pm_michael

I believe that the textbook left out way too much information about Tecumseh, and only give a brief description of him.  He was a very smart man and an excellent leader.  He gathered warriors from tribes all around the continent to make a resistance force against the Americans who came to take their land.  Tecumseh’s confederacy allied with the British forces and helped take over Fort Detroit.  Without his determination to defend his country, many things could have been different in history.  The textbook gives good information and detail about what they have written about him, but it barely gives any information about him and how important he was in history.    If I could change the textbook, I would add details about battles that he fought in, and what he did to help the indians win them.  I would also add background information about him like where he was born, where he died, when he died, or what he used as weapons.  One part in the book is a quote from Tecumseh.  If I could, I would translate the passage into normal, everyday language that the readers would be able to understand.  I think that all of that would be good information to attract the reading of middle school students.  I would also include more pictures of Tecumseh and his confederacy of Indians.  Pictures are always a good way to attract the eye of a kid.  They also give the reader a better idea and picture in their head of what happened.

Some picture that I think would be interesting are:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cindyfunk/3722735062/sizes/m/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mr_t_in_dc/1317275470/sizes/m/

My great great great grandfather, Jones Lendall Haskell, enlisted in Company L, 31st Maine Infantry Regiment on October 4th, 1864.  He was 15 years of age and was made a drummer boy.  During the winter of 1864/65, his Regiment had been garrisoned at Fort Davis in Petersburg, Virginia.  He found himself in a group of tested veterans and was involved in some of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War.  In late March 1865, General Grant launched his campaign to take Petersburg.  The 31st Maine lost 75 men and the whole Brigade lost 421 men who were killed or wounded.  It was very likely that it was at this battle in which Jones received the injuries which resulted in the scars that remained with him for the rest of his life.  He was stabbed in the back from behind with a sword which exited the front of his abdomen.  President Lincoln visited the field hospital where the wounded from this battle were sent and shook hands with each soldier.  My great great great grandfather Jones Lendall Haskell must have been one of those.

I think that leaders don’t make history, but history makes great leaders.  This is because some people are leaders, but they can only lead at certain things that they are good at.  If there was no opportunity for them to be a leader, then they wouldn’t be leader and wouldn’t have made history.  Also, some people weren’t considered leaders until after they died.  To me, history always makes leaders.  For example:  Lebron James is an amazing leader on the basketball court.  But if way back long ago people didn’t invent basketball, he would just be an ordinary guy and wouldn’t be a famous basketball beast.  That is an example of history making leaders.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dgaproductions/5383377590/sizes/m/

I believe that Aaron Rodgers is a leader.  He is strong, smart and brave.  He led the Green Bay Packers to super bowl XLV this year in 2011.  He was smart enough to call the right plays and make right moves to succeed this year.  He drove his team to a victory against a tough rival Bears team and are taking on the Steelers for the NFL title.  I believe that Aaron Rodgers will lead the Packers to a victory against the Steelers to win the title.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/insertname/2478424045/sizes/m/

This project was a lot of fun, but challenging at times.  It was a very good idea to auction them and give the money to charity.   The problem was that my group took a long time to come up with a story that was worth using.  The one thing that I would change about the project is that I would give the students more time because my group really struggled with that.  I learned a lot about George Washington‘s Farewell Address and how he didn’t write it by himself.  He wrote it with the help of James Madison and Alexander Hamilton.  I also learned that he didn’t give a speech about it, he just published it in the newspaper and had everyone of America read it.  I think that you should do this project in the future because it was a good learning experience for me and I think it will be for may other students.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nostri-imago/3498221514/sizes/m/

To me, a good leader has courage, strength, bravery, is aggressive and is smart all at the same time.  This lets them have the ability to act quickly on important opportunities, but also has the ability to think before they do.  I believe that good leaders are born good leaders.  It’s part of your genes.  Growing up a certain way helps you on your way but u can’t just become a good leader without having the right characteristics.  One time, i had to step to be a leader because we were doing a group project and nobody knew what to do and no one was doing any work so I had to step up and tell everyone what to do and how to do it.  One time I followed a leader was when I was drafted onto a new baseball team when I was 10.  The oldest kids on the team were 12 and they were a lot better then me and I looked up to them.  So they helped me understand the game and told me how to do things and where to go.  Everyone can be a leader, but at different things.  One person might be a leader on a sports team and one may be a leader in a business.  Sometimes I’m a leader, but it depends on what I’m doing.  My strongest ability to be a leader is in school and sports.  If you don’t consider yourself a leader, the only thing standing in your way is yourself.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/keithallison/2312086930/sizes/m/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31030836@N02/5323379249/sizes/m/in/set-72157625620417867/

This is a picture of a stuffed spiderman that I got when I was two years old.  When I was young, me and the rest of my whole family would go to my dads great aunts house for Palm Sunday, and go to the parade in town.  It was a lot of fun back then when we was young.  So when I was two, I kept begging for them to buy me this toy and they wouldn’t.  But my great great aunt just loved kids and loved making them happy so she decided to buy this stuffed superhero for me.  This is one of those childhood memories that you just can’t forget.  A couple of years later, she passed away.  I still have this possession to remember her when she was alive.

This is a four day weekend break we get from school for Martin Luther King weekend.  My family and I go to our cottage in Vermont and stay there for the weekend.  We go snowmobiling and skiing most of the time.  Occasionally we sled down a huge hill across the street.  We all have a lot of fun because all of our cousins come too so we have a lot of people to hang out with.  Also, we eat a lot of good food because all of the people in my family are good cooks and we go out to eat a lot on vacations.  Although, not all of the fun is when we ski and snowmobile, we have a lot of fun in the house together.  We play games and  talk about interesting and funny topics.  I always have an amazing time with my family and look forward to this vacation every year.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/powderquest/4526413855/sizes/m/

What would happen if i wasn’t on team 8-2 and didn’t have my social studies teacher anymore?  If I wasn’t in his class, I would have to learn a bunch of pointless stuff about world history that nobody needs to know to have a successful life as an adult.  I wouldn’t learn any real life scenarios that will help me later in life.  I would be bored.  I would still think inside of the box.  I wouldn’t be able to express my opinion and stories to the whole world.  If I wasn’t on this team, I wouldn’t know how far my mind could travel, what I could accomplish.  It would be a terrible thing to miss out on his social studies class.

There is a tale about George Washington that says when he was a boy he cut down his fathers cherry and confessed straight out when his dad asked who did it.  I don’t believe this story because there isn’t enough proof behind it backing it up.  I actually figured out that an author named Mr. Weems wrote a book about it when his carer was in desperate need of it.  If you don’t believe me, here is a link that is reliable and it also has multiple links at the bottom of the page so you can look at those too.

http://www.suite101.com/content/washingtonscherrytree-a954

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chealion/2869039769/sizes/m/