Monday, April 6, 2015

Tech Tuesday 4-7

Here's How to Participate:

1- Write about your tech idea on your blog and grab the image above to include in your post. Make sure to link back to this post.
2- Add your link up below
3- Leave a comment on someone's post
4- Share the linky party on your choice of social media


Today, I'm sharing about an authoring platform my students have used to publish writing this year. It's called Wixie. You can access it as a website or an app on iPads. My students use their iPads and that works really well, but you can use it either way!

It's almost like working in Powerpoint, except it's easier to format and has more accessible features. The students can type their text and paint their images. They can insert photos/take photos from their device or clip art, stickers, and backgrounds provided by Wixie (love that this takes the searching for images on the internet out of the whole picture).

Then, they can also recorded themselves reading their writing. They can open all their pages and rearrange them, if needed. They can easily add background music provided by Wixie.



What I also love about using Wixie with my students is that they can log in at home and show their book to their families. This takes out the step of exporting, posting to another site, etc.  I also have found that this site works better than some other book-making tools my students have used, such as My Story. It is less glitchy and is much easier for students to see their text.

Above all, students love using this tool! It's highly engaging and motivates them as authors.






6 comments:

  1. Wixie looks like am awesome app. Is it free?

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    1. It does require a purchase... My school district gets a subscription for the schools because I know there is a volume discount. If you do not do the volume discount, it is a little pricey at $5.00 per student, but if you use it all year long, it could be worth some of the tech funds. Thanks for reading and linking up, Mary!

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  2. I haven't heard of this one before - and I agree about a lot of story apps being glitchy. I especially like that it is multi-platform. Can't wait to share this with the K-2 teachers in my building.
    www.erintegration.com

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  3. Hi Marie, I have not heard of this app and I'm excited to try it! It looks user friendly and I love that they can share it to show their families. Thanks for sharing. :)

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  4. We've been using ShowMe for something similar. It is free, but there is the nuisance of searching for images on the internet. I've also heard Haiku Deck is good, but haven't tried it. Thanks for the info!

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    1. I didn't even think of using ShowMe for writing! We have used that for math in the past. Great idea! Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Dawn!

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