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We all want students to participate. We want them to raise their hands, share their ideas, react, ask questions, and bring that energy that makes a classroom feel alive.

But what happens when they don’t?

It is easy to assume that the activity is not working, that students are not motivated, or even that we are doing something wrong.

In this special 200th episode of Growing With Proficiency: The Podcast, I sit down with Justin Slocum Bailey to explore another possibility:

Maybe the activity is not the problem. Maybe we need to get the stakes right.

As you prepare to go back to school, this conversation will help you think more intentionally about the questions you ask, the topics you choose, and the different ways students can participate without feeling pressured or put on the spot.

Justin shares how we can create participation that feels meaningful enough to be worth the effort—but safe enough for students to take the risk.

✨ Takeaways

• What it means when the stakes for participation are too high or too low
• Why an activity may fall flat even when it is a great activity
• How information gaps and opinion questions can make communication more meaningful
• Why some personal questions may feel too risky for students
• How to create distance from sensitive topics without removing authentic communication
• Simple ways students can participate without immediately speaking in front of the class
• Why grading every interaction may increase pressure instead of participation
• Why curiosity is more helpful than blaming the activity, the student, or yourself

This episode is an invitation to pause before searching for another activity and ask:

Are the stakes too high, too low, or just right for my students?

📌 Resources + Links Mentioned in This Episode

Learn more from Justin at Indwelling Language:
indwellinglanguage.com

Find more about Voces Digital here

Follow me on Instagram:
@claudiamelliott

Explore ready-to-use back-to-school resources for Spanish teachers in my store:
Growing With Proficiency on Teachers Pay Teachers

Learn more about Growing With Proficiency: The Spanish Teacher Academy:
growingwithproficiency.com/academy

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Planning the first week of school can feel overwhelming—especially when you have a phone full of saved ideas, conference notes, activities, and resources you want to try. But a successful first week is not about doing everything. It is about choosing what will help you build the classroom you want to sustain all year.

In This Episode, you will learn:

• Why more activities do not always create a better first week
• How to connect your first-week plans to your long-term classroom goals
• Why activities should serve a purpose—not the other way around
• How to begin routines at a pace you can sustain
• Why I do not introduce Calendar Talk, sustained reading, and every classroom routine immediately
• Simple ways to connect, provide input, reset, and reflect during the first week
• How to create early success for both you and your students

Resources Mentioned

Read the full blog post.

Learn more about Growing With Proficiency: The Spanish Teacher Academy:
https://growingwithproficiency.com/academy

The Academy is open through July 21 at 11:55 PM ET.

Join us for the Academy Summer Conference on July 24 and 25, plus ongoing professional development, planning support, classroom resources, and the Creciendo curriculum.

Questions about the Academy?
Email support@growingwithproficiency.com

Follow me on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/claudiamelliott/

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What if the reason your class feels hard to sustain is not because your activities are wrong, but because they are standing alone?

In this episode of Growing With Proficiency The Podcast, I’m talking about routines that support language acquisition—not classroom procedures like entering the room or turning in papers, but pedagogical routines that create the spaces our students need again and again.

We’ll look at how routines can help us provide more comprehensible input, build connection, support communication, create moments for reset and regulation, and give students time to consolidate and reflect.

Because a sustainable world language class is not built on one perfect activity. It is built on intentional routines that help us use the language in ways that are comprehensible, communicative, and connected.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why one great activity is not the same as a sustainable class
• What pedagogical routines are and how they support language acquisition
• How to create repeated spaces for comprehensible input, connection, communication, reset, and reflection
• Why routines need both consistency and flexibility
• How activities like free reading, Calendar Talk, Question of the Day, Star Student Interview, brain breaks, Write and Discuss, free writes, and exit tickets can become part of a sustainable classroom rhythm
• How to start mapping your own weekly routine system without adding more overwhelm

• Free workshop for Spanish teachers: How to Create a Sustainable Spanish Class That Is Comprehensible, Communicative, and Connected
  Register here: growingwithproficiency.com/tallergratuito
• Join the waitlist for Growing With Proficiency: The Spanish Teacher Academy
  growingwithproficiency.com/academy
• Cuéntame podcast by Marta Ruiz Yedinak
• Mote Chrome Extension for recording quick listening activities
• Episode with Dr. Bill VanPatten on the two-myths about language acquisition
• Episode with Chelsea Lawrence about Silent Discussion
• Blog post by John Cowart about using data with free writes