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 agree with you, extra credit shouldn't be that easy to achieve. You shouldn't be able to get extra credit by doing nothing. You should get extra credit by doing extra work. I would have to agree with you that the best way to achieve a better grade is by redoing an assignment.
I think that extra credit can be beneficial because it gives students an opportunity to get a better grade than you got had. All extra credit should be related to the unit that the class is working on, and it shouldn't be to0 easy. I think that students should have to try hard to get there grade up, extra credit should not be an easy way to bump their grade up, but students showing that they actually learned the information.
I would have to agree with you, extra credit can be very beneficial. This can give the students more opportunities to have better grades like you said. I think that extra credit shouldn't be too easy either. You can't make it too easy otherwise they won't get the topic more than they are supposed to and have that extra understanding.
I like what you said about a class not being someone's favorite. For example, history although I think it is important to know it can sometimes be hard to sit and listen to 43 minutes of slide shows of history. But like I said, it's important to know.
I like extra credit as well, like you said if the student is willing to put in extra work for extra points I don't think that there is any problem with that. As long as the teacher is willing to also do extra work to help their students succeed more.
I like the idea of getting extra credit. I like they way Mr. Bruns sees extra credit the best. I think that we should get the option to get extra credit just to an extent. I am for extra credit and take the opportunity if I get it.
I also take the opportunity to get extra credit any time that I can get. This can give you a little cushion when it comes to your grade. This way if you are scared about a test you just took, even if you do badly on the test it won't affect your grade as much as it would have.
I think extra credit is good because it gives students a chance to bring their grades up if they are struggling in that class. I am for getting extra credit because it's nice to know that there is something that can boost your grade if you need it.
I think many kids who struggle in classes tend to not take advantage of the extra credit that teachers offer. Then if you think about the kids that are doing fine in a class, they are the ones that tend to do the extra credit even though they don't need it. Have you ever needed it to boost your grade?
I think extra credit is a good choice but only if you don't go over 100%. I am for extra credit oppurtunities, but again, if you go over a 100% in the gradebook I dissaprove it. I like Mr. Bruns' extra credit the most because you can literally watch movies and all you have to do is write a paper
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