Late Tuesday afternoon, I received a surprise e-mail from one of the producers of Colonial Williamsburg’s EFTs!
CW EFT Producer Invitation to be first Skypers on air
She had read my blog entries about how my kids have enjoyed and done activities using the EFTs.
CW wanted to allow schools to do a sort of visual show and tell over the internet for the live broadcast, using Skype.
Although they had two schools lined up for each broadcast, one for the morning and one for the afternoon one needed to cancel.
Would we be interested in filling in?
The kids could read a poem, share one of the graphic organizers, or share anything related to the EFT.
To participate, we would need to download Skype and have a webcam and microphone.
Wow! What an opportunity!
My kids were dubious
I called the kids’ to hear the e-mail.
They were dubious. “Mom, we don’t have time to put something together! We have less than two days!”
I explained that unlike the history presentations we usually do for history, they don’t have to carry the entire program.
In fact, they probably had only about a two minute slot for their presentation.
The producers know this is short notice and would not expect a masterpiece, although we do want to present a good project.
They were increasingly nervous. “But Mom, everyone will see us. The EFT airs on PBS. Everyone in America will see us.”
I laughed and said, “Who reads my blog? I’ve gotten e-mails from homeschoolers around the world, right?”
They admitted I had a good point.
Then they said they had no idea what to do. No problem.
What to present on air?
We looked through my binder of the EFT teacher packet.
Flipping through the pages, we looked for inspiration.
They wanted to do something interesting.
After flipping through the packet, I asked them, “What inspired you or interested you the most about this EFT?”
My daughter said she thought it interesting that the Cherokee women in the 18th century had political power, when British women did not. Perfect!
Then my son said he wanted to do a skit and open it by mentioning that he had seen Cherokee Indians walking down the street.
During the EFT, we learned that some of the Cherokee came to Williamsburg.
When we were at Colonial Williamsburg last weekend, for the first time ever we saw Shawnee Indians walking down the street so my son could relate to that part of the EFT.
Now we had a plan!
Writing the Rough Draft Skit
While I prepared dinner, told the kids to write up the skit, starting with a key word outline of the main points.
At the dinner table, I asked them to bring what they had written.
Hmmmm, not much. “But Mom, we did it exactly how you taught us.”
In last year’s EFT Making History Live, my kids learned how to put together a first person interpretation, using a worksheet to write down notes from research.
They had been using that worksheet and so far had only established their setting and characters for the skit.
Grabbing a pen, I told them I’d be their secretary.
Since my son mentioned opening the skit with the Cherokee who were in town, I asked him what could they have said?
Jotting down their ideas we finished in about five minutes.
18th century edits
My son replied, “Mom, the language is all wrong. You wrote everything in 21st century language when it needs to be in 18th century language.”
I explained that this is a rough draft.
That evening, he and his sister edited the skit to become 18th century.
Again they used a sheet that came from the EFT “Making History Live” that lists common phrases in the 18th century.
Printing and practicing
After I downloaded Skype, and installed the software for the webcam, typed out the skit, which now had proper 18th century language.
The next morning, I printed out 3 copies for each of us and highlighted the parts.
Then I had the kids practice their parts, while I suggested ideas for voice inflection.
I told the kids not to develop any movements, because they would need to sit down for the skit.
After analyzing all the possible locations to set up the Skype, I decided to set the kids at the dining room table.
That was the only table long enough to give them room to sit side by side and for all their notes to be spread out.
At 8:30am, the producer called and we traded usernames for Skype.
We set 2pm for rehearsal.
Also she e-mailed release forms for the kids, which I printed and filled out.
Then I drove it to a nearby shop who faxes.
By the time I had returned, CW had listed me as a contact in Skype, which I approved in Skype.
Skype Dress rehearsal with EFT Crew
At 2pm, CW EFT called us on Skype.
I clicked “Answer with video.”
The crew can’t hear us
We saw the student hosts! They saw us! We heard the crew! They could not hear us! Oh no!
They assured me that is what rehearsal is for.
They tried to talk me through what to do and told me to use the chat.
I saw the chat feature before the video phone call, but now that the video of the student hosts was working, I couldn’t see the chat.
The crew was extremely nice and patient.
They seem to do a good job reading lips, as I talked out the problems that they couldn’t hear.
My son started writing notes to show the camera which made them laugh.
I clicked all the little tabs at the top but couldn’t find chat.
Finally I noticed some icons underneath the video in the same color as the background.
I clicked on the one my son thought was a chat, and there was the chat.
I typed, “Help!” and they laughed! Now we could communicate.
They had been telling me that our microphone must be set to mute.
I typed in that we had a microphone built into the camera and in the settings, it was not set to mute.
They told me to open “Preferences.”
I could not find that anywhere. I clicked on everything. Nothing.
I did find “Options” so I clicked on that. All of the audio settings looked good so I typed that to them.
Then I noticed a device that looked unfamiliar.
I clicked the little arrow to the right and underneath was listed the device (webcam).
Selecting the one we had purchased, I lost the video and audio of CW.
I typed that into the chat, so they called us back, which I answered the call with the video.
Unmute Button Discovered
We saw the student hosts! They saw us! We heard the crew! They heard us!
“Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,” my daughter and I cheered. (We should have yelled “Huzzah!”)
Everyone laughed. My son told me to calm down. Oh, it was such a relief to conquer the audio!
I switched places with the kids.
They were told to wave after their skit.
Inspiration added in to their two minute segment
Then they were asked what inspired them to do this topic.
That took them by surprise, but my daughter gave an excellent answer.
The director told the kids to add that in before the skit.
That sort of confused them, so the director suggested that the student hosts could ask after the skit.
That became the plan.
The live broadcast would be the next morning at 10am Eastern time.
CW EFT would call us on Skype ten minutes before.
Here they are acting like they did during the rehearsal after CW EFT hung up…
Trimming the skit to two minutes
Later an e-mail arrived, suggesting we trim the skit to allot for the question on how the kids were inspired and keep everything to two minutes.
We were asked to trim the part my son suggested about Cherokee justice and keep the focus on Cherokee women’s involvement in government.
Although I had tried to talk my son into doing this very thing the night before, he insisted on keeping it.
When he heard what the producer and director had asked, he was in complete agreement.
He had to admit it was difficult to cram so much information into a few sentences.
Now the skit flowed much better!
Jitters before going on air
The next morning the kids put on their costumes.
My daughter, increasingly nervous about answering the question about what inspired her, dragged out her answer in a confused way.
I told her to write down her answer and that took care of the nervousness. She kept her answer next to the script to refer to when needed.
At ten minutes to ten, CW EFT called us on Skype. This time all was good except we couldn’t see the student hosts.
They hung up and called us again. Now we could see them.
Then they put the kids on pause during the beginning of the program.
Meanwhile, I had the television on, yet on mute, so it wouldn’t interfere with anything.
Standing between the family room and dining room, I told the kids what part of the broadcast was playing.
I knew they were going nuts not knowing what was going on.
A few minutes before they went on, the crew activated things, except now we couldn’t see the hosts anymore.
So they hung up again and called us back. Everything was good now.
Live with CW EFT Skype on PBS across America
After the students hosts announced the new Skype feature, they introduced my kids.
My kids waved as requested.
Then the camera went back to the hosts and the actor/interpreters and historian answering a few questions from students from across the country via phone call, e-mail, and video.
After the question and answer segment, the student hosts introduced my kids, who then presented their skit.
Reading their skit about Cherokee women’s involvement in government within their tribes in the 18th century, they waved at the end as directed.
Then one of the hosts asked them what inspired them to present this topic.
My kids gave their answer. Finis!
As the show moved on, behind the scenes the crew told my kids they were the first ever CW EFT Skypers!
That didn’t really sink in until he told us. That was truly an honor!
