MEMES TEACHING 

Teaching Media Literacy with Memes

         Teaching is a service-oriented profession in our society, where instructors play a crucial role in shaping young minds. Incorporating technology into teaching helps students navigate the "who," "what," and "how" of Internet messages. Teaching with memes is a highly effective educational tool that assists students in uncovering how mass media influences our perceptions of ourselves, others, and the world around us. Meme creation applications are readily available for laptops, tablets, or smartphones. It can search for "meme creation program" in the Apple App Store, Google Play, or on computer, and you'll find numerous options, such as Meme Creator, Meme Generator, and Quick Meme. Apart from being a fun and innovative way to engage students with the content, these assignments can address the Creative Communicator standard. This standard expects students to communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for various purposes using platforms, tools, styles, formats, and digital media appropriate to their objectives.

Ways to Use Memes in Classroom

• Create class rules: Generate visual representations for each class rule and display them in the classroom. As an engaging ice-breaking activity on the first day of the academic year, encourage students to craft their memes based on the rules. Share the best ones with the class or post them on the bulletin board.

• Learn new vocabulary: Have students create memes to define or utilize new vocabulary words. Display the word at the top and provide the definition or a sentence using the word below.

• Identify key points in a novel: Students can employ memes to illustrate a key point from a novel or short story they are studying. Teachers can divide the class into groups and assign each group specific chapters or sections to create memes based on the assigned reading.

• Highlight a historical event: Teachers and/or students can import an image into a meme creation program and add a witty caption to create their memes, emphasizing a historical event.

• Use as an icebreaker for lessons: Instructors can create memes as a simple way to kickstart a lesson with a laugh or prompt the class to delve into the lesson's message. Alternatively, students can create memes as a means of reviewing the material.