There is something about the visual impact that memes create and after some research, I managed to put together a lesson unit. Internet meme is a type of communication tool that combines image(s) and text in a context.
I enjoy reading memes that relates to our lives and so I compiled and decode a list that I think my student could relate to. Here is one of them:
Children are easily amused and I think I could do them a favour by asking them to articulate why they think something is funny or what contributes to a good meme. In the above example, I personally like it a lot and it's brilliant. The fact that it rode effortlessly on the fad of the #10yearchallenge which everyone on social media was doing to "show the improved version of themselves", and still managed to promote the brand. This meme is current and it starkly contrasts with the point of the #10yearchallenge. Thus, to understand this meme, the audience needs to have prior knowledge of what the #10yearchallenge is and to cater to a wider audience and making it more memorable, one has to think of how their ideas can be applicable to a wider audience. Otherwise, it is possible that the students will create something only ONE other friend understood.
Last week, our school officially started the use of Google Suite. It was the BEST thing ever! I find the platform more effective in distributing classroom materials and students could do their work at their own pace.
I chanced upon this blog and adapted a lesson resource. By combining the local Art syllabus' recommended list of the 32 artworks by local and international artists on Google drawing, the students could do their own research. The Google drawing page acts like a meme generator so we can avoid those meme generator websites which could sometimes contain inappropriate materials. You can click on this link here to make a copy.
I spent about four lessons for students' research/ journaling and they also sketch their own memes first. Next, I wanted the children to adapt the images and we had our class discussion on plagarism.
From this point forward, I felt that I was digging my own grave. The ipads were good for research or using apps and I could have asked the students to use the Paint programme for editing but I thought learning Photoshop tricks are more substantial. To do so, we needed to get to the computer labs because the Photoshop app on the ipads would require phone verification. The students were quite impatient when the Photoshop programme were lagging/ installing or hanging in the computer labs and to some extent, it affects the momentum of the lesson.
Looking on the bright side, at least I could put the Google drawing (Yay to G Suite!) meme generator to good use and the students could still create their own memes and Paint programme is still good to fall back on.
I wanted the students to understand layering in Photoshop and we spent some time exploring making hamburgers before using the photo editing programme to create their memes. Those who could successfully saved their Photoshop working files and JPEG files on sharing folder posted the JPEG image on Class Dojo Portfolio would allow their parents to see their work and my comments.
I'm happy with their exploration in these lessons and I think given adequate support and guided instructions, the children can grasp the concept of layering quite quickly after some struggles. There were very few students who know about Photoshop before this unit and exposing this tool to them would allow them to see how manipulation of images can influence perception.
I enjoy reading memes that relates to our lives and so I compiled and decode a list that I think my student could relate to. Here is one of them:
Children are easily amused and I think I could do them a favour by asking them to articulate why they think something is funny or what contributes to a good meme. In the above example, I personally like it a lot and it's brilliant. The fact that it rode effortlessly on the fad of the #10yearchallenge which everyone on social media was doing to "show the improved version of themselves", and still managed to promote the brand. This meme is current and it starkly contrasts with the point of the #10yearchallenge. Thus, to understand this meme, the audience needs to have prior knowledge of what the #10yearchallenge is and to cater to a wider audience and making it more memorable, one has to think of how their ideas can be applicable to a wider audience. Otherwise, it is possible that the students will create something only ONE other friend understood.
Last week, our school officially started the use of Google Suite. It was the BEST thing ever! I find the platform more effective in distributing classroom materials and students could do their work at their own pace.
I chanced upon this blog and adapted a lesson resource. By combining the local Art syllabus' recommended list of the 32 artworks by local and international artists on Google drawing, the students could do their own research. The Google drawing page acts like a meme generator so we can avoid those meme generator websites which could sometimes contain inappropriate materials. You can click on this link here to make a copy.
I spent about four lessons for students' research/ journaling and they also sketch their own memes first. Next, I wanted the children to adapt the images and we had our class discussion on plagarism.
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| Students' sketches |
Looking on the bright side, at least I could put the Google drawing (Yay to G Suite!) meme generator to good use and the students could still create their own memes and Paint programme is still good to fall back on.
I wanted the students to understand layering in Photoshop and we spent some time exploring making hamburgers before using the photo editing programme to create their memes. Those who could successfully saved their Photoshop working files and JPEG files on sharing folder posted the JPEG image on Class Dojo Portfolio would allow their parents to see their work and my comments.
I'm happy with their exploration in these lessons and I think given adequate support and guided instructions, the children can grasp the concept of layering quite quickly after some struggles. There were very few students who know about Photoshop before this unit and exposing this tool to them would allow them to see how manipulation of images can influence perception.
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| Class Dojo |
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Hamburgers using Photoshop |
