Just Do the Regular Credit

It happens like clockwork - a sports season is about to begin or grades close in a few days - and here come the legion of requests for extra credit work. 

It often works like this:

A student slacks off, doesn’t do the work, skips multiple homework assignments, doesn’t study for tests and quizzes and, as a result has a poor grade in class. Then is faced with the prospect of not being able to play on a team and/or bringing a report card home with disappointing grades. 

Panic sets in.

This is when I end up with multiple students appealing for extra credit work or to make up work they didn’t do months ago. 

Homework and classroom work often has an expiration date. For example, in the genetics unit our 8th graders were asked to read an article about Sam Berns. We were working on genetic mutations and how they can affect people. The whole point of reading the article was to set the students up to watch a TED Talk Sam Berns recorded mere months before he died. It’s a hook to increase their interest in the topic and get them emotionally involved in what we’re learning.

We did this in January, and there is very little value in doing now. The unit is over. We watched the video. We learned about genetic mutations. Your understanding has been assessed. It’s done. We’ve moved on. We have plenty of current work to focus on.

I don’t generally do extra credit. Just do the regular credit and you’ll be fine. If you didn’t do the regular credit work, then you’re in a little bit of a pickle.

It can be a hard lesson to learn, but it’s better to learn it in middle school where the stakes are low, then in high school or college where the stakes can be much, much higher. 

Just do your work….it’s as simple as that.