My First Week of 2013...

What an incredible first week of 2013.  There are times when I still can't believe where I am both professionally and personally.  If the beginning of 2013 is any indication of how my year is going to go, I can't wait...

I experienced two BIG events this past week.  One included my life as a 4th grade teacher and the other included my life as a member of the Twitter community. 

My 4th grade class had the opportunity to Skype with the prolific author Dan Gutman.  My "Breakfast with Books" book club was reading his book The Genius Files #1: Mission Unstoppable during the month of December.

I had experienced a couple of Skype visits with Stephen McCranie and Kim Baker and I thought wouldn't it be cool to include Dan in our book club discussion.  I have found that Twitter is an amazing way to connect with people that you normally wouldn't be able to.

On Thursday, January 3rd, fourteen of my 4th grader gathered in our classroom to discuss the book and Skype with this incredible author.  To say we were excited is to put it mildly.  We spent about thirty minutes with Dan talking about the book, asking questions, and enjoying his company.  He didn't disappoint.  It was definitely one of the highlights of our year:  So far...

That same day I had another life experience that I never thought would happen.  I had the opportunity to participate in the first #ABCT (Adult Book Club for Twitter).  You can read an earlier post to read the details of this newly created book club.

Many Twitter members joined me reading Life Among Giants by Bill Roorbach.  Because I am getting better at taking risks, I also contacted Bill via Twitter to see if he would like to join our online book club discussion on Thursday, January 3rd at 7:00 PM.  He agreed.  Wow!

The first #ABCT was bittersweet I must say.  It was sweet because I was so proud of myself for creating this book club, making it happen, and actually having an online book discussion with some of my fellow Twitter friends.  It was bitter because the only readers that showed up were myself and the author.

I tried hard not to be too disappointed, but there was a little sadness in my heart.  I also felt bad for Bill Roorbach because he made the time to join us and I know was thinking there would be many members online.  We both made the best of it with questions asked by me, answers provided by Bill, and a nice hour long discussion about the book between the two of us.  He seemed like a great guy and I really appreciated him giving an hour of his time.

I did hear from other readers after the book club that they were sorry they couldn't make it.  As my wife said to me afterwards, "If at first you don't succeed, try again."  I'm happy to say that I'm not going to stop with the first #ABCT, but will be announcing our second book very soon.

Looking back on the first week of 2013, I have a smile on my face, a warm feeling in my heart, and a satisfaction knowing I'm doing exactly what I was meant to do in my life...