Reconnect · Repair or Reset · Share Ideas
Day Forty-One
Audit the agreements, routines, and assumptions that made sense in August but no longer fit the class.
Time15–22 minutes
Group size8–40 people
FormatIndividual, Small groups, Whole group
MaterialsExisting class agreements or three current routines, Sticky notes or index cards, Markers
What this accomplishes
Students examine the class’s original norms, identify what is working, what has quietly disappeared, and what needs revision. The teacher includes one of their own practices in the audit and makes the final change visible.
- Update class agreements using real experience
- Recognize growth and useful peer contributions
Before you begin
Materials
- Existing class agreements or three current routines
- Sticky notes or index cards
- Markers
Preparation
- Display the original agreements or choose three routines to examine
- Choose one teacher practice you are genuinely willing to revise
- Decide which expectations are flexible and which are required by safety or school policy
What to say
“We wrote or started these routines before we knew what this class would actually be like. Today we are using forty-ish days of evidence to keep what works, retire what does not, and improve one thing together.”
How to run it
- 1
Display the original agreements, routines, or three teacher-selected classroom practices.
- 2
Model the audit by naming one teacher practice that has not worked as intended.
- 3
In small groups, label each item Working, Gone Quietly, or Needs Changing.
- 4
For every Needs Changing label, require one specific replacement rather than a complaint.
- 5
Clarify which nonnegotiable safety or school expectations cannot be removed, while inviting input on how they are practiced.
- 6
Vote or reach agreement on feasible revisions and edit the original document visibly rather than hiding the change in a reprint.
- 7
Collect one unsigned reflection about something the student has improved since the beginning of the year.
- 8
Invite an optional private appreciation note naming one person and one specific action that made the class easier.
Prompts to use
What is working well enough to protect?
What did we stop doing—and does anyone miss it?
What needs a version that fits this class now?
What have you gotten better at since the beginning of the year?
Who made this room easier, and what did they do?
Adapt it to the room
Small group
Audit three routines together and use consensus rather than a formal vote.
Large group
Assign different agreements to table groups, then collect proposed revisions before whole-class decisions.
Virtual
Use an anonymous form and edit a shared norms document live.
Accessibility & inclusion
- Offer anonymous, spoken, written, dictated, or symbol-based feedback.
- Read all agreements aloud and use concrete examples.
- Keep appreciation delivery optional and private.
- Do not frame compliance, quietness, or speed as the only evidence that a routine works.
Debrief, if useful
What changed because we know one another better now?
How will we notice whether the revised agreement is working?
Why it works—and what can go wrong
Why it works
Students now have evidence about the real room. Visible revision shows that reflection can change a shared system rather than producing another poster no one uses.
Watch out for
- Do not invite students to vote away safety, dignity, accessibility, or school requirements.
- Do not ask students to name classmates as the problem.
- Only promise changes the teacher can actually make.