ELA/ELD BLENDED LEARNING UNIT IN CANVAS LMS

What’s Your Story?

Internship Project
ELA/ELD Blended Learning Unit in Canvas LMS

Lisa Fish
December 15, 2017
University of Colorado, Denver
ELA/ELD BLENDED LEARNING UNIT IN CANVAS LMS

Introduction
Instructional design has been a slowly unfolding joy for me. Technology has made it
even more so. Add storytelling to the mix and I’m in heaven — a triple fudge sundae
digital-learning-delight! So when I had the opportunity to design a language arts blended
learning project for an ELD classroom, I jumped on it.

The test classroom for this project is a classroom of 7th and 8th graders from
Brookhurst Junior High School. They had recently acquired a class set of Chromebooks
and had been exploring software applications quite a bit, but had yet to engage with a
curriculum in an interactive online learning environment. My plan was to work with a
friend and colleague to develop and adapt a unit on personal narratives in the Canvas
LMS for blended and flipped classroom use. One of the intriguing challenges of this
build was in adapting a traditional language arts unit to an emerging digital ELD
classroom. Another was meeting the needs of the varied skills and abilities within one
classroom; I would have to figure out a way to make the material accessible to students
with a wide range of abilities from entry level language acquisition to gifted. For the
purpose of this report, whenever I use the words “we” or “our,” I am referring to my co-
leader, Laurie Manville, with whom I collaborated on this project.

Problem and Need Addressed

Students need more than traditional academic learning. To thrive in the 21st century,
they must be adept at collaboration, communication and problem-solving (2016, World
Economic Forum). The first need is for learning experiences involving technology in a
Title One school. With Common Core establishing standards for students using
software apps like Google sheets at the 3rd grade level, the reality is that students at the
middle and high school level have had very little exposure to Google apps for in-class
use. They seem to be playing “catch up” as the EdTech wave missed them in their
elementary years. This is especially true in schools clustered in lower socioeconomic
areas.
Secondly, teachers at Brookhurst use very little technology in their classrooms.
And although it has been determined that most of the student population own some sort
of computing device, it is underutilized for in-class and blended/flipped learning use.

PAGE 1
ELA/ELD BLENDED LEARNING UNIT IN CANVAS LMS

Why is this? We’ve determined there is very little training in school. Teachers don’t use
technology because they don’t know what the best tools might be, or they don’t know
how to implement rotations and all-class strategies using the technology available to
them.
Lastly, teachers struggle to maximize their LMS system beyond the basics.
Training on how to access the many resources available is necessary. The LMS
platform is a flexible space with many capabilities, much of which goes unnoticed and
unused beyond class rosters and grading.

Goals
My goal is to design an ELA unit on the topic of personal narratives in Canvas LMS for
ELD students using a variety of online resources and tools, such as the gripping digital
story After the Storm. This has always been a challenge for teachers in the TOESL field:
adapting current resources for the various levels of English language learners. This is a
double challenge when it comes to incorporating technology in the ELD classroom.
There simply isn’t a lot out there for classroom use.

The purpose is five-fold:

1. Design an ELA unit that engages students with educational software apps and
Web 2.0 technologies.
2. Utilize Chromebooks and Smart devices for blended/flipped classroom use.
3. Adapt for English Language Learners
4. Design in Canvas LMS for easy access and reuse
5. Share with teachers and provide a PD tutorial on cross-LMS resources: Canvas
uses the Common Cartridge format that is used in all LMS platforms. Often
teachers do not know that there are many resources available for upload to their
LMS. For example, all the free resources in Canvas can be uploaded to Haiku,
Blackboard, Edmodo—any LMS that uses Common Cartridge software. This
makes it super easy to create and share easily accessible content for classroom
use.

PAGE 2
ELA/ELD BLENDED LEARNING UNIT IN CANVAS LMS

CDE Standards Addressed

7. Procedures, Policies, Planning, and Budgeting for Technology
Environments. Promote the development and implementation of technology
infrastructure procedures, policies, plans, and related budgets as it relates to
educational settings.

8. Leadership and Vision. Contribute to the shared vision for campus or

organizational integration of technology and foster an environment and culture
conducive to the realization of the vision

Technology Pre-Assessment
My first order of business was to analyze a recent survey administered to the teachers
on technology use. Since one of the goals (#5) is to provide support with the Haiku
LMS, I wanted to note baseline familiarity with the platform in general to determine PD
needs.
The survey gauged the level of comfort on a variety of strategies, but four
questions were of relevance to this report. Specifically, teachers were asked how often
they used Haiku and their level of expertise. Answers were reported on a liner scale of
1-5, with 1 being the least use and least expertise, and 5 being the most/highest.
Results showed that approximately 2/3 of the faculty were not prolific/proficient (levels
1-3) in their use of Haiku and that over 1/3 wished to receive further PD in this area.

Question #1: I use Haiku LMS to communicate with my students.

PAGE 3
ELA/ELD BLENDED LEARNING UNIT IN CANVAS LMS

Question #2: I have been fully trained, have practiced using, and know who the

campus experts are.

Question #3: The strategy I am most interested in for future professional development:

The final question was regarding using software applications in the classroom.
Please note that only 3 out of the 30 teachers said they use apps with any frequency
(astounding!) and in the pie chart above formative apps were the third highest need for
professional development.

Question #4: I use multiple apps (Kahoot, Padlet, etc.…) for formative assessment.

PAGE 4
ELA/ELD BLENDED LEARNING UNIT IN CANVAS LMS

Procedures
A. Content Design
My next focus was on content. How would I structure my learning events? I liked school
growing up but sometimes it was boring . . . linear . . . sequential. I wanted to create a
blended learning symphony in the classroom—an experience whereby students
interacted with each other, the teacher, the content, and the world-wide web in a sort of
orchestral flow. I wanted kids to come together in collaborative groups, in F2F relevant
instruction, writing and brainstorming sessions, and creative project-building all at once.
They could make choices and work at their own pace, but also receive that important
scaffolding needed in any ELA/ELD focused classroom.
This is where designing Canvas modules would work beautifully. With ADDIE as
my design model and shooting for activities covering each level of Blooms Revised
Taxonomy, I set out to bring together tried and true lesson sequences with Web 2.0
technologies. The idea was to design a 12-day lesson plan that centered around the
Narrative Writing Packet that students would use daily as a jumping off point. Along with
their packets, they would access the daily modules which directed their learning with
complementary materials for online activities. The teacher would have his/her own
teacher resources for daily instruction, but the modules would be designed from the
student’s perspective. That way each day could be pulled up on the Chromebooks for
individual progression, or on the projector for all-class reference, depending on the

PAGE 5
ELA/ELD BLENDED LEARNING UNIT IN CANVAS LMS

agenda for instruction. Providing oral and written directions in this way provides a
method that students can easily follow and feel successful.
This, of course, all sounds very nice and seamless on paper. The modules and
writing packet came out brilliantly. But do they work? This is an ELD classroom after all
and things usually take longer than projected. Our first decision was to allot twice as
much time for completion than a traditional ELA classroom. The second snag came
when we determined that the classroom we were working with was split down the
middle as far as literacy abilities. The curriculum would have to be differentiated for two
levels and strategies would need to be employed to accommodate the reading and
writing variances. We felt confident, though, that the essential blended makeup of the
course and creativity incorporated would be engaging and provide additional
differentiated supports.
It’s worth noting that at the time of designing this unit I discovered the wonderful
work of Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis on HyperDocs. A HyperDoc is a
digital document—such as a Google Doc—where all components of a learning cycle
have been pulled together into one central hub. Within a single document, students are
provided with hyperlinks to all the resources they need to complete that learning cycle
(Cult of Pedagogy, 2017). HyperDocs have taken the learning community by storm for
its student-centric learning methodology and transformative 21st Century skills.
The work of Highfill, Hilton, and Landis heavily influenced my approach to design.
They employ the learning cycle: Engage, Explore, Explain, Apply, Share, and Extend to
create flexible and self-directed learning quests for students. I kept this in mind as I
created the various components in Canvas. For example, embedded videos allow
language learners to watch and repeatedly watch—for step-by step visual and auditory
support. Having continual access to the modules and embedded media from home,
students can discuss content and process information in their native language before
participating in class (Highfill, Hilton, & Landis, 2016, p.18). I even created a HyperDoc
in module three for the final Storybird writing project that was easily incorporated within
the Canvas format. Boring linearity is out! It’s all about the visuals and linkages that
make this unit interesting and successful.

B. ELD Strategies and Differentiation

PAGE 6
ELA/ELD BLENDED LEARNING UNIT IN CANVAS LMS

I want to paint a picture of how the unit deployed by giving a snapshot of some items in
the first week as a pattern. As I mentioned before, the classroom is split down the
middle as far as abilities. We created two teams to utilize a class rotation distinguished
by differentiated activities: ELD #1 for more advanced students, and ELD #2 for
students who needed more scaffolding for certain assignments. The idea was to create
smaller learning communities within these two teams.
With the Narrative Writing Packets printed up and distributed, adjustments on
Module One immediately began. Here are my notes:
● Pre-Activity: Mulan SlideShare— It became quickly obvious that students would
not remember the elements of a personal narrative without engagement. A
narrative window pane was created for students to fill out and accompany the
slide share and rubric. Student-created word cards were placed on the chart to
associate the elements of the personal narrative genre and hand motions were
further utilized to reinforce concepts through kinesthetic activity.

● Pre-Activity: Spiffy Examples — Three digital samples of personal narratives

were presented to the students. The idea was to let them enjoy the introduction
to the mode of writing, but engagement and memory issues arose in the
exploration phase of this approach. We had students make plot charts to

PAGE 7
ELA/ELD BLENDED LEARNING UNIT IN CANVAS LMS

demonstrate knowledge of sequencing and tree charts for classification of literary

terms. Students could choose to work with the story of their choice. More
advanced students took the longer and more complicated story Avalanche at
Tunnel Creek, while others took on the shorter stories We are All Daniel Cui and
These Shoes.

Plot Chart : Tree Chart:

● Pre-Writing-Graphing: Day #2— The Life Events Graph in Google Sheets

presented a particular challenge. It’s the brainstorming phase of the essay and
we wanted the students to be able to think freely and creatively about the ten
events in their lives. We decided to let them choose to write in English or their
native language. Most chose the English option, with a small percentage writing
in their own language. The only requirement after that was to choose three of
their top Life Events to translate into English. This way they weren’t wasting time
in translation of the less important events and practicing their English skills at the
same time. This also placed ELD #1 and #2 at the same point in the writing
process for the next step.

PAGE 8
ELA/ELD BLENDED LEARNING UNIT IN CANVAS LMS

This is how the daily workflow progressed depending on the difficulty of the task.
Sometimes the teams were further divided into 2-4 student groups for collaboration, and
sometimes all-class participation was employed. The blended rotation model depended
entirely upon student need and abilities thus reducing time wasted in the confusion of
language barrier issues.

Findings and Outcomes

A. Student Engagement
From the outset we discovered the blended model worked well with students. They’re
already pretty tech savvy, so working from a playlist in the Canvas LMS seemed very
natural to them. It also helped that the day’s activities were also projected in the front of
the class and served to help reinforce on-task behaviors. As anticipated, the greatest
challenge came from the language barrier. The ELA unit is designed for a traditional
middle school classroom and communicating the simplest ideas related to personal
narratives proved daunting at times. For example, students couldn’t understand the
main plot sequence of Gary Soto’s story, The Bike, because they couldn’t visualize the
meaning of much of the language. This is where visual storyboarding, learning logs and
graphic organizers were especially helpful. But while applying these TOESL techniques
was incredibly valuable, each module activity that typically took one class period ended

PAGE 9
ELA/ELD BLENDED LEARNING UNIT IN CANVAS LMS

up stretching into 2-3 days of work. However, the slower pace greatly benefitted student
comprehension and, as a result, students were eventually able to easily map out the
five elements of a story after applying concepts to three or more narrative samples. By
the time they reached the Life Graph activity, they were well on their way to
brainstorming their own ideas for a personal narrative of their own.
As far as technology goes, one immediate snag we ran into was trying to upload
the Canvas designed modules into Haiku, the LMS of the school, because the district’s
firewall kept blocking the process. This is something to overcome in the future. The
good news is, once made public, Canvas modules can be accessible easily with a link,
so students were able to access the content daily just by accessing through Haiku. And
I hardly need to say it, but LMS engagement was incredible. Students loved interacting
with the embedded media, collaborating on group work, and designing their own
learning experiences online. When given the choice to work with paper versus web
tools, web tools won out every time. This is where Canvas excels. Pulling in apps like
Google Forms and Padlet where students could directly discuss story themes, enabled
students to move out into the internet universe and thus creating an extended and
varied classroom space.
This was a surprising aspect. We thought students would be tentative and afraid to
troubleshoot themselves when problems arose. It was quite the opposite. Students were
fearless and “swam with ease” in online realms. They took on leadership roles
frequently, helping others when needed. This really leveled the playing field for these
ELD students. They may not be totally language proficient, but they were, for the most
part, tech-language experts and handled the software apps with ease and enjoyment,
progressing as quickly as their mainstreamed peers. It was a joy to see how self-
directed, digitally literate, and 100% engaged they were most of the time!

B. Staff Engagement
It has always been my goal to inspire teachers in the use of technology and Web 2.0
applications. Wanting to move out of the four walls of the classroom, I created a video
tutorial on how to access and utilize Canvas Commons lessons, as well as how to
upload Canvas software to Haiku LMS. It was established from the beginning that
teachers at Brookhurst wanted to maximize their LMS for blended learning but didn’t

PAGE 10
ELA/ELD BLENDED LEARNING UNIT IN CANVAS LMS

know how. My co-leader and I worked on some ideas for LMS training, including a PD
on “10 Hacks for Maximizing your LMS.” It was a huge success, with several teachers
signing up for appointments to further exploit the capabilities of Haiku. This whole
process inspired me to start a YouTube channel for sharing tips and tricks for EdTech.
It’s fledgling right now with only two videos but will grow with the hope that teachers will
find it a helpful resource relevant to their needs.
Next, a second PD was devised on developing e-portfolios to showcase student
work. We wanted to see if there was a way to build a portfolio in the LMS that teachers
and students both had access to (Lo and behold there was!). Students from ELD #1 and
#2 shared their personal narratives as a reflective piece and sample for the e-portfolio,
applying what they had learned from the unit so far. This was used as an assessment
strategy for two of the Five C’s of 21st Century Education: Creativity and Critical
Thinking.

Conclusion

“There isn’t anything like this on the market. I loved having someone who has more experience
designing lessons on a platform so interesting to my students. Not just traditional ELA units, but
ELD specific in a blended learning environment. The kids are so engaged. I wish you would
design my whole year! Please!”
~Laurie Manville, ELD teacher and Digital Learning Coach

My greatest joy came from collaborating with other teachers and drawing on their
unique strengths for instructional design. I was able to bring unique digital expertise to
the table and create an interesting and accessible product for the classroom. Combining
this with the TOESL expertise of my colleagues created a constant flow of creative
ideas that was never ending. We had to keep trimming so as not to overload the
students!
Customization was a really important addition as well. Every classroom is different
and although the unit changed and adapted to the needs of ELD students, it wasn’t
watered down at all from a traditional ELA curriculum. Instead of “scaling down” to meet
their needs, we expected the students to rise to the assignments. It challenged the kids
in their language skills while stretching them in creative ways. This, again, is the beauty
of the Canvas LMS. The modules are easy to change and adapt to meet those

PAGE 11
ELA/ELD BLENDED LEARNING UNIT IN CANVAS LMS

classroom needs. And so recyclable! Once designed, the content is always available to
use and share from year to year.
A last unexpected benefit I noticed throughout this process was something I can
only describe as an inspirational “teacher spark.” One digital idea led another, then
another. Ideas were shared in staff meetings, PD, and impromptu meetings during
lunch. It was exciting to note that not only the kids were being engaged, but teachers
were hungry to know more as well. The collaboration ultimately resulted in a culture that
encouraged growth in digital lesson planning and organization. This was such a great
experience for me and everyone involved, it inspires me to continue designing unique
digital products for the classroom in the future.

PAGE 12
ELA/ELD BLENDED LEARNING UNIT IN CANVAS LMS

References
Cult of Pedagogy. (2017, June 11). How HyperDocs Can Transform Your Teaching [Web log
review]. Retrieved November 5, 2017, from https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/hyperdocs/

Highfill, L., Hilton, K., & Landis, S. (2016). The HyperDoc handbook: digital lesson design using
Google apps.

World Economic Forum. (2016, March). Industry Agenda New Vision for Education: Fostering
Social and Emotional Learning through Technology [PDF].

PAGE 13