The Meme Assignment was developed by Dr. Shawna Brandle for her American Goverment class at Kingsborough Community College. The assignment was included and referenced in the 2022 Transformative Learning in the Humanities Project titled, Writing the World by Shawna Mary Brandle, Katherine Culkin, Dino Sossi, and Yan Yang.
The meme assignment “requires students to create a meme that relates to the class, then write a short essay explaining the meme, using at least one in-text citation of their course readings (or another scholarly source). The assignment sheet includes a rubric to aid in their self-grading assessment as well as detailed instructions for how to write a self-grading assessment as it is the first time in the class they are being asked to write one. Many students choose this assignment, and they do excellent work. Embedded in the assignment are several important learning skills, but they are packaged in a very accessible way. Once a student has made a meme, it is easier to explain what they made as they have a reference- this helps give structure to their essay, which otherwise might be an overwhelming task for the first few weeks of the semester. In needing to use only one citation, students can get comfortable with the purpose and mechanics of citation, without getting completely overwhelmed. Students can see and learn from each others’ memes, and many of the memes are so funny and apt that [Dr. Brandle] request[s] permission to include them in the slides [Dr. Brandle] use[s] for class.”
To read more about Dr. Brandle’s “Choose your Own Adventure” American Government Syllabus and the Meme Assignment, view the Writing the World Text on Manifold: https://cuny.manifoldapp.org/read/writing-the-world-one-student-at-a-time/section/24c3c0c2-0d67-4594-8792-d8d74c965f49
Courses: Multidisciplinary; originally developed for American Government
Author: Shawna Brandle
Assignment
To download the Meme Assignment please visit and explore the Writing the World text and resource on Manifold: https://cuny.manifoldapp.org/read/writing-the-world-one-student-at-a-time/section/24c3c0c2-0d67-4594-8792-d8d74c965f49
