Great Books Digital Media Receives the Best Oscar Around

Mike Elsey, director of digital media, was excited to attend the Celebration of Learning at Chicago’s Prescott Magnet Cluster School, but he had no idea he would return to the office with an Oscar. Mike was invited because he and the Great Books digital media team, Bill Siegel and Josh Sniegowski have a special bond with Prescott students—they filmed Shared Inquiry™ and classroom activities that provided the material for 12 “How To” videos for the new Junior Great Books Series 3-5.

“We’re so grateful to Prescott 3–5 grade students, teachers, and principal Erin Roche for letting us film at Prescott,” says Elsey. “They’re helping us show the world how Junior Great Books and Shared Inquiry work in the classroom.”

After watching students give presentations on what they learned during the first few months of school, Mike took the stage to thank students for participating in the hours of filming and to play clips of the final videos. Students cheered and clapped as they watched themselves on the big screen. When Mike turned to exit the stage, principal Roche told him to wait and students Alex and Kiyah came out from behind the curtain to present him with a paper mache Oscar and a card that read “Thank you for making us reading stars.” The Oscar is now displayed in our Chicago office and we feel as honored as we would be if it were gold.