Tecumseh
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/
