Jews Across the Americas introduces students to Jewish communities from a wide range of countries and cities. StoryMaps are an important way that students can research one of those communities, get a better sense of the spatial layout of the community and share information with their peers. This assignment can either be done in lieu of a short paper is people work in groups (of 5-6 people) and divide up the locations, or in lieu of a larger research paper if each person does their own map and they research all the locations. If you are doing this as a class assignment, you may want to ask students to pick a city from a list you have created.
Learning Goals:
- Understand how to do correct parenthetical attribution of non-common knowledge information to sources (MLA format)
- Understand how to create complete citations at end of entry in Works Cited (MLA format)
- Understand how to find and cite primary and secondary sources
- Understand what makes an online source reputable
- Visually display and narrate information about a historic Jewish community or a fictional Jewish community as depicted in a novel
Step 1: Pick a Location, Era, and Map
Chose a historical map of a location you wish to study for an era in which Jews lived in that location. One of the best sources for these maps are either the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection or the Library of Congress Map Collection. Download a high resolution copy and then place it in a google drive for later. Also make sure you keep an easy link to the original page so you have the attribution information for later.
Step 2: Choose Locations or Objects
Using the entries in Jews Across the Americas that cover that place and the Further Resources for those entries, compile a list of 15-20 locations you wish to include on your map that were significant for Jews. Alternatively you may want to start with objects or texts and then map the places that they mention or where they are from.
For each location, write a 500 word max. entry for each of the locations explaining the significance of the location. Your entry should include:
- Correct parenthetical attribution of non-common knowledge information to sources (MLA format)
- Complete citations at end of entry in Works Cited (MLA format)
- Reference to at least one scholarly article and book chapter per location.
- Incorporate at least one historical image into the entry with captions that include citations for sources, and link to 1-2 other images. Looking for options for where to get images? Check out the JAA Archive, as well as the Jewish Atlantic World Archive, the Loeb Portrait Database, and the AJHS archive.
- Connections to at least one entry in Jews Across the Americas
- 2-3 hyperlinks to reputable online resources where people can get more information.
Step 3: Create Your StoryMap
Go to https://storymap.knightlab.com/ click on “create a storymap” and sign in with your google account.
Title your map with the name of the community you wish to document.
In order to change the background image on which your places will appear, go to OPTIONS in the upper left. Click on “Map Type” and select “Custom.” You can now upload the historical map that you found using the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection or the Library of Congress Map Collection. For both of these options you will want to use the url from the map you placed in your google drive, but make sure you include the attribution information from the original image.
Upload your “cover image.” This can be an image that you particularly like that reflects the general theme of your map OR the historical map that you found using the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection or the Library of Congress Map Collection. The “Headline” is the title for your project. Make sure you include a description of what the story is that the map tells and why you made it.
Now upload each of your places and the information about them slide by slide.
If your places are not in the correct order, you can reorder the slides.
When it is the way that you want, click on the share button in the upper right in order to get a link or embed code.
Need more help or are a visual learner? Check out this tutorial!
Want even more help? Grant Wilson has a wonderful three-part series on StoryMapJS (one, two, three).