By James Mellen
In the age of mass communication and mass reproduction, internet memes have become an increasingly important “memes” of communication, especially among the Millennial and Zillenial generation. So, how does one make use of this emerging means of communication in an effective teaching practice? How does someone take a look at the meme featured below and transform the medium into something which can effectively educate students?
On the surface, this meme is just an image for dorks who like Seinfield and LCD Soundsystem a little too much. However, upon closer examination, this meme actually showcases the way in which the creation of memes can create a participatory experience for members of an in-group. In this case, that in-group are the 536 people who liked this meme of George reciting the lyrics to “All My friends”. This meme in particularly is especially useful for the understanding of classroom meme-ory, as it showcases the development of an in-group on a hyper-specific fixation, something that would most likely also be true of a classroom environment.
Memes are an effective tool at building in-group solidarity, but they are also an effective tool at challenging authority as well as upsetting expectations. Take this meme for example:
This meme is from a famous internet video in which a police officer at The University of Florida tases a student after he says the phrase “don’t tase me bro”. This meme was effective at building a large in-group of viewers who had seen the video, but it was also effective at challenging preconceived notions of policing. This video showcases a student being tased for little to no reason.
Memes are an effective tool to build in-group communities as well as challenge previously held beliefs about power and authority. Thus the medium has the potential to effectively build classroom communities while simultaneously challenging students to change their perspectives on the world around them.
Great insight here! It’s interesting to see how the meme space (if that is even a thing, I’m not sure) has evolved to the point in which they have become effective tools for discourse and community building. I never would’ve thought this possible ten-ish years ago!
Hi James!
I love that we discussed the same topic. Memes are so cool, right? One idea you mention that specifically caught my eye is the idea of all 536 people who like this instagram post have participated in some way, because participation is at the base of our studies here.
Going forward, I think you might want to take a peek at my article and brainstorm ways to incorporate memes into your classroom, if you feel like they’ll ignite participation.
This is awesome, great job!
First of all, bonus points for the LCD Soundsystem reference.
I am someone who uses memes frequently in my class. Not only are they a means of speaking the students’ “language,” they make materials more memorable. They are more likely to absorb and retain information–as well as be able to see, contextually, how lessons from the classroom can be applied to real-life situations–but it helps keep them engaged.
My students know I am a massive fan of The Simpsons. I use memes and clips from the show, because much of the content is applicable to the lessons. Because they know this, they anticipate it, and come to class curious to see what I’ll mention this time. I have also used references from The Office.
A few times I have had a student answer a question on one of the quizzes by referring back to a meme I used as an example in class (one I use for discussing how tone can be difficult to determine in writing is a text message where the respondent simply writes “k,” and the sender explodes on them, wondering what “k” means). For one of the quizzes, where the importance of tone is discussed, a student used that meme to explain why establishing correct tone in writing is essential for having your message understood.
Memes are the future of the classroom.