April Tech Tip - Memes in the classroom

Memes in the Classroom

Memes (pronounced meemz) are an image with a brief, bold caption overlaid on the image. They are incredibly popular on social media these days. Our students, especially at the secondary level, are likely looking at and sharing several memes each day.  I myself see them everywhere, and one day when I was on Pinterest, I saw a post about using them in the classroom to share classroom rules.  I did some digging and found several that I put together in a Google Slides presentation.  I use this at the beginning of each course to go over classroom rules and expectations with my students in a fun, engaging manner.

I use this one to discuss the materials
they are expected to bring to class.

This one is a favorite of mine, but the
kids are usually too young to get it!

They were a huge hit, which made me wonder how else they could be used in the classroom.

Here are my favorites takeaways from the ISTE blog post 5 ways to use memes with students:

1. Thinking Prompt/Ice Breaker: You could project a meme (related to something you will be learning about or discussing) as the students walk into the classroom.  They could write about it or discuss it with their classmates.

2. Creating Memes: Student can use a meme-creation tool online to make an original meme.  Miss Sealock has her English 12 students create their own memes as a project in class.  In the ISTE blog post, the author go in depth about this specific activity and how she used it in her math class.

3. Vocabulary: Students to create a meme to define a new vocabulary term.