A Meme For Every Purpose

by Elizabeth Van Allen for scribblesbyartteachervanallen.blogspot.com

I was recently introduced to 

the wonderful world of memes.    

I think I've given this look to
students several (hundred) times
today about the same exact thing.

For those of you who have no idea what I'm referring to, the word 'meme' (rhymes with theme) is "an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."  That's according to wikipedia, the source of sources.  Don't feel bad if you didn't know, neither did I until an embarrassingly recent date when I was schooled quite patiently in the beauties of modern internet culture by my wonderful husband.  Apparently I have been living under a rock for the past 10 years or so. (my words, not his!)

Sit quietly in your assigned seat
while I get all scholarly up in here.

Let's look at this subject from a slightly more intellectual perspective (author puts on a tweed sport coat with leather elbow patches and clears her throat for an empty room). The word meme is a shortening of mimeme (from Ancient Greek, pronounced mīmēma), which means "imitated thing". Take this entire paragraph with a grain of salt, I copied most of it straight from Wiki.  (find the evidence at  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme)  The term was coined in 1976 by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene as a concept for discussion of evolutionary principles in explaining the spread of ideas and cultural phenomena.  Who would have thought that there would be research behind this relatively current pop culture phenomenon?

Some teachers are even giving
meme-making as a graded assignment!

One of the freshest ideas in education that I've seen in years involves using memes in the classroom.  Many teachers are customizing their favorite viral images through meme generator websites and using them to introduce classroom rules at the beginning of the school year.  The concept of the first day of school being semi-entertaining for students is almost revolutionary.  Since I am now an active participant in the 21st century internet, I had to catalogue a few of my favorite memes on Pinterest.  Check out some of my top picks at https://www.pinterest.com/ScribblesByATV/.  You better believe that some of these are going straight into my 'first day of art class' power point presentation for next September!

Nobody emotes better than the captain.

These days memes get passed around quicker than the common cold.  While most of them don't register as even a blip on my radar, as an art teacher I couldn't help but love the ones I've included here.  As far as I'm concerned, they're totally classroom wall worthy.

What's the best, most appropriate or most accurate meme that you've stumbled across lately?  

Post below or send them to me and I'll write a follow-up post using some of your favorites!