Better Than BingoActivity slides
Better Than Bingo · Classroom Edition
Day Forty-One
Audit the agreements, routines, and assumptions that made sense in August but no longer fit the class.
15–22 min8–40 peopleIndividual
Better Than BingoFacilitator view
Teacher prep · Do not project yet
Set the room up for success.
Materials
- Existing class agreements or three current routines
- Sticky notes or index cards
- Markers
Before you begin
- 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
Better Than BingoFacilitator view
Teacher language · Do not project yet
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.”
Better Than BingoFacilitator view
Teacher notes · Do not project yet
Keep it comfortable and useful.
Make room for everyone
- 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.
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.
Better Than BingoGroup view
For students
Here’s what to do.
- 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.
Better Than BingoGroup view
For students
Keep going.
- 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.
Better Than BingoGroup view
Prompt 01
What is working well enough to protect?
Take a moment to think. Passing or writing instead is always okay.
Better Than BingoGroup view
Prompt 02
What did we stop doing—and does anyone miss it?
Take a moment to think. Passing or writing instead is always okay.
Better Than BingoGroup view
Prompt 03
What needs a version that fits this class now?
Take a moment to think. Passing or writing instead is always okay.
Better Than BingoGroup view
Prompt 04
What have you gotten better at since the beginning of the year?
Take a moment to think. Passing or writing instead is always okay.
Better Than BingoGroup view
Prompt 05
Who made this room easier, and what did they do?
Take a moment to think. Passing or writing instead is always okay.
Better Than BingoGroup view
Wrap it up
One last thought.
- What changed because we know one another better now?
- How will we notice whether the revised agreement is working?