I love the sweet, expectant nothingness of an empty page."
              - Peter H. Reynolds

Wixie is a digital canvas that students can use to combine writing, images, voice, and video. Wixie gives middle-school students tools they can use to demonstrate their understanding in the classroom, as well as share ideas, express themselves, inform others, and change minds.

To use a blank canvas in Wixie, simply have students log in, and select the New button on their Wixie home page to choose the orientation they would like to use.

Here are six ideas for Wixie projects that will get your middle-grade learners comfortable starting to create from a blank canvas.

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In 1997, Norman Webb developed depth-of-knowledge levels to facilitate the evaluation of questions and tasks in grade-level and standards-based assessments. Many educators have found these levels to be useful in evaluating the cognitive complexity of their own instructional tasks. 

Wixie can be used to support, encourage, and evaluate elementary student knowledge and thinking at all Depth of Knowledge (DOK) levels. Wixie is both a curriculum tool and a student productivity tool; it can be used for lower-level assessments of existing student knowledge, higher-level demonstrations of solutions and ideas, and everything in between.

Here are ways you can use Wixie to engage elementary students at each level of Webb's Depth of Knowledge.

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The Common Core State Standards for Language Arts state that media skills should be blended throughout the reading and writing standards. Wixie provides a powerful platform for students in the middle grades to “employ technology thoughtfully to enhance their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language use.” 

In middle grades, students are transitioning from thinking like a child to thinking like an adult. They are capable of dealing with conflict and complexity, and should be asked to write for a purpose beyond the academic. Writing to entertain others, raise awareness and change minds can help these writers explore the new boundaries of their thinking.

Students can use Wixie to both organize their ideas and research, as well as share writing to impact the world around them. Here's how.

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Did you know that the more grateful you are, the happier you are? Thanksgiving provides a great opportunity to get students practicing gratitude. Begin by identifying reasons to be grateful, then practice gratitude, and finally amplify your gratitude to spread happiness to others. Here are a few ways Wixie can help.

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This is a guest post with Heidi Shorter, a Technology Teacher with Howard County Schools in Maryland. We asked her to collaborate on this blog to showcase the ideas she shared in her Wixie Webinar last school year. 

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