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The Story of Silence, that is the name of the website I have created. When I was in Italy, my aunt Concetta and Jo helped in creating the name. The site is now up. I must say I am pretty impressed that I actually created a website on my own. Yes, it’s not the most difficult of tasks especially because all these hosts are so user friendly. Yet, without this time that has been granted, I would not have been able to do this…thank you, OPRFHS! The site is not 100% finished (not sure if it really will be…I see so many things that can be added…process, all a process). I still will be uploading some lesson plans and eventually adding more stories with hopes others will do the same…I like the idea of a shared site where others can contribute their ideas…I had mentioned in an early log that I would like teachers to add their own lesson plans. I think it would be fascinating to see how students react to this site, how they see it, what they want to learn from it, and maybe they [students] can contribute their own ‘lesson plans’—what do they want to learn from these women and their stories?

I finished the last of the video/oral recordings—Monique’s story. In the midst of editing, I packed, moved all my belongings into storage, and closed on my home. I will be purchasing another home soon and temporarily living in Evanston, Illinois. I was a bit stressed and I have heard that moving is one of the most stressful experiences in your lifetime
yet that puts a smile on my face. I try to put it all into perspective. I remember these women’s stories and it put a smile on my face. Yes, I was a bit stressed but then I remember these stories and I wonder about stress—how relative. I felt a little silly and it calmed my stress--a smile :)
I have also been thinking about the lesson plans I had been working on and I am now not sure if I will be putting them all onto the site. I like the idea of putting a lesson plan on how to go about creating your own Oral History project using my sabbatical and the application process as a template. I was thinking how to bring more people together onto the site not just via the story but ideas too. It would be fascinating to have other teachers upload their lessons based on the video/oral histories on the site and others can share not only their stories but their ideas as well…

I will be moving in a couple of days and have been a bit preoccupied with all that comes with moving. Once the move happens, I will be finishing the last of the oral recordings—Monique. This has taken a bit longer than expected due to the language. It’s in French and I will be relying on my comrade to help me out—she’s the French speaker and Monique’s granddaughter. I hope to have this finished by next week. I will slowly be editing the website and adding the lesson plans I am currently working on…I hope to have it all done soon. I am planning on interviewing more women and adding them to the website with hopes the site will grow with others help. I would love to have others add their stories onto the site where there will be a wide variety of stories/oral recordings and teachers can use them in their classrooms.

I have been designing a main lesson plan for the oral history project using the process of my own sabbatical as an inspiration/outline. I am in the drafting stages. I am also drafting some other lesson plans I or other teachers can use with the videos I created for the project. In the mist of all of this, I am packing. I sold my condo and will be moving soon. Busy. Very busy—I feel fortunate to have this time. Time--very precious indeed.

Anna C.

Instructor of Italian language and culture at OPRFHS

**Throughout the logs, highlighted and underlined in yellow are links that will lead you to resources about Italy, WW2, and many other miscellaneous topics that may help you utilized the site in a more effective way**

sabbatical logs

sabbatical logs

sabbatical logs

sabbatical logs

Anna C.

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