Perhaps you have heard of fantasy baseball or fantasy football, where the real life stats of players on your “team” are compiled to help a team to victory. Well, welcome to fantasy politics. This is an activity I am currently using with my Lights Academy seniors. They have really embraced learning about different servants in our government and have a much greater understanding of the variety of roles one may play in our government as well as having a practical connection to daily political news.
Here are the steps for playing fantasy politics:
- Points are based on the number of times a political figure is mentioned in articles in the New York Times and Washington Post over four weeks, beginning on Monday, October 30th and ending on Sunday, November 26th.
- Donald Trump will not be used in this competition. A team that gained him would almost automatically win.
- Each team has $100 to “spend” on its lineup.
- A lineup will consist of four politicians whose data will count. One other politician may be kept in reserve. All other politicians must be relased.
- A new lineup may be submitted at the start of each week.
- In the auction, each team will in turn provide a name to be auctioned off until all teams are filled or until money has been depleted.
- The auction is scheduled for 1 PM on Friday, October 27th
- Just like in sports competitions, politicians may be traded, released, or signed for the beginning of each new week.
NOTE: We had one trade that occurred before the start of the “season.” This trade saw Paul Manafort moving to another team for James Comey. The “owners” of Paul Manafort are expecting a big boost now that Manafort has been in the news so much this past week. The fortunes of a fantasy politics team can be erratic in the same way as a fantasy sports team!
This sounds awesome! Just read it to my husband who teaches international affairs. We have been speculating on how you could play it on a global level!
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Interesting comment because the students have already asked about doing an international version of this activity during the second semester. I may try that with this group of seniors.
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