Backround:

-White settlers expanded rapidly to present-day Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin.

-Indian villages were burned by militiamen, so the Indians had no choice but to fight.

Tecumseh:

Textbook Facts summarized:

-British tried to stop US expansion, helped Indians fight US. Indians were angry about losing 2/3 of Ohio.

-Tecumseh warned tribes about the danger of the settlers.

-Dream was to unite all Indian tribes west of the Appalachian Mountains.

-1810: Tecumseh informed Harrison that they were angry about the treaty that made the Indians lose 2/3 of Ohio.

-1811: Tecumseh met Harrison and they got into a big argument.

-Tecumseh left to ask the Creeks to join the confederation.

-Harrison attacked and they won the Battle of Tippecanoe.

-1814: Tecumseh dies in Battle of the Thames

Articles on Internet about Tecumseh summarized:

Tecumseh

-Born March 9, 1768 in Shawnee Tribe (Ohio), named “Shooting Star” because as he was born, a meteor went across the sky.

-Trained to be a warrior by older brother

-When 14, Tecumseh ran away from a battle. Was ashamed and was determined to become a braver warrior.

-1789: Washington tried to negotiate, but Indians wanted no less than for the “white people” to leave Indian land.

-1790: Battle at Fort Wayne, Indiana resulted in US: 918 men lost Indians: 61 casualties

-1791: Became Shawnee leader, led battle in 1791 and won. Gained trust and admiration.

-1794: US decides to get better equipped force, spends $1 million

1794: Lost in Battle of Fallen Timbers (Tecumseh was in it), Indians were forced to give 2/3 of land.

-Early 1800′s: Tecumseh  organized Indian tribes west of the Appalachian Mountains. Organized most tribes.

-1811: Tecumseh was off organizing tribes. Told the Creek that there would be signs of power. That day, there was a comet that flew across the sky and several earthquakes hit southern Missouri. Gave orders to brother, The Prophet, to not attack. William Harrison took advantage of situation and attacked.

-Brother had vision from “The Master of Life” to attack the “white people”. “The Master of Life” said that the American bullets wouldn’t harm the Indians.

-The Master of Life was wrong. The Battle of Tippecanoe was won by William Harrison.

-1812: The US was in war with England and the Indians were allied with the British.

-1813: In The Battle of the Thames, Tecumseh was killed and it symbolized the end of the Indians fighting against the white people.

http://www.nps.gov/archive/pevi/html/tecumseh.html

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=373

Which do you think is more interesting? It’ pretty obvious that the internet includes more juicy details about Tecumseh, like the origin of his name. The textbook gives all the dates and events, but briefly tells about them in a boring fashion. They could’ve included visions that “The Prophet” had, leading to the Indian defeat, or other details like that. The most interesting thing I read about was “The Prophet” having a vision that the US bullets wouldn’t wound the Indians. The vision was, in internet slang, an “epic fail” and the Indians lost the battle. If the textbook included this little detail, I certainly would have stopped and thought actively about the text.

Another detail is Tecumseh’s vision. Tecumseh told the Creek that he had foreseen visions of great power. That very day, there was a comet and several earthquakes. It’s very coincidental and interesting.

The book could’ve also mentioned the origin of Tecumseh. When the average kid reads what’s in the textbook, they think “Oh, some Indian dude who was fighting against the US. Boring.” If the textbook included facts about Tecumseh’s childhood, it would’ve been much more interesting. For example, the article mentions that Tecumseh was given the name “Shooting Star” because when he was born, a meteor flew across the sky. This is interesting to most people because it’s also a coincidence.

I also would’ve included more visual pictures like the following:

http://www.nps.gov/archive/pevi/html/tecumseh.html

This picture shows what Tecumseh looks like. I think it would be a huge benefit to the textbook because it shows how fierce, brave, and determined Tecumseh was.

In the textbook, there is no picture of the Northwest Territory, which was the land which the US was trying to get from the Indians. This picture shows just how big the territory is.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yAbHLt6zUIE/TNbeIgagS9I/AAAAAAAADBM/nEoLlWohYXU/s1600/Northwest-territory-usa-1787.png

To sum it up, our textbook really needs some work. It doesn’t have many meaningful pictures, only boring facts. The textbook doesn’t include all the juicy info about Tecumseh. What do you guys think about textbooks?

http://www.ric.edu/faculty/rpotter/smithpeck.html

Annie Smith Peck was a mountain climber in the 1800′s. She was the first person, male or female, to climb Mount Huascaran, a Peruvian mountain that is over 22,000 feet high. The 1800′s were a time of women’s rights and slave’s rights. Annie Smith Peck had to compete with several men, but on her sixth try, she climbed to the top of the mountain.  At the time, mountain climbing wasn’t as easy as it was now. Equipment was very expensive. She wasn’t exactly rich and had to make her own climbing shoes! This was only one of her many climbs. Her last climb was Mountain Madison (over 5000 feet) in New Hampshire when she was EIGHTY-TWO years-old. I have no clue how she could do that, all I know is that when I’m eighty-two, I’ll be sleeping in my house. Round of applause for this extraordinary 1800′s woman!

One leader is Martin Luther King. He was:

1. Smart

2. Passionate

3. Persuasive

Martin Luther King was a very smart man. He went to college at a very young age and skipped grades. This helped him be a leader because it showed people that they weren’t following someone who didn’t know what they were talking about.

Martin Luther King was also very passionate about segregation. This drove him on to chase his goal of ending segregation.

He was also very persuasive. Martin Luther King made people follow him and agree with his ideas. Without his persuasion, not as many people would have followed him. Segregation might’ve still existed today without his persuasive powers.

A quote: Do great leaders make history, or does history make great leaders?

I believe great leaders make history. In history, great leaders make decisions. This can be to war another country, explore new lands, etc. Something has to massively happen with a lot of people effected. You need a leader to make history because leaders influence a great amount of people.

The watch

Leaders are very important to the world. If there were no leaders and we were all followers, who would lead us? Nothing would get accomplished.

Leaders should be intelligent and know how to deal with people. If they’re smart, they’ll know what to do. If they know how to deal with people, people will want to follow you. For example, take any President. They always come from great colleges, so they’re intelligent. Also, they have to be able to be liked for votes.

I believe leaders are made. When you’re growing up, you can either slack off or work hard. This will determine your intelligence. When you go to school, you can either be a leader of a follower. It’s not something that you’re born with. It’s something you develop.

Last year, I worked on a Social Studies project with some friends on my team. We were assigned roles. I was leader, one person was artist, another person was writer, and there were two helpers. My job was to make sure everyone worked efficiently and to put together the project. I was the leader.

Once, during a summer program,  we played a cooperative game. Five teams had to race and put a puzzle together the quickest. There was someone on my team who was really good at puzzles, so we voted him as our leader. I was a follower.

Not everyone can be a leader. If someone has a bad temper, no one would want to work with them. If someone didn’t know what they were doing, no one would listen to them.  Leaders have to be made.

I don’t think of myself as a great leader. A lot of the time, I get too nervous and rush things, and get things wrong. I’m not a terrible leader, but I could be better. My strongest ability as a leader is probably my knowledge. I get pretty good grades at school, so I tend to know some things other people don’t.

My overcompetitiveness is standing in the way of being a  leader. Sometimes, I can get mad at people if they do things wrong. If I could overcome that part of my personality, I would be a better leader.

Do you consider yourself a leader?

(Edited with BeFunky)

When I was in 3rd grade, I was in ESL, a class for people that supposedly spoke English as a second language. At the time, I had a higher vocabulary than most of my classmates, had no accent, and had already learned English from preschool, although it was my second language after Chinese (I had forgotten all of my Chinese anyways). My good friend Alvee was in ESL too. Anyways, in 3rd grade, we went on a field trip for ESL.

Our ESL class went on a field trip to a swamp habitat place in Milford. We studied wildlife there and had a lot of fun. Anyways, there was a gift shop there. In it, I found something really cool. There was a pencil made of wood. Well, all pencils are obviously made of wood, but this pencil was lead jammed into a twig/small tree trunk. It was only a dollar, so I decided to buy it. I put it in the pocket of my jacket. Afterwards, we went to one of our ESL sister schools. We were going to each lunch there, then head back to school.

When we got to the school, I had to use the bathroom. All my friends got their lunches from a big box that had all the brown paper bags in it. I came out of the bathroom and there was just one bag left. I took it, thinking it was mine. I hurried outside so I could join all my friends while eating. As soon as I opened my lunchbag, I noticed I had Kool-Aid. I thought my mom bought CapriSun, not Kool-Aid, so I had some doubt. Then, I saw the sandwich. It looked just like the one I had packed. I unzipped the sandwich from the bag and took a bite.

I’m allergic to peanuts. I have been since I was 5. Whenever I eat them, I throw up. Every time I ate them during my childhood, my allergic reactions would get worse and worse. Eventually, I would throw up and my lips would swell and my breathing would get harder. I’m still allergic to peanuts today although I’m much more cautious and haven’t eaten them for a while. Needless to say, the lunch bag wasn’t mine and I took a bite of a peanut butter and jelly fluff sandwich.

My teacher immediately called 911. The ambulance came within 10 minutes. After I threw up, I felt fine and the only thing that troubled me was my breathing. It felt like I couldn’t get enough air at times. I was very scared. When the ambulance came, paramedics immediately got out and put me in a stretcher. I told them I could walk, but they made me lie down in it anyways. During the ride to the hospital, I noticed I still had my souvenir pencil in my pocket. It was comforting because it gave me something to concentrate on while the paramedic stabbed a huge needle into my arm. If I didn’t, I would be a lot more fearful. Finally, we arrived at the hospital.

At the hospital, things were a blur. I was fine after the paramedic gave me a shot, so I basically stayed in the hospital while my ESL teacher ran into the hospital, panicked. In 10 minutes, I was out of the hospital and the bus was waiting for me outside. My tuna fish sandwich that I originally was supposed to eat was offered to me by the person that accidentally took it. When tuna gets warm, it isn’t very appetizing. Besides, I was still traumatized by the incident. We went back to my school, answering questions the whole way.

The pencil is still in my room today. I haven’t even written more than a few words with it and have never sharpened it. Occasionally, I peek into my drawer to look at it and admire it’s craft. I wonder how the lead was somehow put into the pencil. More than anything, I think about what happened to me in 3rd grade. I think about the fear, the comfort of its texture in my hand, and the memories it brings. If I were to lose my pencil, I could easily replace it but it wouldn’t be the same. The pencil has a lot of sentimental value and you can’t buy that. When I grow up, I might pass it down to my children if it doesn’t decay. I’ll share the story it contains and I hope it becomes a family heirloom. This pencil is one of the most valuable objects I own.

My parents got me the iPhone 78, which I’ve been asking for for ages! It has a new 2160p 4D camera. When you play back the video in your eyepiece, it’s like the people are right there. I recently searched “old phones” on the internet and saw that 1402 years ago, the iPhone 4 was released and it was complete garbage! Only 64GB of memory? That’s not enough to put the simplest application on my phone!

The best gift I got was probably the car I got. I’m 16 now, and that means I can get my hover-car license. Look at the car I got!

http://goo.gl/xWB4W

I know, it’s a clunky 3400 Camry, but I’m still happy. At least I don’t need a ride to the movies now!

There wasn’t much to Christmas after I had unwrapped my presents. My parents were hosting some lame party and they’re history junkies. They were even serving some ancient food called a sandwich! What’s the point of eating for the flavor in food when you can get a whole day’s nutrition from One-A-Day Teens vitamins and just chew pizza-flavored-gum? Also, they bought a huge slurpie-mixer and crushed tons of ice to make something called snow cover our air-yard. Apparently, back then, it was cold enough to have this “snow” stuff fall instead of acid rain. Speaking of acid rain, I heard there was very little back then! People didn’t even have to filter their air and wear thermal vests to protect themselves from flesh-burning chemicals and the 400 degrees weather from global warming!

Today, I pondered so much about the past. Sometimes, I dream of what it would be like to live back then, where there was land just for strolling on and a house on the ground wasn’t a luxury thing. It’s a good thing the time machine is going to be available to everyone next winter!

An old ship, the Congress(1799)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USSCongress.png

This was a ship built to fight pirates, mostly Algiers. They were hijacking merchant vessels going to Europe and other countries. This ship was the first one to go to China and fought in the War of 1812, capturing around 20 British ships with another ship, called the President. Since its dimensions weren’t right, it had 38 cannons instead of the 36 it was supposed to have. The Congress was called a frigate, which is a type of ship, so it’s only fair to compare it to a modern frigate.

The USS Stark (1984)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41675580@N08/4858039779/sizes/m/

This is a modern frigate. It’s seen here after being hit by 2 missiles, so it’s extremely strong and sturdy. Old ships like the Congress could probably take no more than 2  cannons before burning down. Modern frigates are made to be cost effective, so it’s not the best ship out there, but it’s much more high-tech than the Congress. They offer short-range defense mainly against submarines. However, the missiles they shoot are guided, and they can track down submarines and other ships. If the US had a ship capable of firing guided missiles during the War of 1812, it would’ve been called the War of 1812, it would have been the Massacre of 1812.

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Many people have heard the story of George Washington and the cherry tree. George Washington got a new hatchet as a boy, and chopped his dad’s favorite cherry tree down. When his dad asked him if he did it, he said “I cannot tell a lie, father, you know I cannot tell a lie! I did cut it with my little hatchet.”

Although this is probably one of the most popular stories told kids when learning about him, it isn’t true. This story was invented by Washington’s biographer, Mason Weems to show his honesty. Although Washington was one honest guy, the story of his honesty isn’t honest. Ironic.

Image sources: Cherry tree: http://goo.gl/hYsHn

George Washington: http://goo.gl/ISmNF

Hatchet: http://goo.gl/m5lTT