Better Than BingoActivity slides
Better Than Bingo · Activity Slides
Pitch the Impossible
Design a surprisingly workable response to an absurdly difficult school constraint.
24–32 min4–100 peopleTable groups
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Facilitator prep · Do not project yet
Set the room up for success.
Materials
- Constraint cards
- Chart paper or shared slides
- Markers
Before you begin
- Write realistic-but-absurd school constraints
- Choose a two-minute pitch format with multiple contribution roles
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Facilitator language · Do not project yet
What to say
“The constraint is intentionally unreasonable. Your job is not to save education in twelve minutes; find one useful idea hiding inside the impossible version.”
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Facilitator notes · Do not project yet
Keep it comfortable and useful.
Make room for everyone
- Offer roles for ideating, organizing, writing, designing, timing, or presenting.
- Do not require every person to speak.
- Avoid constraints that trivialize disability, poverty, language access, or family circumstances.
Watch out for
- Do not frame structural inequities as fun puzzles.
- Keep pitches short enough that the activity remains generative rather than exhausting.
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For the group
Here’s what to do.
- 1
Form teams and draw one constraint card.
- 2
Give teams twelve minutes to design, sketch, and prepare a two-minute pitch.
- 3
Require one accessibility consideration and one thing the team refuses to sacrifice.
- 4
Run pitches without scoring or winners.
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For the group
Keep going.
- 5
After each pitch, listeners capture one idea worth borrowing.
- 6
End by separating playful concepts from ideas that could be tested.
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Prompt 01
Teach a key idea with no paper, screens, or whole-group talking.
Take a moment to think. Passing or writing instead is always okay.
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Prompt 02
Design family engagement for people who cannot come to campus.
Take a moment to think. Passing or writing instead is always okay.
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Prompt 03
Create a warm-up that still works when half the group is absent.
Take a moment to think. Passing or writing instead is always okay.
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Prompt 04
Make feedback useful when nobody can add another meeting.
Take a moment to think. Passing or writing instead is always okay.
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Wrap it up
One last thought.
- What useful idea appeared because of the constraint?
- What did your team protect when tradeoffs became necessary?