Teaching with Frankenstories ARCHIVED 202404

Game 3: Approval mode

Now that your students have experienced Frankenstories as a free-for-all, let's introduce a bit of regulation.

FS Nuggies Begone

Play a casual game, with the whole class—but this time, activate Approval Mode.

Smiting replies in Approval Mode

  • In Approval Mode, you’ll see student replies as they are submitted.
  • Reject any reply that you don’t want to progress to voting.
  • The player will be notified.
    • If the round is still open, the player can edit and resubmit.
  • When the timer ends, the game will wait for you to click Approve Round, and then any approved replies will be allocated for voting.

FS Join and Spectate

You can join the game as a player even when you are in Approval Mode. (You just need to remember to go back to the other tab and approve the round.)

You can also view the game as a spectator (and many teachers share the spectate view via a data projector while moderating player responses on another screen).

You can define your own criteria for rejecting a response, but a good rule of thumb is whether or not it feels like the player made a genuine effort to respond to the prompt or the previous entry.

The point of Approval Mode is to remove the reward for trolling and encourage students to attempt genuine (and creatively riskier) responses.

What to expect

  • This game will feel calmer, not as anarchic.
  • Some writers who were getting obliterated by votes for memes in the previous games might now get more traction. 
  • Other writers might struggle and disengage. The next goal will be to build these students’ skills so they can participate more fully.

Long term, you don't want to be approving replies in every game.

The point of Approval Mode is to show players that the power exists and to help moderate games while you establish group norms.

After that, ideally, all students will be making genuine replies. Once they have an intuitive sense of what is appropriate in Frankenstories in your class, you won't need to use Approval Mode.

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