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Extra Credit Assignment Ideas that Support Student Learning

Classroom Management , Project-Based Learning , Writing

Close to the end of the semester, you likely get requests from students to complete extra credit assignments. You might be looking for extra credit assignment ideas , or maybe you’re wondering if extra credit should be allowed in the first place. Maybe you find last-minute requests annoying – grading extra credit projects can be frustrating and confusing! In this blog post, I’ll share some reasons to consider extra credit in your classroom. It can be an enriching learning opportunity for your students. You’ll also receive some examples of extra credit assignments , along with some strategies to stay organized with extra credit assignments.

Is Extra Credit a Good Thing?

Not everyone agrees that students deserve extra credit. Many teachers believe in only assigning “regular” credit. Sometimes the top performers in our class request the opportunity to boost their grades. Oftentimes, students who have unfinished assignments or lower grades request extra credit too. Teachers who do not assign extra credit often decline these requests to emphasize the importance of turning in regular assignments on time .

Meanwhile, some teachers do not assign extra credit because their schools do not allow it. School-wide policies may not permit extra credit in order to promote equitable grading practices. Before you decide whether or not you will offer extra credit, be sure to check your school’s policy.

Equitable Extra Credit Policies

Another place to consult before assigning extra credit is with any staff that teaches the same course as you. If either one of you approaches extra credit differently, your students may interpret this as inequitable . One of the main reasons that teachers believe students do not deserve extra credit is that it is unethical. There are ways to ensure that extra credit is equitable, but you will need to ensure that your colleagues are in agreement .

Students deserve extra credit when it is an opportunity offered to everyone . To ensure that your policies are ethical and equitable, do not assign extra credit on a case-by-case basis. This does not mean that everyone needs to complete an extra credit assignment. This also does not mean that every extra credit assignment needs to be the same. Equity is about access . Case-by-case simply implies that you should not approve extra credit for one student and deny it for another – unless there is a valid reason to do so.

Whether you believe students deserve extra credit or not, be sure to include your policy in your syllabus . If you allow extra credit, you may also wish to note your requirements. These can include when and how to request extra credit opportunities. Mondays Made Easy includes an Extra Credit Application with our Editable Full Course Syllabus Template .

Why Should Teachers Give Extra Credit?

Teachers should give extra credit if they support differentiation for students. When implemented properly, extra credit assignments can be a fantastic way to differentiate for different learner profiles. Many teachers hold the belief that a student’s grade in a course should reflect their understanding of the curriculum. In an equitable setting, there should be several opportunities to demonstrate that understanding.

There are multiple reasons why a student may perform poorly on an assessment. There are also multiple factors that may prevent students from being present in class or turning in work on time. Extra credit assignments, when assigned to correlate with your curriculum requirements and course expectations, provide students with another opportunity to meet course standards .

This is especially true if the extra credit is able to assess learning goals while catering to different learning styles . I saw a great example the other day of a student who baked a literal cake of symbolic elements from The Great Gatsby. Their write-up described the literary elements in the novel in relation to the cake: from rum-flavored icing to pearl necklace piping, this culinary creation fused course requirements with the student’s passion!

Tips for Assigning Extra Credit

One reason why teachers hate extra credit is that it can be a real headache! Keeping track of extra credit assignments and due dates requires additional effort on our part. On top of that, grading additional assignments around report card time is stressful. Thankfully, these hardships are minimized with a simple system in place.

Mondays Made Easy’s FREE Extra Credit Application is a great tool to help you keep track of extra credit assignments and requests. Students typically ask for extra credit in person; an application provides a paper trail for these conversations. Additionally, an application provides space to note assignment instructions and due dates – if your students are anything like mine, they might need a reminder about these details.

Extra credit applications can also double as a metacognitive reflection tool . I often have students explain why they need the extra credit in the first place. This provides them the opportunity to reflect on their performance and participation in the course. If the same student repeatedly asks for extra credit in your class, it can also be useful to have a record of each request . This can provide you both with documentation to discuss the student’s habits and performance.

A final reason why I love using extra credit applications is that they encourage students to be proactive . I introduce my extra credit application with my syllabus at the start of the course. I notify students that I require extra credit applications to be submitted three weeks before report cards. This sets the expectation that extra credit requests should not be made last minute. I also schedule assignments to be turned in before grades are finalized. This eliminates any last-minute grading .

Extra Credit Assignment Ideas for English Class

To simplify extra credit assignment ideas, you can adopt the popular approach of offering an assignment re-do to students. This is the easiest way to avoid additional grading while accommodating extra credit requests.

Another approach to extra credit that requires very little assessment is to implement a pass system . At the start of the semester, you can provide each student with a number of passes. For example, each student might receive three hallway passes and one late pass. In order to receive extra credit, students must have all of their passes remaining at the end of the semester. If your school policy allows, you can give students bonus points for simply showing up to class on time and avoiding hallway distractions.

For novel studies , you can offer students the opportunity to create a movie trailer. This example for an extra credit assignment idea requires a bit of effort, but it is a great alternative assessment for older students . A movie trailer will prompt students to avoid simple plot summaries and establish characterization and theme. To facilitate this assignment, Mondays Made Easy offers a Movie Trailer Project Outline and Rubric .

If your students have written research essays , you can offer them the opportunity to turn their work into a “ real-world resource .” A “real-world resource” is any type of media or document that delivers students’ research to the general public. This example of an extra credit assignment is a great opportunity for differentiation because it allows students to be creative and select any medium they like. Mondays Made Easy also offers a Real-World Resource Assignment Outline and Rubric .

Aligning Extra Credit Assignment Ideas with Your Curriculum

When it comes to selecting an extra credit assignment idea, the most important consideration should be how the assignment aligns with your curriculum. If you’re not sure what to assign for extra credit, one option could be to review the student’s performance . If they scored low on a particular assessment, it would make sense to opt for an assignment that covers similar curriculum strands .

For example, the Common Core State Standards require students to “write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence” ( English Language Arts Standards – Writing – Grade 9-10 ). If your student requesting extra credit scored lowest on an assessment for this strand, it would not be best practice to assess an argumentative writing assignment.

Mondays Made Easy’s Extra Credit Application prompts students to reflect on their performance in your course. It also offers them the opportunity to suggest extra credit assignment ideas . Oftentimes, students are able to recommend an assignment idea that evaluates similar skills to those that were evaluated poorly on a previous assessment. If their recommendation doesn’t align, you can facilitate a conversation to guide them in the right direction. This is a great way to implement differentiation and student choice . It also enables you to incorporate your students’ examples of extra credit assignments into your curriculum. Students have great ideas, and I’ve benefitted from reusing their suggestions with future classes!

Extra Credit Assignment Ideas: Important Takeaways

Assigning extra credit remains a matter of personal preference. You know what works best for your students, and your professional discretion will best determine whether or not extra credit is an opportunity that they need. As mentioned, it is best to check if your approach aligns with your school policy and your colleagues’ practices. If you do decide to offer your students extra credit assignments , I hope that the suggestions and ideas in this blog post support you in your efforts!

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The Big List of Funny Extra Credit Questions

When you want to make your students smile.

Looking for a few of the best extra credit questions ever? Want to make your students laugh—and love you? Our list of printable extra credit questions to the rescue!

You may or may not decide to give students points on assignments for clever answers to these questions; that’s up to you. All we know is that you’re building up some serious street cred by including a silly extra credit question on your next assessment.

Promise. Bookmark this post, and you’ll thank us for it. 

Of course, use your discretion and adapt these ideas to best fit your students’ level and ability. 

Get the printable big list of extra credit questions here.

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Use these extra credit questions and get a serious laugh from your students.

• What do people learn at school?
• Why was six afraid of seven? [Because seven eight nine = seven ‘ate’ nine]
• Explain the relationship between Mario and Luigi. [They are brothers.]
• Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?
• What does the fox say?
• How many colors are there in a rainbow? Name the colors. [There are seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green blue, indigo, violet.]
• Name two songs that have the same tune as the “Alphabet Song”. [“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and “Baa Baa Black Sheep”]
• What’s black and white and red all over? [A newspaper, an embarrassed zebra, a penguin with a rash, a chocolate sundae with ketchup on top. . . ]
• How do you “floss”? [Either a description of the dance or what you do with your teeth!]
• What is the official motto of the United States of America? [E Pluribus Unum]
• Why is the sky blue? [Blue light is scattered in all directions by the tiny molecules of air in Earth’s atmosphere. Blue is scattered more than other colors because it travels as shorter, smaller waves. This is why we see a blue sky most of the time.
• What is the silliest question you’ve ever asked?
• Draw a picture of your teacher on vacation. 
• Would you rather have a pet dinosaur or a pet dragon? Explain.
• How do you make a hot dog?
• What is the first product to ever have a barcode? [A pack of Rigley gum]
• Finish this sentence: Here’s the story, of a lovely lady who was bringing up three very lovely girls. . . [. . . all of them had hair of gold, like their mother. The youngest one in curls.]
• Name 5 of the greatest all-boy bands. [The Backstreet Boys, Jackson 5, Beatles, One Direction, NSYNC, New Edition, The Monkees, New Kids on the Block]
• What was the first video ever uploaded to YouTube? [Me at the Zoo, by Jawed Karem]
• When was the first video uploaded to YouTube? [April 23, 2005]
• Who is the highest-paid NFL quarterback of all time? [Peyton Manning, $248 million]
• Write the first stanza of the song sung in the 7th inning at baseball games. [Take Take me out to the ball game, Take me out with the crowd; Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack, I don’t care if I never get back. Let me root, root, root for the home team, If they don’t win, it’s a shame. For it’s one, two, three strikes, you’re out, At the old ball game.]
• What do we wear on Wednesdays? [pink]
• What is the full name of Mike Wazowski’s best friend in Monsters, Inc.”? [James P. Sullivan]
• In Star Wars, where does Luke find Yoda? [Degobah]
• How many stitches does a Major League baseball have? [108]
• Name the movie this line is from: “I’m king of the world!!” [ Titanic ]
• Who’s never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you? [Rick Astley]
• Name all of Snow White’s 7 dwarfs. [Sleepy, Dopey, Grumpy, Sneezy, Doc, Happy, and Bashful]
• What are the four types of human blood? [A, B, AB, & O]
• Name the type of footwear invented in 1815 that allowed people to move quickly over hard, smooth ground. [Roller skates]
• Which former president had a toy named after him? What was the toy? [Theodore Roosevelt, teddy bear]
• How many sides does a dodecagon have? [12]
• What was Mozart’s full baptismal name? [Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart]
• What are three things you know about the Dewey Decimal System? [It’s a system for categorizing books. It was created by Melville Dewey in 1876. It has a number for all subjects, and each number has two parts: a class number (from the Dewey system) and a book number.]

What extra credit questions do you use? We’d love to hear! Come and share in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.  

Plus, sample report card comments. 

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5 Extra Credit Activities That Promote Engaged Learning

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The end of the semester is approaching quickly. Only two more weeks of coursework before finals week arrives. At this point of the semester, it’s not uncommon to receive requests for extra credit opportunities. I’ve never received an extra credit request from a student, though, because I build in multiple opportunities into the semester. There’s a lot of debate over whether extra credit should be an option in the classroom. Personally, I believe that if students are willing to put in extra effort to complete additional work, then they should have that opportunity. I’m more than willing to allow students to increase their project grades by a few points by completing additional activities that require students to deepen their understanding and abilities to apply what they’ve learned. Here are five forms of extra credit activities I offer in my various courses. [ A video version of this information is included at the end of this post, too!]

Responses to Classmates’ Work

In my literature courses , my students are required to complete 3-5 literary analysis discussion posts throughout the semester. They post them using our LMS forums tool. The forums are set to not allow students to read earlier posts in a specific forum until they themselves have submitted a post. At that point, the rest of the posts are revealed and they are free to reply to them. Once the deadline for a post passes, I change the setting so that all students can see the posts even if they did not complete one. Students have at least double the number of possible forums to post to than required of them, so they can pick which required texts they are most interested in analyzing before they are discussed in class.

As this is a digital assignment that all students easily have access to via our course website, I always include an extra credit opportunity at the end of the assignment sheet. Students were required to complete 3 posts in this semester’s ENG170 . The assignment equates to 15% of the student’s course grade. With this grade dynamic in mind, my students could receive up to 10 points extra credit on individual posts by completing the activity below. The language that follows is copied directly from my assignment sheet:

Extra Credit: Up to 10 points total

• Additional quote(s) and analysis that support their points
• Additional analysis of the quote(s) they used that further support their points
• Quote(s) and analysis that can counter their points
• Additional analysis of the quote(s) they used that counter their points
• A discussion of why their points/arguments are significant
• There is no word requirement for these comments. The detail you put into them and/or the points you make in them will equate to the amount of points you receive for each comment. Once you receive 10 points total, you will not be able to receive more of this extra credit, though additional comments can help with your participation grade in a manner similar to the Discussion Addition forums.

Very few students tend to take advantage of this extra credit opportunity, but I offer it every time I use this assignment. The students aren’t required to reply to classmates who submitted a post to the same forums they did. So, while a student might not have written a post about El Deafo , this extra credit activity gives them the chance to earn points by thinking further on a text that they originally passed on analyzing in written form. If they do respond to a post from a forum they chose earlier in the semester, then they’ve chosen to approach a text they’ve analyzed from an angle they might not have thought about on their own. In either case, students gain more literary analysis writing skills and work on rhetorically responding to someone else’s analysis rather than just always writing their own without any concern to the complications of collaborative writing.

Creative Project

This extra credit activity is posted during Week 1, but it’s not due until the last day of class. In contrast to the activity above, this project is not attached to any one assignment. For my children’s literature courses, this activity takes on the form of creating a picture book or first chapter of a graphic novel. In my YA literature course , they have the option of writing a piece of fanfiction based on one of our required texts. Here’s the assignment from my ENG170 course:

Step 1: Create a picture book or graphic novel chapter

You can work with one partner or by yourself. The picture book should be at least 14 pages long; the graphic novel at least 8 pages in length. The picture book can be a narrative or concept book. Your intended audience should be children, though you can pick any age group. It should be designed to look like a picture book or graphic novel (front cover to back cover, not just the story). 

Step 2: Write a Reflection

Write a short reflection (400 words or more). In it, discuss topics like how you came up with the idea for your book, why you decided to create this idea, why you designed the book the way you did (colors, shape, materials, etc.), what message(s) you want (or don’t want) your reader to get from the book, etc. Submit this reflection into the “Extra Credit Project” assignment link. If you work with a partner, each of you must write a reflection.

This project is much more popular with my students. Most complete the project without a partner, but I’ve seen some amazing writer and illustrator pairs. Most tend to create a narrative picture book. Graphic novel chapters are very rare. Students can earn up to 5 points extra credit on an exam by completing this activity, depending on the detail of their reflection and effort in creating their children’s text. We spend so much time analyzing the content and design of visual texts. This activity allows students to learn first hand just how hard creating these texts can be. Putting in the effort to experience this creative process and reflect on it is worth adding a few points to an exam that they might have struggled with because of how much information is included in this prerequisite course.

Digital Project

A new extra credit activity I offered this semester is the “class blog” project. Our LMS has a blog tool that allows students to construct a collaborative blog on our class website (so there is no need to grapple with creating their own blog or posting to the online public). So far, no student has posted to the blog. But, they have three more weeks to post. Here’s the assignment description I created for my students:

You can blog about anything related to children’s literature/media and culture. There is no word requirement for these blog posts. You can post as many as you want and include as much detail as you want. The more detail/depth you include in the posts, the more points you will earn. Just make sure it’s your own writing, and if you cite someone else in your posts, make sure to credit them. Once you receive the 5 points available for this extra credit, additional posts can function similarly to the discussion addition forum posts in regard to improving your participation grade. Here are some ideas for what you can blog about, though you might come up with other ideas:

• Children’s literature book reviews
• Children’s movie reviews
• Children’s app reviews
• Your thoughts/opinions about something going on in the media that connects to children’s texts or children in general
• Your experiences reading to children at a library or at home
• Your childhood memories of reading/watching one of the texts we’re reading for class
• Your ideas for how you’d teach a children’s text in your future classrooms

You can also reply to others’ blog posts. It’ll likely be harder to earn the same amount of points in comparison to creating your own, but replying is an option for anyone who doesn’t feel comfortable creating their own posts. If your post inspires a lot of comments, this community response can also increase the amount of points you earn for that post.

Like the creative project, students can earn up to five points extra credit on an exam by completing this activity. In adding this activity, my hope was to inspire students to connect our class to the world outside the classroom. I consider what I teach to be incredibly relevant to my students’ lives outside the classroom. Getting students to have that same belief can be difficult, so I created this extra credit opportunity so that students would have reason to put in extra effort to make these connections. I’m curious to see if any student will do so in the coming weeks.

Event Attendance and “Takeaways” Response

ISU’s English department hosts the Lois Lenski Lecture every spring semester. We invite a children’s and/or young adult literature scholar to speak at our campus and host a Q&A session after their talk. I’ve learned so much from these presentations, and always mention them to my children’s and ya literature students. I also offer extra credit if they attend the event and write up a “takeaways response” to it that night. They submit them digitally by midnight, or just turn it in physically at the lecture.

This semester, my students have the option of exploring a children’s literature display at our university library. A special collections display was created by students in a graduate course. If my students explore it and write up a response to it, they can receive a few extra credit points were they most need it (up to 3, depending on the detail in their response). They had two weeks to complete this activity. Fewer than a handful did so. This activity and other events are great for helping students see how others outside the classroom study and use children’s and YA literature. Note: The takeaways can’t just be regurgitated facts. Students have to reflect and metacognitively respond to what they’ve heard/seen during the event.

Aesthetic Additions

I include this option when students complete a highly visual project. For the picture book festival activity I’ve used in past ENG170 sections, students could increase their poster grade by up to five points depending on the effort they put into designing their posters. All students were automatically eligible for earning these points. Students could earn a high grade as long as they included all the required material on their poster. But, if their posters’ design aesthetic was well thought out, extra credit points could be earned. Some students focused on emphasizing the content of their text (crafting a tree on a The Giving Tree poster), while others focused on the medium (designing their poster as a TV screen when analyzing Gilmore Girls ). Most students tend to receive only a point or two for this extra credit opportunity, but I’ve been amazed by the thought and effort put into a few poster designs over the years. It livens up my grading experience at the end of the semester too, which is always welcome.

Final Thoughts

Of the five activities listed above, four were options in this semester’s ENG 170 course. Giving my students the chance to earn up to 23 extra credit points likely seems excessive to some of you reading this post. Here are a few points I’d like for you to keep in mind, especially if you’re considering what extra credit activities you might want to offer next semester: 1. In a 30 student course, usually less than half the students will attempt even one of the extra credit options. 2. Less than a third will attempt more than one option, and they are often the ones that don’t even need extra credit. 3. It’s rare for a student to earn the max number of points for any of the activities because of how much extra effort and work I expect from them in order to gain these points. 4. The only activity that creates the opportunity to gain 10 points is the forum posts extra credit. These points are added to individual posts rather than to the activity grade as a whole. In this specific case, one post equates to just 5% of their overall course grade. 5. If students are willing to put in the extra time and effort, and the activities actually require them to learn something, why not offer them the opportunity for engaging in additional ways with the course material?

I’ve never regretted including extra credit options in my courses. Few students take me up on my offers, and a bump up in their overall grade definitely isn’t guaranteed. But, by having these activities in my course design, I’m making clear to my students that hard work will be rewarded and that doing poorly on one assignment doesn’t mean they’ve done irrevocable damage to their course grade > GPA > financial aid/grad applications. Even one offer of extra credit can demonstrate to students that we as instructors understand that sometimes they need an extra chance to show their willingness to put in the effort to learn and grow. Why not give them that chance?

>>If you’d like to download a PDF that lists the various extra credit activities described above (and a few other activity ideas!), just subscribe to my blog. You’ll receive access to all my blog-related PDFs and will receive an email every time a new blog post goes up!<<

Do you include extra credit opportunities in your courses? If so, share what activities you offer in the comments section below!

Assignment Examples , ELA , Full Archive , Teacher Life , Teaching Tips

College Courses Course Design extra credit Pedagogy Teach

February 18, 2020 at 4:15 PM

Awesome suggestions!

February 20, 2020 at 2:20 PM

I’m glad you like them!

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2019 Extra Credit Ideas

You’ve officially made it past the halfway point of the school year! As we near the summer months and the end of the current grade level for your students, you’re likely to start hearing requests for extra credit assignments. Students tend to get into panic mode around March and April and start stressing about their final grades. While some teachers don’t offer extra credit, it can be a great bonus for some students who are extra hard-working or who might need a little extra help at the end of the year. No matter what reason you have for offering extra credit ideas this year, take a look at some of our top ideas to implement in your classroom this spring.

Current Events Report

This is great for a social studies class especially but can be used in any subject. Have your students research a current event and write a report on it. It’s up to you if you allow them to use sensitive or political subjects, but be sure to lay out the guidelines for them on what you require. You may have them utilize various sources to research it, such as an oral news report, a written news report, an interview, and so on. This could be something that goes along with a unit you’re doing in class, or it can simply be a way to get your students involved in real-world events.

Business Letter

Especially great for language arts classes, having your students write a business letter is a great extra credit assignment. Have them pick a real business and write a letter to them about anything they choose. They can write to a candy company requesting samples for the class, they can write to a corporation about an issue they see with the company, or they can write to a sports organization asking about how they run their company. Ensure they are given appropriate guidelines on how to write a business letter and have them send the letter once it’s graded to see if they get a response.

Children’s Book

Writing a children’s book may sound easy, and students often enjoy it, but it tends to be more difficult than many of them realize. Whether you’re an English teacher or not, your students will gain a lot from writing a children’s book as an extra credit assignment. If you teach science or social studies, have them write about a particular concept they learned in class and explain it as thoroughly to a young audience as they can. It’s up to you whether you allow them to use digital images or if you require them to illustrate the book themselves.

Science Fair Project

Some schools require students to participate in the science fair, but if yours isn’t one of them, you can offer extra credit to your science students when they do a science fair project. Make sure they have the guidelines and requirements before they begin, and make sure their project idea and science experiment is approved before they start the process. It should be graded as an extra credit assignment in the same way that it’s graded as a science fair project, including all the requirements of the scientific method, pictures, and a completed display board.

Off-Campus Lecture

Encourage students to attend a lecture, performance, or conference off-campus to learn about something they’re studying in class. You can have them bring you a ticket stub and have them write up a review of the event and tell you what they learned. You can search your local area for academic events with college professors, authors, and more. Better yet, have your students research some local events that would be beneficial to them and get approval for a particular event.

Test Corrections

This is a common extra credit assignment. It’s easy for you to grade, and it is extremely beneficial for students. Let them take their old tests and go back through and rework the questions they got wrong. If you can manage it, it’s best to have them do this in class, where they can’t just borrow a friend’s test and copy the answers. Even better, have them explain what they did wrong (if applicable) and have them do another similar problem to prove that they’ve mastered the concept and skill that they originally got incorrect.

School Event Attendance

This isn’t so much of an academic assignment as it is a school spirit activity. Your school likely has a number of events going on, including concerts, plays, sporting events, and more. Have your students pick one to attend, bring you the ticket from it, and write about the event. This not only encourages school spirit and camaraderie amongst students, but it might also help students get involved in a club or activity they wouldn’t have otherwise known about.

Movie Review

You might need to set strict guidelines for this one, but this can be a fascinating extra-credit assignment, especially for social studies students. Have students pick a movie based on a true story—the easiest thing to do is have them find one about a historical event. Then they watch the movie and compare the events in the movie to the true events that occurred in history. Some examples might be Titanic, Pearl Harbor, Schindler’s List, Troy, and Gettysburg. Make sure the movies are age-appropriate for your students and that your students have parental permission to see them.

Social Media Profile

Another great idea for social studies classes is to have your students set up a social media profile for a historical figure. Have them create a biography for the individual, including an “About” page that lists the individual’s experiences, favorite things, family, etc. Be sure they include job information, hometown, and more.

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Extra Credit Ideas for Middle School Teachers

“What can I do for extra credit?!”  ​I’m pretty sure there isn’t a middle or high school teacher that hasn’t heard these exact words coming from a student’s mouth. Students are HUGE fans of the concept, and honestly, who can blame them? Another way to boost their grades? Most students will leap at the opportunity (especially if their grades are suffering.) But what do teachers think about the use of extra credit? Truthfully, it’s mixed. In this article, I’m going to take a (brief) stab at explaining the pro’s and con’s of offering additional points to your middle school science students, as well as offer a few extra credit ideas for middle school teachers. 

Let’s dive in, shall we?  

Reasons to offer extra credit:.

Offering extra credit isn’t just about boosting bad grades or humoring your students’ last-minute requests for a better grade. Fans of extra credit assignments typically view extra credit opportunities as a way to provide students with extra enrichment in addition to their regular assignments. Here are a few reasons you should consider offering extra credit in your classroom: 

• Extra assignments (even those given for extra credit) are a great way to give greater exposure to the course material. 
• These opportunities give struggling students the chance to keep trying. 
• Extra credit work can be a fun way to explore different concepts related to your curriculum that you might not otherwise cover. (Ex: Current events) 
• Extra credit assignments are a great way to boost student engagement. 

EXTRA CREDIT PITFALLS TO AVOID:

Not every teacher is a fan of extra credit (and with good reason.) Personally, I believe that extra credit assignments can be a helpful tool within the classroom, but like all things, it can be misused and abused. Here are a few extra credit pitfalls to avoid: 

• Offering bonus points for attendance. In my opinion, just “showing up” is not enough to earn extra points. Students should earn extra credit when they go the extra mile. 
• Giving too many extra points. Extra credit can be nice to boost the grade of an individual assignment, but it shouldn’t radically change a student’s overall course grade. In this case, their class grade is no longer a true refection of their learning, content understanding, and effort.  (Ex: A student earning a D receives a B after factoring in extra credit points.) 
• ​Offering extra credit for every assignment or assessment. This may decrease students’ motivation to give a good effort the first time they complete an assignment. After all, why try if you know you’ll essentially be given a “do-over.” Instead, I recommend offering extra credit sporadically and for different types of assignments. 

​EXTRA CREDIT IDEAS FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHERS 

​Alright, so you’ve decided you DO want to offer extra credit opportunities in your classroom, but you need some extra credit assignment ideas to get you started. Well, my friend, I’ve got you covered. Here are a few of my favorite extra credit ideas for middle school teachers: 

COMPLETING STUDY GUIDES

Periodically, you may consider offering bonus points to students who complete their study guides. Not only will this encourage students to finish this important classwork, it’s also a great way to ensure that your students have everything they need to prepare for tests and quizzes. The following items are a few of the study guides I’ve used with my science classes. You might offer bonus points for the entire study guide or just for a specific section. 

TEST CORRECTIONS  

Test (and other assignment) corrections can be a powerful exercise for students. It teaches the valuable life skill of being able to reflect on mistakes and learn from them. When having students make test corrections, I HIGHLY recommend that you ask for more than a list of correct answers. (Let’s face it…any middle schooler can look up or copy down the correct answers without learning a darn thing.) Instead, I’d recommend having your middle school students give a written explanation for why their original answer was incorrect and what the correct answer should have been. Yes, it’s extra work…but this process helps facilitate true learning. 

It might look something like this:

#1. I answered ____________________. This is incorrect because _______________. The correct answer is _______________ because ____________________. 

INFOGRAPHICS <sh>  Science is a discipline that lends itself well to the creation of infographics! Have your students create an infographic, chart, or diagram that illustrates an important concept within your unit. Having to synthesize the information in their notes and create a visual representation of this information is a great way for students to deepen their understanding of important concepts (and in my opinion, is well worth a few bonus points.) 

For example… <SH4> 

If you are teaching the  states of matter,  you may ask your students to create their own visual diagram or infographic representing how one substance might move between the different states of matter.

​FAMOUS SCIENTIST SUMMARIES

Who doesn’t love a good biographical assignment? I like to offer famous scientist summaries as an extra credit assignment students can tackle for homework or free time assignments. Personally, I think it’s a good idea to let students choose their own famous scientist to research. This encourages creativity and ownership over the project. 

QUESTION OF THE DAY

If you’re looking for an easy way to offer bonus points, having students complete a science “question of the day” can be a great way to do just that! These extra credit questions could be used a bell ringers or a simple addition to a homework assignment. 

NEWS ARTICLE SUMMARIES

​Incorporating current events and news articles into our class discussion is one of my favorite extra credit ideas for middle school teachers. Having students read and summarize news articles is an interesting way for them to see the “real world connection” of our science curriculum. 

What are YOUR favorite ways to use extra credit in your classroom? 

Let’s Stay Connected!

Continue the discussion in my Facebook Group for Middle School Science Teachers or my Classroom Management Facebook Group .

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Extra Credit Paperback – Illustrated, February 1, 2011

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• Print length 224 pages
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• ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1416949313
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atheneum Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (February 1, 2011)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781416949312
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1416949312
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 9 - 11 years, from customers
• Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 830L
• Grade level ‏ : ‎ 3 - 7
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.8 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.13 x 0.7 x 7.63 inches
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