Tech Creation

Memes are a vital part of current social media. Students use them, share them, and can even create their own on social media. Using something relevant to our students' lives will help them connect to what is being taught especially if you can tie it into the current pop culture.

I always try to use memes in my powerpoints and lesson when I am teaching. It helps the students better connect with the material, gives them a chuckle, and helps break up the text. I have always just searched for my own online, but sometimes you cannot find the exact meme you want. So, I decided for my tech creation I will look over different meme makers and which ones I prefer.

The first one I tried is called MemeMaker.net. It is pretty simple as you choose an already existing meme background and then you can add whatever text you want to on the bottom and top. It also lets you adjust the text size and color. It does have an option to uploaded your own image for a meme, but I found that the quality, once it was uploaded, was not the best.

The second site I tried out is called imgflip.com. I like it slightly better than the MemeMaker site as it gives you a few more options when you are creating your meme, but is still fairly simple. I also like that it has a search bar you can type in a keyword to find already existing meme backgrounds. I think you would be able to use this to create your own memes as a teacher, but you could also use this as an assignment for students to create a meme based on what they are learning in class.

Technology Can Be a Blessing Or a Curse...

Or at least that's how I feel sometimes. I do not hate technology by any means. In fact, it can be quite useful in many situations. But other times...

 

I use technology at my work (as a manager in retail), in school both as a teacher and a student, and in my personal life. I perhaps am not as tech-savvy as peers my age, but I always like to at least try out new technologies. For example, my friends kept going on about Snapchat so I downloaded the app, but a week later I deleted it. I just did not understand it and was not willing to put in the extra time trying to understand it. However, as a teacher I know it is important to incorporate technology and I have tried to become more open-minded in trying out new digital technologies. 

One such digital tool that I have come across is Padlet. I came across this in my Digital Literacy Strategies class and have enjoyed using it. It is a simple and easy to use as a teacher and as a student. It is a great way to have students post a short response, reaction, or idea about what they have read. They are able to add images or speech bits too, so it allows them to be creative in their responses. It is a great way to share the students' responses with the whole class without knowing who wrote what (so the students do no fear being judged). 

Just as teachers need to cognitively challenge their students with their lessons, they must also do the same with technology. It is important that you have them use technology that has them engaging in higher order thinking. Digital tools like Flashcardchallenge are great for having students focus on vocabulary, but does not challenge them to think critically about the material. Teachers need to incorporate a variety of digital tools into their lesson plans to make sure all levels of Bloom's Taxonomy is addressed. 

I just actually found out about a new digital tool last night, that I am excited to try out. It is called EDpuzzle. It is a free resource where you can edit youtube videos. You can trim clips so they are the length you want, trim out inappropriate scenes or sensor curse words, and you can add in questions that pop up as the video plays. A current teacher recommended this as a great way to edit videos that add value to the lesson, but ones you have concerns about the content.