My First US Paycheck in 19 Years
My last paycheck I received just before I took off for a 19 year journey to Israel that would bring me back, full circle to the US. That Year was 1989. I worked for CTI Messengers in downtown NYC delivering small packages via the subway and my bike. I owned the streets of Manhattan, knew how to time my three-subway ride in twenty minutes from Fulton Street in Lower Manhattan to East forty second. Boy, I was a pro.
The image you see in front of your (and my) very own eyes is the paycheck I received from CCAC Allegheny Community College a few days ago - a grand total of $432.00 and some pocket change for teaching an ESL written composition class for two days a week, an hour and a half each time. I am loving it! My students are from East and West Africa, Pakistan, various provinces of India and some other areas of the world I can't remember now. The feedback has been positive and students are affable and earnest and motivated. It is a definitely refreshing break from twelve years of the Israeli classroom. As I noted recently to a friend, I keep expecting that an Israeli student will step into the classroom, raise his/her hand as in salute, then cry out my name, do something to disturb the classroom of today so deliberately so that I can't teach. They are VERY direct and verbal. It is no wonder that they have the appellation "chutzpanim" (im relating to plural of students) But none of those scenarios I've built in my head in fact happen with my students, leaving me to conclude that my cultural reality in the US is very different than what I have experienced for the last 12 years as an ESL teacher.
I also received a paycheck from the Pittsburgh BOE as a sub. I sub at least a few times a month to get to know the educational system and how things are run. I'll save my comments in the meantime to myself until I can clarify certain things. Twelve years of teaching in israel is different than a few days subbing in the US. Y'know?
So back to the paycheck issue - I am now a US taxpayer of Uncle Sam - all over again. I don't mind so long as I am learning and growing. Even in today's crazy economy, I must not be afraid. I WILL NOT succumb to fear. It is paralyzing. it's hard though not to. But the media does a damn good job of relating to it as such.
And a few updates:
1.I just joined Suzanne Lieurance's Build Your Business Write. I participated in her Working Writer's summer boot camp, and it just boosted my confidence to take my writing to a completely different level. You can hear my testimony about on the left side link of my new teacher's blog . Just scroll down a bit.
2.I've just purchased six months worth of my own domain name usaing bluehost - newteacherresourcecenter.com Yay! I'll have my own domain name which I'll be setting up probably tomorrow when I'll choose a new template "face" for the website using wordpress. My writing coach will help me organizing and setting up parts of that so I won't feel completely alone.
3. I'm also very excited with my marketing efforts until now. It has been a satisfying experience and I'm learning not to be intimidated from the technical issues that have been popping up as a result of the process. So far I've been able to successfully:
1. establish two of my own informational products including a FREE bimonthly ezine and ebook
2. post three times to my blog.
3. send already a FREE ezine to my 65 new and seasoned teachers on my mailing
4. establish a mailing list
5. network with teachers all over the world
6. submit articles to the EZine article directories thus increasing traffic to my blog
4.Today I got a nice congratulatory email accepting my personal essay "Taking Control of the Cultural Classroom," for publication. It will be published by Adams Media Company (the same company that publishes A Cup of Comfort series) in an anthology of new teacher stories in the spring.
Anyhow, I've celebrated the Jewish New Year with the birth of my new website. Let's hope the New Year rings in business!