imgflip.com

imgflip allows you to create memes incredibly fast. You can either upload your own picture or use any picture available online without having to download anything. You can easily add any text to the image and share it on almost any platform like email or social media.

The page is fast and user-friendly. The only downside to this page which has been pointed out is that there has been problems with the website like spamming. It is of great importance to show students the right way into memes. They should not be created with the intention of mocking or making fun of others.

How to Use imgflip

Imgflip used in a plan

Plan

Warmer (5’)

The teacher introduces the topic by posting some general questions on the board for oral discussion:

- What do you think are the ingredients of a good conversation?

- What body language do you associate with a good listener? E.g. making eye contact, nodding, shrugging your shoulders, rolling your eyes, sighing, etc.

- What kind of conversations do you particularly enjoy? Why?

Web (25’)

First Activity

Students scan a QR code watch the Ted Talk “Ten ways to have a better conversation” by Celeste Headlee and answer a quiz. They can use their own mobile device with headphones for better sound quality or watch the video all together with a proyector and answer the questions in their mobile phones. Once they have finished, student can visualize the answers to the quiz in a second.

As Puentedura posits in the SMRA model, (1980) the use of technology can be encouraged in four ways (substitution, augmentation, modification and redefinition). In this particular case, students scanning a QR code and accessing a quiz online is an example of “augmentation”. Technology provides a substitute for a learning activity but with a functional improvement over what could have been achieved with traditional tools. Students can do the quiz at their own pace and quickly visualize the answers once they have finished without having to wait for the teacher to mediate this process. What is more, the teacher can have instant access to her students’ answers. Students can also work on the quiz remotely and the teacher would still be able to check their work.

Differentiated instruction: the script to this video is also available for those students who are hearing impaired. They can read the script and answer the quiz anyways.

This option allows for inclusion for students with special abilities. As stated in PLANIED (Plan Nacional Integral de Eduación Digital) - a national proposal that seeks to integrate the cultural dimensions of the digital society in teaching and learning practices- school must promote equality of opportunities and possibilities. Educational inclusion needs to be articulated through pedagogy, policies and strategies that prioritize the most vulnerable sectors of the educational community. This requires attending to the socio-cultural particularities, special abilities and the entire spectrum of diversity.

Second Activity

- What is your favorite rule? Create a meme to represent it. You can resort to your sense of humor!

Considering Puentedura’s SMRA model (1980), this activity would be an example of redefinition. Technology allows for the creation of a task (creating a meme) that was previously inconceivable in a traditional classroom. According to Bloom’s digital taxonomy (Andrew Churches, 2008) this task is an instance of “creating,” fostering higher order skills since students are to produce new or original work.

What next (10’)

Students reflect on the TedTalk as a group answering the following questions:

- Which do you think is the best way to have a better conversation? Why?

- What new tip to communicate better to others have you learnt today?

References:

- Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy Verbs For 21st Century Students (2016) https://www.teachthought.com/critical-thinking/blooms-digital-taxonomy-verbs-21st-century-students/

- Wedlock, M.S (2017) The Technology Driven Student: How to Apply Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy to the Digital Generations http://jespnet.com/journals/Vol_4_No_1_March_2017/4.pdf

- Sneed (2016) Integrating Technology with Bloom’s Taxonomy https://teachonline.asu.edu/2016/05/integrating-technology-blooms-taxonomy/

- Romrell, D., Kidder, L. C., & Wood, E. (2014). The SAMR Model as a Framework for Evaluating mLearning. Online Learning, 18(2). doi:10.24059/olj.v18i2.435