IGNITE English Resources

Who's behind this?

About George O'Toole

George O'Toole

I'm a retired Ontario Secondary English Head of Department. I hold a Master of Education in Language and Literacy from the University of Toronto, with specialist qualifications in English, Drama, and Music. I've served as an Educational Technology Coach, and an instructor with the Queen's University Faculty of Education, teaching Additional Qualification courses. I still take supply work, so the classroom isn't a memory, it's my reality.

Why This Exists

I build resources to solve one specific problem: students completing tasks without doing real thinking. That problem didn't start with AI, but AI made it efficient and easier, and it made our old "defences" useless overnight.

All my work answers a single question. What does authentic assessment look like now that a machine can write a student's assignment in seconds? The IGNITE Framework is my answer to the naming half of that question. The rest of my resources are the answer to the practical half.

I use AI in building these resources, and I set out plainly how I do it, and where the educational decisions are made, on a separate page: How IGNITE resources are built.

Working with Schools and Departments

A department session runs about 60 to 90 minutes and it isn't a talk about AI. Everyone brings one assignment they already teach. We put those real tasks through the Audit together, name the level each one is actually asking for, and work on the weakest pillar in the room. People leave with one redesign started on their own material and a shared vocabulary for the conversation that follows, which is usually the part a department is missing rather than the willingness.

The same approach works as a half-day board professional development workshop on assessment design, or as a 60 to 75 minute conference workshop. If you'd rather start smaller, the framework poster is free to use with attribution in any school, and a poster on the wall plus one department meeting is a reasonable beginning on its own.

What Happens in a Typical Session

A typical IGNITE session at a glance. Four steps: bring one assignment you already teach; audit it together with the free IGNITE Assignment Audit; name the level the task asks for; strengthen it by working on the pillar it needs most. You leave with a redesign started on your own assignment, a clear next step, and a shared vocabulary for your department. Formats: department session, 60 to 90 minutes; board PD workshop, half day; conference workshop, 60 to 75 minutes. In person or online, and other lengths can be discussed.
For more details, or to share with your principal or department colleagues, click here to download the full, detailed PDF.

Experience Leading Teacher Learning

IGNITE grew out of a career spent helping teachers, not just students, do their best work. I've led an English department, coached teachers across a school board, written courses, and taught the teachers who teach English.

Leading Change Across a School Board

  • Hired as my school board's first technology coach, to help create and lead its 1:1 Chromebook pilot
  • Innovative Education Coach for staff at eight secondary schools
  • Featured in Durham Region News for coaching teachers through a large classroom technology rollout, at whatever pace each teacher needed. Read the article

Professional Development I've Delivered

  • School board PD days and new teacher training
  • Nine system-wide workshops, on Google Classroom and G Suite, HyperDocs, digital feedback, screencasting for video lessons, and student engagement through technology
  • Many more sessions at the school level, plus sessions for administrators and school community councils

Conferences and Universities

  • Co-presented a session on the SAMR model at the Connect Conference
  • Guest presenter at a regional “Smart Cities” forum
  • “Academic Honesty in Online Learning,” for instructors at Queen's University
  • Public lecture at York University, “Emotional Intelligence: Creating Caring Teachers and Administrators,” in the Principal's Qualification Program

Teaching Teachers

  • Online Additional Qualification instructor, Queen's University Faculty of Education: Intermediate English, Senior English, and Honour Specialist English
  • Senior English Course Chair, Continuing Teacher Education

Leading in the School

  • Head of the English Department
  • Department Course Chair and course writer for Ontario English courses ENL1W, NBE3U, and EWC4U
  • Taught English, Drama, and Music, Grades 9 to 12, from Applied to Gifted

Qualifications

  • B.A. (Hons.)
  • Master of Education, Curriculum Development: Language and Literacy, University of Toronto
  • Honour Specialist in English, Drama, and Music
  • Principal's Qualification, Parts 1 and 2
  • Google Certified Educator, Levels 1 and 2, and Microsoft Innovative Educator

“Wherever you are right now, we'll take you from point A to point B.”quoted in Durham Region News

Get in Touch

In a session, each teacher leaves with one assignment diagnosed and a redesign already underway. Tell me the grade range and roughly how long you have, and I'll say whether a session is worth your time. I read every email that arrives and I'll reply to you personally.

Email GeorgeConnect on LinkedInVisit the Store

IGNITE English Resources is my own independent work. It isn't affiliated with, or endorsed by, any school board or district, including any board I've worked for or still take supply work with. It's also built by a teacher, not a technology company: IGNITE sells no AI tools and never requires a paid one. Where an activity uses AI, it's one your school or district has already approved.