Ignite Your Teaching

Send us Fan Mail Today we're diving into a topic that's close to every teacher's heart: ending the year on a positive note with your students. As we all know, this year has been filled with challenges, from behavior issues to a lack of support from admin and parents. It's no wonder we're feeling exhausted. But despite the chaos, we're determined to finish the year str...

Send us Fan Mail Are you ready to revolutionize your approach to teaching? Have you ever wondered how technology can enhance the learning experience?  In this episode of Ignite Your Teaching Podcast, we have a thought-provoking question: Can Chat GPT transform how students learn and write? Get ready to dive into the fascinating world of AI-powered tools and their impact on education. In this episo...

Send us Fan Mail How do you make assessments for your students to show their learning? Are you also requiring your students to create uniform projects where everyone's doing the same thing? I know how challenging it is to make assessments, but now you can say goodbye to the traditional way of giving assessments and prepare to immerse your classrooms in an atmosphere of excitement, curiosity,...

Send us Fan Mail Writing report cards is a comprehensive assessment that provides a valuable snapshot of a student's academic progress, strengths, and areas for improvement. However, many teachers find writing report cards challenging and time-consuming, especially when the tools they are using are making them less effective and efficient. So if you're one of these teachers, this episode...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we dive deep into the three C’s of classroom management - connection, consistency, and compassion. They are the foundation and underlying root of successful classroom management. In today’s episode, we will discuss the following: Connection - building relationships with your students and establishing trust is crucial for creating a positive and productive learning...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to today's episode, where we will discuss why inquiry-based learning can be challenging for students. We will also review some strategies you can implement to help make inquiry more accessible to students in your classroom. Inquiry-based learning is important for learning and engagement among your students, but it can also be challenging for them.  Students who strugg...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to today's episode, where we will explore the concept of differentiation in the classroom. Have you ever been asked if you are differentiating for your students and wondered what it actually means? Well, in this episode, we will discuss the four different ways you can differentiate your student groupings each day and how they can benefit your students' learning....

Send us Fan Mail Are you struggling to include inquiry-based learning in your classroom? Understanding how to implement it can be challenging, especially for teachers with a range of abilities in their classrooms. Inquiry is not just an open-ended free-for-all, but rather it is about empowering students to ask questions and guiding them through the process of discovering answers. In this episode,...

Send us Fan Mail Critical thinking skills are essential for students to succeed in the classroom and beyond. These skills involve analyzing information, evaluating arguments, and making informed decisions based on evidence. By building critical thinking skills in the classroom, teachers can help students become more engaged and independent learners who are better equipped to navigate the complexit...

Send us Fan Mail In this video, we dive into the crucial topic of creating a positive learning environment. As educators, we know that student motivation and engagement play a significant role in their academic success. A positive learning environment can make all the difference in fostering these qualities in our students. In this video, you will learn: The key components of a positive learning e...

Send us Fan Mail This podcast episode discusses the three primary assessment and evaluation types for teachers: diagnostic, formative, and summative. Diagnostic assessment is used to identify a student's strengths and weaknesses at the beginning of a school year or course to inform instruction. This can take many forms, such as diagnostic tests, skills assessments, and individualized learning...

Send us Fan Mail This is a video about How To Mark Using a Rubric In this episode, learn about - How to establish goals and success criteria - Determine the performance levels  - How to mark and score the rubric fairly - How to provide feedback for students.  Check out www.madlylearning..com/243 for the show notes, including some of my favourite rubrics for various subjects and links to our best u...

Send us Fan Mail Managing your time as a teacher is not easy. But if you know what to do, it can be done! Teaching is an important job that requires lots of energy and focus. It also takes a lot of planning and preparation. Here are some tips for managing your time as a teacher. Set Goals. Setting goals is one of the first things you should do when starting out with teaching. You need to set goals...

Send us Fan Mail Did you dread teaching a split grade...wishing that you could just be in a single-grade classroom again?  Teaching a split-grade classroom doesn't have to be twice the work and double the hassle.   In this episode, we share why we embrace teaching a split-grade classroom and why you should too.   Why split grades make you a better teacher How teaching a split can better suppo...

Send us Fan Mail What techniques and strategies should teachers use in their math programs if they want to teach math effectively? In this episode, we share a few techniques that you can use to spiral the curriculum, differentiate throughout the year, assess more efficiently, and engage your math students. In this episode we explore:  Why teachers should have high expectations How to build student...

Send us Fan Mail Ever felt the pressure of the Teacher Performance Appraisal (TPA)? Dive into what it truly means to teach authentically, aligning daily practices with evaluation criteria, and why it shouldn't be a one-off performance. In this episode, Patti dives deep into the intricacies of the Teacher Performance Appraisal (TPA) in Ontario. Sharing her journey of over 20 school days leadin...

Send us Fan Mail Is your math classroom the right place to be using reflective journals? I started using reflective journals in my math classroom a couple of years ago and now it’s one of my favorite things to use in math class.  If you’ve never used reflective journals in your math classroom before, I hope this episode will convince you to try them out! I’m covering what math reflective journals...

Send us Fan Mail How do you teach two grades in your math class at the same time? This episode is all about how to approach teaching math in a split-grade classroom.  These are my suggestions and strategies for teaching a split-grade class without constantly feeling like you’re doing two jobs at once. None of us have time for that!  You don’t have to double your workload to teach a split-grade cla...

Send us Fan Mail Do you spend hours trying to make everything fit on your bulletin boards and look good at the same time? I’m taking you through my process of putting together a bulletin board and teaching you how to plan it out in advance so that you know everything will fit in the space that you have.  Creating a mockup to scale is the simplest way to plan out your board, and you can use softwar...

Send us Fan Mail It’s time to start getting ready for back-to-school season! I want to talk about what it means to get your classroom back-to-school ready and how to make it manageable and realistic in the time you have. I know that you don’t want to spend half of August prepping for September, so I want to help you make it simple.  We’re talking about things like arranging your space, decorating...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever heard me talking about spiraled math instruction and wondered what it would actually look like in your classroom? In this episode, I’m answering your questions about spiraled math and teaching you how to do it the right way. If you’re new to spiraled instruction, it might seem like you have a lot of work ahead of you, but it’s actually very simple when you know exact...

Send us Fan Mail Do you like a lot of structure in your classroom, or do you prefer to hand the responsibilities over to your students? The great thing about math centers is that you get to choose what learning looks like in your classroom. That’s right, in this episode, we’re continuing the discussion about math centers. I’m explaining why I love centers so much for math and teaching you two impo...

Send us Fan Mail Have you been wondering how to get started with your math centers? This is a quick and simple episode breaking down everything you need to know about math centers and what activities to include in them.  I get a lot of questions about how to run math centers, what goes into each center, and what they look like in the classroom, so I’m here to answer all those questions in one plac...

Send us Fan Mail Are you starting to get ready for summer vacation? Before you get into full vacation mode to enjoy some well-deserved rest and relaxation, it’s a good idea to take the last few weeks of the school year to get prepped for next year. Trust me, it’s going to save you a lot of stress over the summer, especially when the back-to-school season comes around.  In this episode, I’m sharing...

Send us Fan Mail How are you going to get everything covered in the time that you have left in the school year? If that’s the question you're asking yourself right now, you’re going to want to catch this episode because I’m sharing the strategies I use to make sure I’m covering everything leftover in the subjects that I’ve fallen short on throughout the year.  I want to help you do each subje...