BASD Technology Blog: Memes in the Classroom

Using Memes in Your Classroom

If you don't know what a meme is, you probably do, but just don't know the word for it. It is a picture with a caption, that usually uses sarcasm or humor to state a point. Memes are great attention grabbers, and students love them because they are familiar and simple. Also, memes are easy and fun to create. I have created a short list of uses of memes in the classroom.
Classroom Rules and Expectations
Need to do a refresher on your classroom rules or expectations? How about a short powerpoint full of memes. The message gets across, the humor keeps the students engaged, and with the right facilitating, a quality discussion could result. You could print memes as posters and post around your room. Here are a few examples:

Reinforce Class Content

There are many memes out there that related to your curriculum if you search for them. You can create a meme for anything as well. A relevant meme can excite and engage students. Here are a few examples of memes that reinforce content.

Math:

Science:

Social Studies:

ELA:

Formative Assessment

You could have students create a meme relating to course content as a way to assess learning. After teaching a lesson on digital literacy, a student in my class created this meme:

How to Make Your Own Meme

There are apps available on the chrome store like memecreator or Meme Maker, but really I found the easiest way to create a meme is using Google Draw. All you have to do is insert the image you want, and then write your caption using WordArt or a text box. It really is easy. Sometimes, I give my students the caption, and have them find a picture. Sometimes, I give them a picture and a topic and ask them to write a caption. My kids love creating them, and actually were creating them for fun during free time as well.

Thanks for reading and have a nice weekend!

HEY, Tech This Out....

Name: GoNoodle

Type: Site

Subject: Health/Wellness

Grade: K-5, Special Ed??

What it does: Has a variety of 'get moving' videos that you put up on your projector that you can use to get your kids active between activities. The more you use it, the more you unlock, so kids get excited about upgrading characters and activities.

My Take: If you are familiar with "Just Dance" or similar games, this is kind of the concept. Your class mirrors the screen. Kids getting a little antsy after their reading stations? 2 minutes of GoNoodle can help them re-focus for math time. Again, the more you use it, the more you "accomplish" and unlock. Kids like that they are working towards a goal. This is definitely for the younger grades, but I could see this being usable in some special ed classrooms as well.

Link: https://www.gonoodle.com/

Here is a Mrs. Bednarek's Kindergarten class using Go Noodle. What a fantastic teacher!!! (Brownie points +2)