Selling Shoes Haiku

I love selling shoes
but some ladies drive me nuts
Just a waste of time!

Don't know what they want
and all shoes make their feet hurt
I have to be patient!



I wrote this Haiku about selling shoes because I had a really busy and stressful week at my job. I really like being an assistant manager at a women's shoe store, but some customers are really anoying. Some try on a million pairs of shoes and do not purchase anything! This is the first time I hear about Haikus, and I learned that they belong to the japanese tradition. I think they are short and fun to write, and it is an original way to express my thoughts and feelings.

This exercise helped me learn more about counting syllables, and I even had to look up the rules. It is a great way to apply the rules of dividing words into syllables. This can be used in an English grammar class; students would be able to apply in a fun way what they are being taught.
At the same time, they can use their creativity to come up with a short poem. So, they are developing different skills such as applying what they learn, being creative, and learning about japanese poetry.

Group 3's Public Education for Martians

1. What are our schools like, and how did they get that way? Schools in the United States go for 12 years, and schooling is mandatory until the age of16. There are many different types of schools: public, private, home schooling, among others. Our puclic schools teach students to be democratic citizens and mature individuals in a democratic society. Schools were founded by immigrants, based on religion at first. Then Protestants made changes in public schools and they separated church and education. Schools are funded mostly by the state and local taxes. According to the Public EducationPrimer, 9% comes from the federal government, and 43% comes from local sources (more than three-fourths of this local share derived from local property taxes). Our schools offer free and reduced lunch for families that are below the poverty level, and other services such as social workers, psychologists, speech therapists, and after-school care programs, depending on schools funding. Schools are improving, and now schools have counselors that a family may not be able to afford by itself.

2. Who are our students? Our students can range from ages 3 to 19 years old. They come from all types of socio-economic, racial and ethnic backgrounds. Our foreign students have a chance to learn the English language in the form of classes, for example ESL (English as a second language). According to the Public Education Primer on page 25, scores on college entrance exams have increased modestly, in case of the SAT, or held steady, in case ofthe ACT. We are progressively getting better scores.

3. Who are our teachers?Almost half of all public school teachers have advanced degrees, and the majority have more than 10 years experience. The United States requires that all teachers have a degree in the area of their concentration. The majority of our teachers are women (8 out of 10). Our teachers try their best to help the students as best as they can, and they are very dedicated to their work. Our teachers try to prepare students for life after grade school by exercising their students’ creative and critical thinking skills.

The public Education Primer

This is the first time I am trying blogging, so I am not sure if I am doing this right, but if it is space where I can express my ideas it is probably really helpful.
The most interesting thing I found in the reading is that almost all the industrialized countries have a national curriculum and a national exam to exit high school. I think we should have a national high school exam because it would make it easier for the government and the Department of Education to do an assessment of all the school districts in the country. That would help the government identify specific problems, and work to find solutions.