Assignment Question
For this assignment, you will create what is called a Digital Essay using presentation software such as PowerPoint, Google Slides, Prezi, or Zoom (see videos below on how to use each of these programs). Like a text-based essay, this digital essay will need to include an Introduction, a Body, and a Conclusion, but you may use multimedia (text, images, audio, video, etc.) to create these parts of the essay. Your digital essay must answer the question: “How do stories and legends connect us to our history, relate to our present, and help shape our future?”
You should use local stories or legends to help prove your point in this essay. Using the strategies that we’ve studied in this unit, create a digital presentation on a local legend, piece of history, or a local, place-based memory of the area. Be creative. Your essay should be presented in a digital format – this can be slides like PowerPoint or Google Slides, an animation, or even a video diary – if you use Slides, you should prepare about 15 slides, and videos should be 3-5 minutes long.
Potential Ideas for an Essay: Note: For any of you who have played Fallout:76 – some of these stories might be familiar to you. The Pennsylvania Dutch Hex Signs: From the website “While artists and barn owners alike see the stars as alternately “decorative,” “representative,” “symbolic,” or all of the above, very few resist the idea that the star patterns have represented many different things throughout the generations. Just as humans throughout the ages have projected countless interpretations upon the orderly movements of the celestial sphere, so too have the artistic renderings of these celestial bodies on Pennsylvania barns been the subject of a wide variety of interpretations, theories, and organizing principles.” The Pennsylvania Dutch Hex signs are a famous symbol in the local area. This article explains some of the origins of the famous hex signs.
The Snallygaster, or The South Mountain Monster: The South Mountains of Maryland and West Virginia are the reputed home a flying monster. The Middletown Valley Register reported that a flying monster had been spotted throughout the South Mountains of Maryland at several points in history. The story became so large that Theodore Roosevelt, the President at the time, said that he was coming to Maryland to hunt the monster himself. The Snarly Yow: This is a large black dog that roams the South Mountain. The idea of the black dog as metaphor is likely a tradition taken from Welsh and British folklore that was brought to the area by early settlers. You may have seen this metaphor used in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, though the black dog trope is common throughout European story and literature. Priest’s Field, or Wizard’s Clip, West Virginia: Local miracle, or made up story? You decide. The story of Priest’s field is a discussion of supernatural and what some call the miraculous events that happened in Middleway, West Virginia in the late 1700s. Local signage in the area documents the events that happened at Priest’s Field, which is the site of a religious retreat and sanctuary to this day. Your digital essay should: Have a serious and intellectual tone Follow the conventions of MLA format – in this case, that means you should cite your work. Include cited information from your chosen sources (see below) as well as your own thoughts and ideas Be spell-checked, revised, and edited Include a Works Cited slide consisting of at least 3 sources. One of these sources must be the Snallygaster book you were given; the other two sources may come from the list of resources below or from your own research (including any family or community stories you’d like to share)
Add a slide including a personal author biography – the grant team would like to use examples of these projects as examples of digital assignments.
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