Wow- Wixie can do that!- 3/19/2021

This past Wednesday, I was so excited to have my first Wednesday Wixie webinar- Using Wixie So That Littles Can Create at 7 PM EST . This free webinar was about 30 minutes long and I couldn't wait to share all the Wixie goodness I have planned. This webinar combined three of my favorite things: using Wixie, promoting student agency, and content creation for our youngest learners.

Wondering what all the Wixie fuss is about? If you missed the webinar, you are in luck. It is embedded on this post to the right. During it, I shared the wonders of this kid friendly creation tool for about 30 minutes. There are so many things that amaze me about Wixie. I love the user friendly interface and how it is such an all inclusive program. Students can create videos, work in teams, create single page or a story (slide show).

If you haven't tried Wixie yet, you can even try it for 30 days for free. Just go to www.wixie.com and click Try It.

It seems hard to believe, but two years ago today, I wrote my first blog post about Wixie, In my 3/19/2019 post (2 years ago today), I share that initially I wasn't so sure about why so many elementary teachers used Wixie. But as I learned more about it, I quickly changed my mind. Wixie is a perfect way to start content creation with our littles. It incorporates easy to use recognize icons so that students can build up their icon literacy. These universal icons help students build their skills gradually and correspond to icons used in Microsoft and Google apps. Building their literacy in using icons gives them handles to hold on to.

After learning these universal icons, students find there are even more accessibility features inside of Wixie.

Teachers can include directions and record themselves reading the prompt.
Now, we can even add in video directions to any assignment for students to refer back to at their own pace. In addition,
Wixie has text to speech capabilities that allow students to hear any text on a page.
Students can even record their voice and/or video inside of the program.

All of these features help our students develop agency.

Text to Speech for text (top) and audio directions (right)

For our students to become creators, we need to give them the freedom to be messy. Creation is a process, not just a product. We need our students to understand that. In my work with the littles, we have students learn to flex their creative muscles in Wixie. My kindergarteners start by making a snow globe. Why a snow globe, anything can be inside of it. Their imagination can create anything. The first lesson, we learn about adding images and each student selects 2-3 images to add to his or her snow globe. The following lesson, we learn how to use the Fill Can and paint our snow globe. We finish by adding words, sound , and/or video to support our creation. Every snow globe looks different and shares their creators unique insights. Students look at the blank snow globe and then at their final product and are so proud. They have found the magic of creation!

One of my favorite features in Wixie is the cloning feature. Like Smartboards, you can select an image and clone it so that it keeps duplicating. I love using this feature when students create. My primary students used this feature while making coin caterpillars and while making shape collages. Just like the snow globe, they all start off with the same template, but what they create is truly amazing and unique.

Wixie allows students to do both single pages and multiple page stories. This ability allows students to create ebooks and even movies. My primary students used this feature while making time stories and good morning books.

My favorite project of all using Wixie is the Shape of Things Book. In this book, students transform 4 every day shapes: a circle, rectangle, square, and triangle into something else. I am always astounded by the creativity that this activity reveals.

With so many possibilities, why not give Wixie a try if you haven't and if you have, consider trying one of the following:

Can you teach the icons in Wixie or a video to promote student agency?
How can you use the cloning feature to give students agency while providing voice and choice?
Can you consider having students use video and/or audio for creation?

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