3/26/22
Who doesn't love a good meme? They are quick, visually appealing and humorous. Using meme projects in my classroom is one way I meet students where they are at. Many students are familiar with and enjoy a good meme. I've had students send me memes via email, use memes as their desktop background and print memes in an attempt to use them on posters for reports. Instead of turning this into a battle; me vs. the meme, I chose to embrace the trend and meet my students where they were at.
While planning my first Meme Me lesson, I realized that this was the perfect time to discuss different forms of humor we often find in literature. I also decided this would open us up to a very authentic and necessary conversation about formal vs. informal communication and the appropriate time and place for each (remember the using meme's on posters for a report problem?). I wanted students to have 'Meme Me' as a project option throughout the year, but before teaching them how to make a meme, I wanted them to have a deeper understanding of memes and their purpose. As a result, I developed an introduction to Meme's lesson I teach every September.
1. To begin the lesson, I share 3 memes with students. Then, we have a discussion. I ask students "What makes these meme's funny?" and "Are these meme's also informative?" (critical thinking).
2. Next, I present a quick slideshow about memes and their characteristics. We begin talking about different types of humor including hyperboles, irony, and puns. We then refer back to the 3 memes we began the lesson with and categorize each.
3. After this whole group categorization, I put students in small groups, and give each group 9 memes and a template with the headings 'Irony', 'Hyperbole' and 'Pun' on it. Students work in their groups to categorize the type of humor each meme exemplifies (collaboration & critical thinking).
4. Then, we discuss each meme as a class, and groups share the category of humor they assigned the meme to and justify it's placement. If there are disagreements, we host a friendly debate (communication).
5. Then I ask each students to individually choose which meme is their favorite, and write a reflection sharing why they chose the meme they did (communication). After providing students with the time to reflect, I ask the class to consider, what makes a good meme. We share out ideas for the qualities that make a good meme, and I create an anchor chart that students can refer back to throughout the year when they choose 'Meme Me' as a project option (critical thinking).
Once we finish the 'Introduction to Meme's' Lesson, I have students make their own memes (creativity). We've made meme's to summarize content learned during a social studies unit, to explain our classroom values, to review math concepts before a summative, to promote classroom events and holiday celebrations, and so much more. In the past I've had students use Google Slides to create our memes and I often require students to explain their meme somewhere on their slide, but recently I've explored using Canva to create memes.
Below I've included a few student work samples. The first two highlight things students learned during their study of the Mayan, Aztec and Inca tribes. These memes needed to include some type of explanation that did not distract from the aesthetic of the meme. The next two meme's are examples that highlight two of our class values from our Essential 20. Students were not required to include explanations for these.
