The Work: My Search For a Life That Matters - Wes Moore

Moore, Wes. The Work: My Search For a Life That Matters. New York: Spiegel and Grau, 2014.

How do I find a life that matters? I don’t always know if my students are asking this question, but I surely think they should be. I have been fascinated by Moore since his first book The Other Wes Moore.  I was eager to add this newer work to my summer nonfiction reads. His thoughtful work does not disappoint.

Moore has quite an impressive resume: Rhodes Scholar, decorated war veteran, White House Fellows program.  His accomplishments in themselves are inspirational. The insights into his motivation are even more so.  He writes with passion about the aftermath of September 11, 2001.  He is honest about his desire to do something meaningful with his life, even if he doesn’t always know for sure what that might be.  He traces the influences of the mentors in his life, a coach, a commanding officer, and grandfather. Interspersed with his own life story are biographies of the people whom he admires. He includes the founder of the KIND company and the head of the Peace Corps.  Without fail, these are people who have overcome adversity to better serve the world in which we live.

I really, really liked this book.  I want my students to read it.  Having said that, I don’t anticipate the selling of this title to be an easy one.  I will market it to my advanced students first.  His successes and the premise of his first book will, perhaps, intrigue them.  The structure, with the alternating chapters about different people who do important work, will engage the students who might be overwhelmed by his reflection.  Students are more accustomed to reading sound bites now, and I believe the structure will create this illusion. I have students who aspire to change the world.  I will definitely be sharing this book with them. I will be hitting up my library search to seek similarly inspirational titles about people making a difference. The military angle is also exceptionally interesting to many of my students.  I have a variety of directions to go and am eager for the fall to choose one and get started!

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Paper vs. Digital: Does It Matter?

"Do people read as well on screens as they do on paper?"

According to the New York Times article "Reading Literature Online: A Price For Convenience?" researchers in France and Norway looked at this question.  I found the results a bit surprising.  Readers who used e readers and those who used paper books responded similarly to emotional measures and to questions regarding setting. But...the e readers fell apart quite a bit on questions about time and sequencing.

Such results raise questions certainly in the field of education.  More and more we are using electronic books and tests and online resources to teach our curriculum and meet our standards.  Further, we are even beginning to evaluate our success rate by testing more and more digitally.  Students' graduations and teachers' evaluations depend on these results.  We need to be sure we are providing the best opportunities for success.

One researcher noted, “It’s all one complex web that we need to start disentangling...” The study might still provide fodder for those who insist that reading a novel on a screen just isn’t the same. “It’s a confirmation that these ergonomic dimensions, the tactile feedback of holding paper, might actually matter,” she said. Certainly educators will be watching and reading as this web is disentangled!

Score One For the Library Over Amazon

"But it turns out librarians haven't just been sitting around shushing people while the Internet drove them into irrelevance. More than 90% of American public libraries have amassed e-book collections you can read on your iPad, and often even on a Kindle. You don't have to walk into a branch or risk an overdue fine. And they're totally free."

So says The Wall Street Journal  in its timely article "Why the Public Library Beats Amazon - For Now." The author explored a variety of best seller lists and found that public library e collections have many more of these titles than subscription services like Scribd, Oyster, and Kindle Unlimited. And of course - no monthly fee. The library card is still free! Certainly drawbacks like wait lists and due dates still exist. But - a variety of popular titles, for free should be hard for serious readers to resist.

Because of a grant, I was able to create an fairly substantial e book collection in my library.  Students are pretty excited to be able to check out books on their devices, day or night, in any place that they can connect to the internet.  I am pretty excited because these books are never returned three months late and/or damaged.  While the older students seem to prefer physical books, the junior high kids are loving the accessibility of our e book collection. 

Go libraries!