Standards Correlations

R.1, R.2, R.3, R.4, R.6, R.7, R.9, W.1, SL.1, L.4, L.5, L.6

Learning Objective

Students will synthesize information from two texts about teens who became memes.

Key Skills

synthesizing, text features, vocabulary, text evidence, compare and contrast, figurative language, key details, making connections, argument writing

Complexity Factors

Purpose: The texts explain the concept of online identity and suggest ways to protect that identity.

Structure: The first text contains narrative and informational passages. The second is a Q&A.

Language: The language is conversational. 

Knowledge Demands: The texts mention memes, hashtags, and social media.

Levels

Lexile: 600L-700L 

Guided Reading Level: T 

DRA Level: 50

Lesson Plan: Could Your Face Go Viral?/"My Face Went Viral"

Essential Questions

  • How can you better control your online identity?
  • What is cyber-bullying?

Literature Connection

  • Novel: #famous by Jilly Gagnon

1. Preparing to Read 

Activate Prior Knowledge (5 minutes)

Ask students if they’ve ever had a situation where a friend posted a photo of them online that they didn’t feel comfortable with. Who is the rightful owner of that photo? Is it the person in the photo or the person who took the photo? Discuss.

Preview Text Features (15 minutes)

Guide students to locate the texts. Then preview the text features by asking the following questions:

  • Look at the illustration at the beginning of the story. What are the kids in the illustration looking at? Who looks unhappy? Why? The kids in the illustration are looking at an image of a kid with various funny captions. Clearly, this is a meme, or a photo that has spread widely on the internet. Everyone seems amused by the meme, except the person whose face appears in the meme. We can infer that the kid in the meme is upset by how widespread his photo has become.
  • Read the section headers in the first article. The third one is “Protect Your Privacy.” What kind of privacy do you think you’ll read about in this section? Make a prediction. Sample answer: This section will probably discuss how to protect your privacy online. That might mean being careful about what you share online (photos, videos, etc.) and what personal information you provide on websites (your address, credit card information, etc.).  
  • Look at the meme in the second article. Have you seen it before? Have you ever thought about the real person behind the photo? Look at the photo next to the meme. Does it surprise you to see the girl in the photo grown up? Why or why not? Answers will vary. Students may say that it’s surprising to see the girl in the meme grown up because it forces them to think about the little girl as a real person. When an image becomes widespread online, it’s easy to think of the people in the image as being fictional, almost like cartoon characters. But the side-by-side images show that’s not the case.

Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)

  • Point out the vocabulary box. Read the words (meme, express, guarantee, strictest, employers) aloud and discuss the definitions.
  • Play the Vocabulary Slideshow.

Make a Plan for Reading

Before students start to read, walk them through a reading plan: 

  • Set a purpose for reading:  Tell students that by reading the texts, they’ll find out the stories behind two memes and learn about how to protect their own privacy online.
  • Tell students that after they read, they’ll complete a synthesizing activity by combining information from the articles.

2. Reading and Unpacking the Text

Guide students to read the texts. Once they understand them well, discuss the following close-reading and critical-thinking questions.

Close-Reading Questions (15 minutes)

  • What is a meme? (text evidence) A meme is an interesting or funny photo, video, or phrase that spreads across the internet. 
  • Both Ashley and Zoë saw their faces go viral. How were their experiences similar? How were they different? (compare and contrast) Ashley had a harder time when her face went viral than Zoë did. People made cruel comments about Ashley’s skin, which she found hurtful. Zoë wasn’t bullied. She thought it was “cool” that she was getting a lot of attention. The girls’ experiences were similar in that millions of people they would never meet saw their faces.
  • What does cyber-bullying expert Justin Patchin mean when he says that your photos can “take on a life of their own”? (figurative language) He means that when you post photos online, you give up control over them. Because you have no way of limiting where they go and who sees them, they can show up in places you’d rather they didn’t.

.Critical-Thinking Questions (10 minutes)

  • How can you make sure you are protecting yourself online? (key details) Sample answer: You can ask your parents and friends to get your permission before posting pictures of you; avoid using your real name for your social media accounts; and use the “grandmother test,” which involves asking yourself if you’d be comfortable with your grandmother seeing the thing you’re thinking about posting.
  • Colleges and future employers are likely to search for you online and judge you based on what they find. Are you comfortable with what they might find? Why or why not? (making connections) Answers will vary.

3. Skill Building and Writing

  • Have students work in pairs or small groups to complete our Synthesizing Skill Builder. (Click here to view all of your Skill Builders.)
  • Writing prompt: Why do you think people make cruel comments online that they would never (or almost never) make in person? What is it about the internet that makes it easy to be mean? Write a paragraph (or a few) explaining why you think people behave differently online than they do in person.

Learn Anywhere Activity

An enrichment activity to extend the learning journey at home or in the classroom

Meme Analysis

The internet is full of memes. All you have to do is open up your favorite social media app and start scrolling. This assignment asks you to do just that! Look at the first three memes you come across and think about them critically. Who is in the image? Do you think they gave permission for the image to be posted online? How do you think they might feel about being in the image?

Choose one of the memes and try to research it online. Where did it come from? What’s the story behind it? Based on what you learn, is the meme harmless or harmful?

Finally, try creating your own meme. (No need to post this online; it’s just an experiment). Find a photo of yourself. What’s happening in the photo? Based on your facial expression, the position of your body, or the background, what else could be happening? Try writing a line or a quote that makes the scene in the photo seem different from what it really is.

ELL Springboard

Play “Look Who’s Talking” to help students understand different types of text.

Before reading the two articles, point out that one of the titles is in quotation marks and one isn’t. Explain that the reason is that the title of the second article is in the voice of the person featured in the article. Many articles are written mainly in the author’s voice, with quotation marks to show when the words are someone else’s.

Ask students how you can tell who’s speaking in other types of texts. In comic books, it’s usually speech bubbles. In interviews, the words often follow the speaker’s name and a colon, or each speaker’s words are in a different font or color.

After reading, play “Look Who’s Talking”: Read these four lines from the texts aloud and have students identify the speaker and explain how they know.

  • “Watch where you share that silly selfie!” (author) 
  • “Everyone should feel beautiful in their natural skin.” (Ashley)
  • “They can take on a life of their own.” (Justin Patchin)
  • “No one really thinks I started the fire.” (Zoë)

Looking for more ELL support? Download our full lesson plan and scroll to p. 5 to find questions that will help your ELLs respond to the text at the level that’s right for them.

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Text-to-Speech