Better Than BingoActivity slides
Better Than Bingo · Classroom Edition
The Class Archive
Make one two-minute deposit each week until the class has a year that only this room could have created.
2–20 min5–40 peopleWhole group
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Teacher prep · Do not project yet
Set the room up for success.
Materials
- Choose one: index cards, a school-approved playlist, camera, question jar, or simple tally chart
Before you begin
- Choose exactly one archive format
- Schedule the same two-minute window every week
- Set privacy, media, and content rules before the first contribution
- Plan the end-of-year reveal now
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Teacher language · Do not project yet
What to say
“We are making one tiny record of this class every week. We are choosing one format, keeping it to two minutes, and handing more of the ritual to students as the year goes on.”
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Teacher notes · Do not project yet
Keep it comfortable and useful.
Make room for everyone
- Offer writing, dictation, drawing, photography, selection, and observer roles.
- Provide a non-audio path for playlist participation and respect sensory needs.
- Do not photograph or identify students without required consent.
- Review every public or shared contribution for privacy and accessibility.
Watch out for
- Choose one archive, not several.
- Follow school policies for music, photography, student work, and digital sharing.
- Never use the tally to track individual behavior or embarrassment.
- Do not publish the archive outside the class without appropriate permission.
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For students
Here’s what to do.
- 1
Choose one archive format with the class and name its boundaries.
- 2
Card Wall: a rotating pair writes one sentence about the week and adds it to a dated timeline.
- 3
Playlist: one rotating student selects a school-appropriate song under school media rules; provide a non-music contribution option.
- 4
Ordinary Photograph: capture one classroom object, board, or arrangement without identifiable students unless documented permission allows it.
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For students
Keep going.
- 5
Question Jar: add one unanswered, non-personal question each week and leave the jar closed until the planned reveal.
- 6
Harmless Tally: count one neutral recurring event that never targets a student, identity, mistake, or behavior.
- 7
Keep the weekly contribution to a hard two-minute limit and transfer facilitation to students when the routine is stable.
- 8
During the final weeks, set aside time to revisit the complete archive and let students notice what changed.
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Prompt 01
What one sentence belongs in this week’s record?
Take a moment to think. Passing or writing instead is always okay.
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Prompt 02
What ordinary object or view represents the room this week?
Take a moment to think. Passing or writing instead is always okay.
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Prompt 03
What question did the class leave open?
Take a moment to think. Passing or writing instead is always okay.
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Prompt 04
What harmless thing are we counting?
Take a moment to think. Passing or writing instead is always okay.
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Prompt 05
What contribution can include students who do not want to choose or hear music?
Take a moment to think. Passing or writing instead is always okay.
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Wrap it up
One last thought.
- What did this archive remember that we would have forgotten?
- What changed in the room across the year?
- What belongs to the class, and what should remain private?