Meme's In Education

from Flickr account - Meme Binge

Memes have become a thing.  There's no turning back.  And in all reality, do we want to?  They are funny, they help us (ok, maybe just me) laugh at situations that maybe aren't the most wonderful, and they are easy to make (thanks to wonderful advances in technology and photo editing and random meme generating websites).  In fact, my go to Happy Birthday posting on FB generally includes a meme...because that's just funnier than "Happy Birthday!!!"  (and yes, I add 3 exclamation points because I'm that happy that my friend is another year older).

Anyway, the point of this post, is there a place in education for memes?  I mean a place besides in the teacher's lounge.  And meme's other than the ones with an owl at the beginning of the school year vs the end of the school year and the "Hey Girl" memes.  Really.  Really...do meme's have a place in education for the sake of the students?

Recently I tried them in my K-8 technology class...another tale for another time with another blogger (hoping to have a guest blogger come share about that - +Kiersten Baschnagel).  The middle school kids nailed it.  Well...let me retract that...most of the middle school kids nailed it.  Some still didn't quite understand how the humor of a meme worked.  I took it down to 5th grade and most seemed to be able to create a meme with little trouble, although the joke was a little more basic.  When I tried 4th grade, I only had a handful of kids that could come up with a joke that was applicable to the picture.

This got me thinking...what is it about memes that makes them funny?  What skill do the students need to have in order to create a quality meme?  Is this a teachable skill?  Is it a skill that they can use in other areas?  Do they need to be witty?  Do they need a dry sense of humor?  Do they need to know the background story of the picture?

I admit, I don't know or I can't articulate exactly what it is that makes memes funny, especially because when I do, I can think of other memes that don't fit that definition.

What makes memes funny?
What skill(s) do you need to create them?
And is there a place for them in education?

Picture Writing

It's the end of the year.  And even if it wasn't, this is a great idea for all grade levels.  At least I think.

I am using this as a "What To Do When Your Work Is Done" task.  Granted if it was the beginning of the year, I would probably do some lessons and practice brainstorming and work together as a class. However, it's not...so I'm not.  My students are finishing their assignments as quickly as they possibly can and then want to play computer games.  Can you see my face?  I'm sure you can because I'm sure you're making that same face.  Like, "Yea, right, sure kiddo.  You do that.  NO."

With writing, especially writing prompts, students can either do many many posts or they can go in depth in less posts.  I tell them it's about quality, not quantity.  But what about the kids that don't love to write?  Or doesn't love your writing prompt?  It is possible that you/I/we have a student that doesn't love to go on vacation/play with puppies/want to give advice to the incoming "insert grade level" or any variety of topics that are possible to write about.

Brilliant idea...CHOICE!  I love choice.  Controlled choice.  Selective choice.  Here are a variety of things to choose from.  BUT...I am not that creative to come up with that many choices.  I admit it. Creativity is NOT my strong suit.  I'm more of a spreadsheet and data and organizing girl.  I need help when it comes to creativity and lots of choices.  So I go to friends and I go to...THE INTERNET!

And look what I found when I was looking for Middle School writing prompts!?!?!?

Visual Prompts

You can search by genre, by grade level, or by topic.  The images vary between asking for a story, a point of view, creating a campaign or a new item, there's fiction and non-fiction, future and past, and so much more.  I love these images and the questions/statements that go with them.  I especially love that I didn't have to create them!

The images (the one above specifically) stirred intense conversations as well as really great writing that showed just how my students opinions and beliefs are being shaped by their families, their friends, and society.

We know that a picture is worth 1000 words, but do we need a 1000 words?  Do we need less or do we need more?  I guess it depends on the message.  And these images are fantastic at asking students to share their message on their interests!

Instagram Lessons

If you know me, you know I'm a HUGE supporter of social media in education.

Yes, there are things about it that are not awesome, but just with everything else in life, it's about how that "unawesomeness" (yup I made that a word) is handled.  I firmly believe in teaching how to use social media appropriately.  I firmly believe in modeling appropriate ways to use social media.  I firmly believe in logical consequences.  I firmly believe in parent participation.

All that in mind, I'm here to talk about Instagram.  I have a professional Instagram account and a window in my classroom that is decorated like Instagram.  The window shows pictures of students doing interesting projects in technology.  It also shows my professional Instagram handle.  The kids (all ages) enjoy coming in and seeing if they made the Instagram window.  This interest in their own pictures extended on my real Instagram because yes, there are pictures of them on my Instagram.

*disclaimers* I do not post pictures of students who's parents did not sign the media release.  I do not post pictures of students who are not comfortable.  If I catch a funny picture of a student, I ask their permission before posting.  I monitor who follows and likes my pictures CLOSELY.  If someone follows or likes my images and there is no indication they are a parent or an educator, they are blocked...for the safety of the children.

Knowing that my audience was growing and it was growing with students, I decided to take the opportunity to do more than just post their pictures.  I took a queue from Your School Rocks...So Tell People authors Ryan McLane and Eric Lowe.  I started posting pictures with inspirational messages and life skills.  I try not to write much in the description.  Knowing how I scroll through Instagram, double tapping cute pictures, not reading much, I keep that in mind with the kids.

Ultimately, one day, I'd like the kids to interact and write back.  But for now, when someone likes a post, I feel like the door of communication is opening.  I feel like maybe they know that despite keeping a structured classroom with high expectations (which they CLEARLY do not always love), I do care and I do value what they feel is important.

Another style of image that I tried using was a picture of an upcoming lesson.  I thought that this was an AMAZING idea!  Can I just say #fail.  Not realizing that 1) not all of my students follow me so they don't all see what I post, put a bit of a damper on the idea and 2) I teach every grade level different so the kiddos didn't really know who the picture was directed.  I tried that once and haven't done it again.  I would like to tweak it and revisit that idea, but for now, not so much.

The most fun posts, are the silly ones though.  I will at times, post random pictures to try to make the kids laugh or remind them of something good.  The last one was an alarm clock on a 3 day weekend and I reminded them that they didn't have to be at school!  What kid doesn't love that reminder?  

I also make sure to have specific #hashtags for different types of posts.  It's a way for me to stay organized and keep track of how many posts I make a week of a different style.  I don't want the kids to get overwhelmed or irritated with what I post.  My goal isn't to be what they ALWAYS see.  My goal is to be a positive example of social media and life skills when they do see my posts.

If you'd like to check out my professional Instagram, you can find me @EBGtech.  It's also just to the right of this post.

What do you think?  Would you use Instagram to teach, communicate, reach your students?

Map Scales and Google Earth

Do you remember breaking out your atlas to measure how far it was from your school to your house? Or maybe from your favorite vacation spot to your house?  Of course there was also the obligatory worksheet that had perfectly manicured streets with geometric houses, a school, and a library.  All different ways to learn that on the map, the distance is not real...it is a scale.

Now we're so used to using some kind of GPS (Google Maps is my personal favorite) that the concept of needing a scale is completely foreign now.  Even the kids know how to use a GPS app. The skill of reading a flap map, an atlas, is seemingly obsolete!  But, nope, it's still part of the curriculum - and I'm not arguing whether or not it's important, I'm just stating that it is what it is.

So, in technology the last couple of weeks, we have been learning about map scales (to compliment the kiddos 4th grade curriculum).  Since we have computers and not paper maps, we broke out Google Earth and since we have GPS that gives us EXACT distance, we worked on estimating.

The image of the kiddos searching on Google Earth and getting their exact distances from point A to point B (we also brought in some Nevada Geography and measured the important places in Nevada) was amazing!  They are pros!  Then the image of the kiddos using the rules on the monitor was quite funny.  Who ever imaged that we would use a ruler on a computer monitor?!  Not me!!

They really seemed to enjoy the exploration and realizing that a few inches can be anything from a few miles to hundreds (or more) of miles!!

Up next...longitude and latitude?!  Any ideas?!

It's all SUNSHINE and rainbows...

Recently I have taken on the task of the Sunshine Committee.

It's a little bit of a blur as to how it all started and ended with me, but I have to say I'm kind of excited!  I have a lot of support from teachers that have been part of the Sunshine Committee in the past.

With that being said...what's the point of this post in particular?

Yesterday, one of the teachers gave me a binder of stuff from the past years of Sunshine.  I barely know what to do with it.  Have things changed so much that a binder of papers overwhelms me?!

Apparently so.  

Granted I haven't done much, but everything I have done so far has been almost exclusively digital.
Let's run down the list.

Meeting Agendas: Google Doc
Cards (Get Well, Happy Birthday, etc): Word Swag app w/ Pixabay images
Ideas: Pinterest
Happy Hour Interest: Google Forms
Happy Hour Announcement: Word Swag app w/Pixabay images and email
"Binder" to keep everything: Google Drive

Granted, I'm not expanding to outside the digital box but so far what I have works...for me and my team.  I do have to keep in mind that not everyone at my school geeks out over tech like I do.  So of course I made flyers for the Happy Hour and I will print out agendas for meetings, etc.

But I feel more organized...and creative.

"Get Well" image that was made into a card for a teacher out for surgery

The image above was made with @wordswagapp (introduced to me by +Tony Vincent) and +Pixabay images that are found within the app. BONUS: Pixabay images are copyright free so they can be used without attribution.    

An Island of Images

Right?  My title gives you NO indication what my post will be about.  HA!  That's ok.  I'll explain it here and I'll also explain the title.

I'm going to talk about Pixabay.

Title first: In my head a bay = an island.  While geographically incorrect, it's the word association my brain uses to remember the website.  I can call it what I want.  :)  Pix = pics = an image.  Get it?!  Get it?! Huh?! Huh?!

The "a" is inconsequential.

This summer Tony Vincent came and talked to a group of teachers that I work with and one of his suggestions for finding images for presentations was Pixabay.

Why use that when Google images has all of the possible wondrous images that you could ever image?  Well....because of copyright laws.  That's why.

Pixabay images are from users who upload the images and you have free right to use them, change them, reprint them, etc. all without giving credit.  You are totally in the legal free and clear when using Pixabay.

Why does this matter?
It matters because back in the day when the only thing teachers and students did was create a power point and show it within their own classroom or school.  While that was still not legal, nobody really knew and it could easily be "swept under the rug" and ignored.  Now your audience, whether you are a teacher or a student, is on a much more global scale.  Folks are bound to notice if you are using their material illegally.  Or maybe they won't.  But do you really want to 1) risk it? 2) set that example for your students?

Nope.

Give Pixabay a chance.  They have some really amazing pictures.  You may even consider uploading some of your own and know that other educators out there are using them and sighing in relief because they are in the copyright free and clear.