LOL with Travis Owens

Everyone who knows Travis Owens knows he loves memes. 

Via HULU on GIPHY

If you can relate to Charles and Oliver in Only Murders in the Building on HULU, let's pause for some clarification from the Oxford Dictionary.

meme: an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by internet users, often with slight variations 

Travis posts memes to make his family and friends LOL (laugh out loud) on Facebook, but he is also a big fan of memes in his 7th Grade Social Studies classroom. Here are three ways Travis uses memes to build relationships and get kids to love history lessons.

Conversations Starters / Writing Prompts

Travis wants kids to step away from their screens and talk to each other. Are you noticing a theme on this blog? Travis has no problem poking fun at himself if it leads to dialogue. He recognizes the importance of literacy across the curriculum and will also use memes to get students writing.

Social Emotional Check-ins

Travis explains, "Capturing interest shows you care. Having fun is essential for relationship-building." The rubber duck scale below is an example of what this might look like. Kids might struggle to articulate their feelings but can point instantly to an image. 

Exit Tickets

Everything Travis plans is standards-driven, but once again, that doesn't mean his goal can't be to have fun. He understands that our kids communicate in photos, short videos, and emojis. Their languages are SnapChat and TikTok, and their attention spans are short. Currently, his students making connections between emojis and hieroglyphics as part of their study of Ancient Egypt. 

Advice for New Teachers

I asked Travis for advice for teachers new to teaching with technology. He admits to relying on the kids. He has a high school student who still helps him with meme creation. His students have also been the ones to figure out solutions to some challenges with accessing Newsela via Canvas and Clever. 

Travis credits teammate Kelly Warner for his Canvas onboarding. She got him to see the value of a consistent look across Canvas courses. This uniformity supports students and their families with navigation. Kelly also urged him to limit the number of clicks students need to get from the homepage to where they need to be.

Travis shares that when the students are having fun, he has won. Bravo!

Kristin Patrick, Blended Learning Coach