The Plateau Problem
10 Questions to Ask Yourself After Every Lesson
Time Allocation
1. What percentage of the lesson was I talking? 2. How much time did students spend in actual production (speaking/writing)? If you talked for more than 30%, your students didn't practice enough.
Objectives & Learning
3. Can I state what students learned today in one sentence? 4. What evidence do I have that they learned it? If you can't answer both, the lesson may have been activity-rich but learning-poor.
Engagement & Participation
5. Which students didn't speak today? 6. Was there a moment when I lost the class's attention — and why? Track the 'silent students' across weeks. If the same names keep appearing, intervention is needed.
Feedback Quality
7. Did I correct errors effectively? 8. Did I give at least one piece of positive feedback to each student? 9. Was my error correction focused on today's objective or randomly distributed? 10. What will I do differently next time?
Teacher Tip
“After every lesson, write three things on a sticky note: 1) What worked best. 2) What I'd change. 3) One specific student to watch next lesson. Stick it on your desk. Before your next lesson with that class, read it. This 3-minute habit creates a continuous improvement loop that compounds over weeks and months. Over a semester, you'll have a detailed record of what works for this specific class.”
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I improve my ESL teaching?
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Start with reflective practice: after each lesson, note what worked, what didn't, and what you'd change. Record yourself teaching occasionally and watch for patterns (excessive TTT, unclear instructions). Ask students for regular feedback. Observe colleagues, even informally. Read one article on language teaching methodology per week.
What is reflective practice in teaching?
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Reflective practice is the systematic analysis of your own teaching to improve it. It includes post-lesson reflection (what worked and what didn't), self-observation (recording and analyzing your teaching), peer observation, and student feedback. The key is turning observations into concrete changes in future lessons.
Should I record myself teaching?
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Absolutely — it's the most powerful self-improvement tool available. Even a 10-minute phone recording reveals patterns you can't notice while teaching: how long you wait after questions, how you distribute attention, how clear your instructions really are. Watch with a specific focus each time rather than trying to analyze everything.