funkypedagogy English Teachers Blog

Catch up with a slice of fresh news on all things education! Whether you're an English teacher looking for innovative classroom strategies, a language enthusiast exploring new learning techniques, or an educator passionate about shaping the future, this blog has something for you. We bring you insights, tips, and the latest trends in English teaching, curriculum development, and educational technology—all served with a dose of inspiration. Stay tuned, stay curious, and let's make learning more engaging than ever!

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A Writing Curriculum (Part 1)

Jennifer's Blogs, Leadership, Teaching Ideas

This is a post based on the presentation I gave at the LitDrive National Conference on 29th March 2025. Why is teaching writing actually quite hard? I have the privilege...Continue reading→

English Curriculum and ‘The Spherical Cow’…

Jennifer's Blogs, Leadership, Personal Reflection, Teaching Ideas

I do a lot of curriculum work. For quite a while now I’ve been trying to articulate something for myself with little success. This blog post has been invariably a...Continue reading→

Maximising the Value: What Can the Education System Learn From the World of Continuous Improvement?

Amplify: Guest Blogs, Jennifer's Blogs, Leadership

This is a guest blog written by Louisa Grimley. Louisa is currently Secondary English Lead at a 4-19 SEND provision in Leicester. A latecomer to teaching, she uses her previous...Continue reading→

HWRK Magazine: Creative Writing and Self-Regulation

Jennifer's Blogs

I wrote this article for HWRK Magazine in January 2023 to walk through my process for teaching creative writing using reflection and self-regulation. You can read the whole piece here.Continue reading→

‘Checking out me [grammar]’

Jennifer's Blogs

This student is right, of course, but there is far more of interest here, and we do Agard’s genius an injustice if this is where our discussion ends. Stylistics is...Continue reading→

GCSE Narrative Writing: Form Fragments

Jennifer's Blogs

‘Creative’ Writing on the current GCSE specs isn’t really ‘creative’ in the real sense of the word. Students must respond to an unseen prompt in timed conditions and attempt to...Continue reading→

Visualise Metaphor

Jennifer's Blogs

Metaphor is one of the key pillars of knowledge in English. Whether we are creating them or encountering them, metaphors highlight the interconnectedness of ideas and experiences. Fundamentally, metaphors are...Continue reading→

Revealing the master plan…

Jennifer's Blogs

I have run a few courses this year for people in leadership positions, and shared my ‘master’ sheet as an example of how I try to keep all my plates...Continue reading→

Grammar for (academic) writing: sentences working hard…

Jennifer's Blogs

This post is based on my part of a conference talk with Marcello Giovanelli at ResearchEd Warrington in April 2022 based on the work we have been doing for our...Continue reading→

Re-thinking Dual Coding: Visuospatial Modelling in English

Jennifer's Blogs

I think we’ve lost the way with dual coding. Something isn’t working. Lethal mutations have taken hold of our practice in many places and I think that we’ve lost sight...Continue reading→