How IGNITE Resources Are Built

I use AI in building these resources, and I'd rather say so plainly than leave you wondering.

For 35 years I adapted my classroom practice to new technology as it arrived, from the first computer labs, to the mainstream adoption of the internet, through to generative AI, always asking the same question: does this technological tool make student thinking sharper, or does it let students skip the thinking altogether. That question is what the IGNITE Framework is built on, and it's the question I apply to my own work.

What I Do and What AI Does

Every resource starts with my curriculum goals, assessment design and instructional intent, based on 35 years teaching secondary English in Ontario. From there, I work with AI over many hours and days: generating possibilities, testing ideas, trying to break the instructions to see where they fail, drafting and redrafting wording, and building document architecture and layout. I reject more than I keep.

One Example of Why That Matters

I asked AI to research current Indigenous texts that would resonate with Grade 9 students across a range of reading levels. The response came back recommending Thomas King's "Borders" as the anchor text for an Indigenous-voices unit. King accepted genealogical findings in 2025 that he has no Indigenous ancestry. The recommendation looked well supported: the Ministry's own curriculum document still lists King, and so do reading lists across the sector. A teacher following the plan would have had no obvious reason to question it. I replaced it with Drew Hayden Taylor's "Take Us to Your Chief," as he's an Ojibwe writer from Curve Lake First Nation. That's why the final review can't just be proofreading.

Who Decides

I make the final decisions about what goes into a resource, and I stand behind those decisions. Nothing goes into a resource because AI produced it and it sounded good. Every rubric descriptor, every success criterion, and every piece of student-facing language is there because I judged it would work in a real classroom.

You Don't Need AI to Use These

Building a resource with AI doesn't mean you need AI to use it. Unless a product says otherwise, everything I sell is designed to work in an ordinary classroom with no AI tool involved.

If you use AI in your own planning and want to talk about what that looks like in an English classroom, you're welcome to reach out to me at igniteenglishresources@gmail.com.