Unit 4 - Social Media

        Unit four was packed with a lot of informative and unique ideas that incorporate social media, video games and a plethora of technology based resources into the classroom.  We read articles discussing how Twitter, virtual reality (VR), memes, video games and Snapchat can and be incorporated into lessons.  While teachers managed to implement each of these successfully into their classroom, in this blog, I will focus on virtual reality and memes.

        Virtual reality is a relatively new concept to the world, so you can imagine just how new it must be to classrooms.  Virtual reality was initially, and still primarily is, used for entertainment and gaming.  However, some teachers are beginning to transform that narrative, "VR is not a space-age novelty for intense video-gamers.  It is a legitimate digital tool that can enhance the English language arts (ELA) curriculum and enrich -- but not replace -- traditional pedagogy" (Moran and Woodall 90).  VR enables students to have a clearer perspective through which they can better appreciate past events and how they impacted society.  "It [VR] enhanced the literacy experiences of the students by helping them to think critically about the impact of setting on the novel's events" (Moran and Woodall 93).  An often over-looked aspect of texts (novels, short-stories, poems etc.) is the setting in which they take place.  However, the setting frequently, if not always, influences the author and the characters the author creates.  VR permits students to gain a better understanding of the setting of novels, short-stories and poems which, in turn, helps them understand the text more clearly.

        Similar to VR, memes were first used, and are still greatly used, for entertainment and jocularity.  They have been around longer than VR has and they are constantly changing.  Some memes are popular for just a few days, while others are considered timeless.  While memes appear very simple, there is actually a much more complex story or reason behind them.  They are great conversation starters and can lead to in-depth discussions that require critical thinking.  "Despite how simple or brief a political meme's argument may appear at first glance, these deceptively small texts often pack an entangled yet fluid mess of discourses for students to critically investigate" (Elmore and Coleman 39).  Political memes are, in my opinion, the best memes for educational uses.  They spark conversations and force students to think about the issue the meme is addressing.  Additionally, memes force students to determine what side of the issue (if any) the meme is taking.  Memes are simple enough to introduce content media literacy (CML) for the first time to middle-school aged students; but complex enough to require critical thinking and careful dissection of the meme.

        Considering I discussed VR and memes in this blog, I thought it was fitting to include a VR meme.