thinkers, worked at raising their attention level as they meet the world. Finally I would like to see students who have developed as abstract thinkers; who can classify, recognize patterns, move from decoding the words and images to perceiving problems with sufficient confidence that they can sustain themselves through doubt and confusion.

Functions are great and facility with continuous mathematics will give you a solid understanding of analog electronics, Newtonian physics, electricity and magnetism and single particle quantum mechanics. I would like there to be a broader conversation about mathematics in the 21st century. The last day that I used a closed form solution by integration for a differential equation was the last day of my diffeq class. We are a world totally dependent on numerical methods, the important algorithms are no longer function based. As I think of the big unsolved problems in environmental science, alternative energy, cellular biology, bioengineering, genetics and brain science I believe that there should be an ongoing conversation between high school teachers and the broad array of researchers and professors in our wider academic community.

I started off my interview badly on the first question. I would hate that my stated lack of desire to pursue an additional masters is education to be misconstrued as an unwillingness to be a reflective practitioner. I believe reflection is the most important artifact of a lesson besides student work and that it is important that teachers learn to communicate their reflections to each other. I had a bad start in a Northeastern program for certification then masters in special education. I was very interested in research on the students classified along the autistic spectrum, or the behavioral or communications spectrum and hoped to increase my understanding of how the brain works and what would be effective practice. I asked for my money back. After superficially defining the legally protected disability classifications, the courses went on with edu-washed poorly done review versions of important research, and an audacious claim that one jumbo set of strategies would cover all these diverse learners AND the same set was all you needed for economically disadvantaged urban kids. Funny thing was it was the same set of strategies that you get in regular ed master in ed. Though this is very convenient for ed schools, I have come to question this whole content-neutral strategy approach. The one or two classes you take in your "concentration" are neither enlightening nor engaging. I refer to my collected array of strategies on a daily basis. They are in service of ideas and content.

Thanks for your consideration, Tim McKenna

Timothy S. McKenna Parkway Academy of Technology and Health 1205 VFW Parkway Boston, MA 02132 tim@pathboston.com http://pathboston.com/hum (857)498-2574 (mobile) (617)524-0938 (home)