NCTE 2025

Teaching can be a very rewarding experience for most teachers, but it also can be tiring after following the same routines for a number of years and as such we can ‘plateau’ at various times during our career. Plateauing is marked by feelings of sameness, frustration, disillusionment, and career stagnation. It can happen when we least expect it, after 2 years, 5 years, 10 years and even beyond that resulting in many teachers losing the joy, excitement, and wonder of teaching that makes us so effective in providing opportunities for our students to learn. This plenary will show how language teachers can overcome plateauing by considering ten principles of effective teaching.