Teaching with Memes

That's a Meme! You've probably seen them before, but you may not have considered their potential for teaching. Students love memes; they're a quick, trendy form of expression,  and easy to make. You can use a website like Meme Generator or an app like Memematic, but be warned that schools often block meme websites, and with good reason. Some memes have adult language, and that's why I strongly recommend Memematic. It has the popular backgrounds, but none of them are captioned.

While most meme websites allow you to create your own backgrounds, some of the existing memes are the best. You may not realize it, but most popular memes have rules. For example, a proper Yoda meme places the subject and verb at the end of the sentence. The Ducreux meme replaces rap lyrics with grandiose vocabulary. Advice Mallard provides useful advice and Philosoraptor asks deep questions.

Yoda and Ducreux are the two memes I've used the most.

My first unit in Language Arts is a science-fiction one, but at the start of the year it's important to do some review and get an idea of where students are and what they remember. We start with complete sentences; structure; and subject, object and verb. Then, the students read this great article by Grammar Girl and learn about how subject, verb and object are used by us and Yoda. Then, they hop on Memematic and construct a Yoda meme. The meme must go object, subject, verb and end with a period. This assesses their ability to acquire knowledge from text and to use subject, object and verb to construct a complete sentence.

The week after Yoda, students reviewed parts of speech and one of the less well-known parts of speech is the interjection. An interjection is a statement that lacks grammar and is added purely to convey emotion. There's a popular Star Trek meme in which Captain Picard is celebrating an epic win. I posted the picture on my Edmodo page and we held a photo captioning contest. To qualify your submission had to have an interjection. "Yes! They just gave me forty hours on the holodeck," was the winning entry, followed closely by, "Hallelujah, my warp rash cleared up."

Ducreux is usually used with rap songs, but many times (my class included) it is used on any song. Students use a thesaurus to change their favorite lyrics into something way more complicated. In the process they're exposed to the practically infinite supply of synonyms and the concept of forgotten, archaic words.

Another popular meme that we've probably all seen is the "What society thinks I do...What I really do," and it's a collection of 2-6 pictures showing the different ways people look at the same subject. Reading a piece of fiction where different characters are seeing things in very different ways? Make a meme for it! Examining the the Founding Father's different views on Federalism? Make a meme for it!

Lastly, you can make your own memes! Find a picture of George Washington or King George and try to think of rules for what they would say. Choose an element from the periodic table. The only limit is your imagination! The fact that it is a meme will really bring up student enthusiasm and it takes only minutes to create a meme. It's a very quick form of assessment.

Fun English Apps

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In the past few weeks I’ve received several questions about Language Arts and mobile device applications or “apps.” So, I thought I’d take a minute and share some of my favorite games with all of you.

Before we get to the game, let’s be clear that there isn’t a lot of reliable information on the educational value of each specific app. Infusing technology in to school motivates students and teaches 21^st century “digital literacy” skills, but there are lots of “old-fashioned” ways to learn that also work. Furthermore, the apps that I am sharing here are more games than anything else and should come after homework and chores are done. Is there a chance that these games might help with spelling, sentence structure or some other facet of the English language? Yes. Should your student get out of doing dishes so that they can play Word Jewel? That is entirely up to you, but unless you have a waterproof case it should be an either/or decision.

One final note, the American Society of Pediatricians recommends that toddlers and infants spend as little time with “screens” as possible. So while these games might be suitable for your middle-school student, I am not recommending them for babies. With all of that being said, here are some of fun and potentially educational apps.

(Conventions) Spelling: Word Jewel

There are a lot of apps out there that involve spelling (Words With Friends, Boggle, Scrabble, and Letris), but my recommendation is Word Jewels. What I like about this game is that it encourages students to expand their vocabulary and to take risks with spelling, but in a low-stress setting. In order to advance through the game it becomes necessary to start using long and sometimes difficult words. As with all the games, I think that sitting with your student and working with them in different ways can really enhance the value of the game. In this case, looking up each unknown word in the dictionary would be a great way to help the new word stick and potentially add it to their functional vocabulary. One final value of this game is that it forces the player to look for patterns, whether they realize it or not. For example, if your student sees “H-I” on the board it is a good bet that they will start looking for a consonant to complete it, like a “D” or a “P.” Although our language is complicated and lacks “hard-and-fast” rules, understanding patterns is important. This game is all about personal improvement and there isn’t a computer, clock or another person to compete against, which means the student can focus on growing as a speller. Warning: This game is hard to put down.

(Sentence Fluency) Complete Sentences: Word Order

This game resembles those magnetic poetry kits that are found on refrigerators, but this game has a twist. Instead of just randomly moving letters around to create non-sense, this game gives you a small set of words and challenges you to put the words into the correct order. An added bonus is that you will learn some interesting facts. Did you know that Brussels has an underwear museum? I do, thanks to Word Order. Adults can add to the learning by talking with their student about the subject and predicate in the sentence. Ask your student to identify the subject, which simply put, is who or what the sentence is about. Next, ask them to identify what the reader is learning about the subject (predicate). Another option would be to have students identify nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives.

Organization: Toontastic

An important, but often overlooked element of good writing is organization. A great idea depends on a strong organizational system to present the information in a clear and coherent manner. Toontastic is great because it asks student to organize their ideas into the setup, conflict, challenge, climax and resolution and while this doesn’t apply to all writing situations, it’s still a fun and worthwhile activity. To really maximize the learning and quality of the “play,” it is best to write a script.

Word Choice: Synonyms

“Good” is not a good word for describing things and yet it gets used all the time. “Timothy had a good supper,” doesn’t say much about what he actually ate. This game requires the player to make connections between synonyms and antonyms. When they are finished playing, talk with your student about some of the words that they have used and encourage them to write or sentence or two using some of the words.

Some of these are more fun than others, but I think the most important thing to remember is that spending some time using the English language together, in a creative or fun way is always worthwhile and it is easy to turn any of these games into a “no-tech” activity. So, dust off the Scrabble board or have everybody write down a dozen words, cut them out and make silly sentences. If you have any questions, comments or ideas please e-mail me at my school address!

Image: leondel. iPad 2 with Smart Cover. Accessed on January 31st, 2012. http://www.flickr.com/photos/leondel/5745567540/sizes/s/in/photostream/