Have you ever gotten to the end of the quarter and realized you didn't have the grade you wanted so you did some extra credit work to get your grade up? Depending on who you are, that may have happened to you. But some teachers don't allow extra credit, they don't think we should be able to do work that gives us extra points. So, I asked some teachers what their thoughts on this topic were, here is what some of them said:
Mrs. Lewis is against traditional extra credit; she believes that extra credit is not a reflection of what your real grade should be. In her eyes "extra credit" would be re-doing an assignment to show you understand the topic. But you should never have above a %100.
Mrs. Noeth doesn’t give a lot of extra credit. Overall, she is for and against giving extra credit. In her opinion, she gives lots of in-class participation points. We do lots of work throughout the quarter to where we as students should have enough points.
Mr. Bruns used to be against it, he used to say, “Do it right the first time.” But, throughout his years of teaching, he learned that not everyone loves history. So that could affect their ability to learn, comprehend, and remember it. But if people are willing to do extra work, they will find success. So, his rule is if it relates to the topic we’re working on, then he sees no problem in giving extra credit for extra effort.
Mrs. Nelson believes that extra credit is a double-edged sword, in her opinion it is good for kids who take advantage of it. But normally the kids who need it don’t do it, and the kids who don’t need it just boost their grade from an A to a higher percentage A. Mrs. Nelson doesn’t like project-based extra credit, she likes partial extra credit opportunities where it shows extra effort on the part of the student.
Mrs. Noethe said, “I absolutely, 100% never give extra credit unless all of the regular credit has been attempted.” She thinks if you don’t give effort throughout the semester, quarter, or year. Whatever fiscal period you are looking at, if you don’t give a good effort, you shouldn’t be given the opportunity of extra credit. Her courses specifically have many opportunities not for extra credit but for revision and corrections. Showing that you now understand the topic to the point of getting full credit.
Mrs. Hamilton doesn’t believe in extra credit, she feels that the grade you have should reflect how well you understand the content you have been learning, quizzing, and testing over. In our talk, she referenced “Bloom's Taxonomy”, which is a tool that teachers use to see how much a student understands the topic we are being educated on. Looking at the highest level of” Bloom's Taxonomy” you would be creating, making connections, making arguments, and critiquing others based on the content. If you get %100 you are demonstrating, you know the content at those levels. She believes it is on the teachers to provide students opportunities to show that they know what we have been learning at those levels. Lastly, she talked about how if you don’t demonstrate that level of understanding you can retake quizzes and exams to get to that point that your grade would reflect how well you know the contents of your learning.
Throughout this whole interview process, I would say I learned a lot about what teachers think about extra credit. But also, what teachers believe about kids' efforts in school. One thing would be teachers believe that your grade should reflect how well you know the subjects you’re learning. Another is that it seems that kids that do the work to begin with, aren’t going to be the kids that need the extra credit. But they are going to be willing to do the extra credit.
Sources:
Mrs. Lewis, Mrs. Noeth, Mr. Bruns, Mrs. Nelson, Mrs. Noethe, and Mrs. Hamilton. Thank you all for helping!!
What do you think about extra credit?
Are you for or against getting extra credit opportunities as a student?
Which teacher’s extra credit opportunities do you like the best?
Replies
I love this story! Original reesearch! It gives me an idea for next semester. Super job Emercyn. You continue to impress. I do have to say I would have liked to know the history of extra credit. Where did the idea start?
I think extra credit is great, I feel that its a good way for excellent students to get even more of a better grade. Also, I can see it being benefical for students who may of struggled on something in a class, and may want to raise their grades. I'm not against extra credit opportunites, I like how Mr. Bruns does it.
I think all teachers should offer extra credit. Don't most teachers what their kids to succeed? Extra credit has many benefits like not doing very well on a test, extra credit can help bring your grade up more. Some parents are more strict about there childs grades so and easy way to help them raise it is extra credit.
I agree with you Delaney, I think that most teachers do want their kids to succeed. And most kids, I would say, succeed with extra credit. It can help them boost their grade from a decent one or a bad one to one they like more.
In my opinion I think that all teachers should offer extra credit in my opinion. If the student is willing to do extra work to bring his or her grade up, then they should have the opprotunity to be able to do that. Mr. Bruns extra credit opprotunities are probably my favorite I think, because he offers a variety of different ways to earn it.
I would have to agree with you that Mr. Bruns' extra credit is my favorite as well. I think a lot of kids would agree with that statement as well. He makes it extra work but not to the point that it would make kids not want to learn and do more for history.
What I think about extar credit is that students should get extra credit but it doesn't go over %100 and after students do all there non extra credit stuff. I like Mr.Bruns extra credit opportunitie better then all the rest because he said if it relates to the topic its okay so the students get a second chance at the topic.
I think that extra credit should definitely relate to the topic that you are learning about. I also like Mr. Bruns' extra credit, I believe that he does a great job of making sure the students can understand the topics that we are learning. Especially when reading the chapters for US history.
Personally I would like having the option of extra credit if i have performed very badly on a test and got a grade i was not satisfied with.However i think that in some aspects studentgs could take advanatge of extra credit if they do badly on assginments of tests frequently.
I also like having the option of extra credit, but sadly the people who normally need the extra credit to pass the class don't use that opportunity to get a better grade. Do you always take advantage of the extra credit that is given to you?
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