Offering extra credit is the worst thing you can do

Disclaimer: This is my opinion, I may be wrong.<br><br>When I was a student, I sucked at Spanish. I'm sure I was in danger of failing it multiple times but my teacher would offer me extra credit assignments that would help me pass. The catch was I had to do these assignments on top of the regular school assignments I was already struggling with. I was poor, able to get internet for only a few hours a day, and had to use the dial up to do any of the online assignments. I also ran track, wrestled, and was active in band. I was just overwhelmed.<br><br>Fast forward to my first year as a teacher, 2011. I had low student scores across the board, even my good students were scoring poorly. I wanted to help so I got an idea. Everyone hates extra credit, but I was going to offer it for everyone. Then I got really crazy, I was going to let them choose their own assignments. They could pick whatever theme, topic, or subject to create their project from. I only had two rules:<br>\* They had to understand what a project from another subject or theme had to do with my subject \* They had to document their learning and how they applied it to my subject.<br><br>The results were astounding. I got really cool projects that I would never have come up with. The only kid I failed that semester got to create a Lego scene of his choosing. It only had to be about 1 inch by 1 inch by 3 inches, include a bridge, and talk about tension and compression. He did an amazing job on it.<br><br>I switched to a different school and subject in 2015. I felt I was going to be so overwhelmed with the change that I cut the extra credit option out. After seeing my first test scores I knew I had screwed up. They did so poorly that I knew I had to do something. I put the extra credit back in. I started seeing a huge difference. The students that were excelling in class continued to excel. The students that were struggling were able to see the value in what they were learning.<br><br>Sometime recently I realized that they need to have the option at the beginning of the semester. It causes them to see value in the regular assignments, knowing that they have some control over their grade. It keeps them engaged, inspired, and curious. Don't tell them they have to do extra credit if they want to pass. Just allow them to do extra credit if they want to pass. Tell them they can do extra credit if they want a better grade. I include an extra credit section on the syllabus, the first day handouts, and the parent night presentation. Everyone knows it is an option from the beginning.<br><br>I have one student who is doing "Super Minecraft Bros." as an extra credit project. He got to choose the theme, which was Mario World. Then I told him what he had to learn to do the project. The only catch is that he has to write a short paragraph on what he learned from each of the subjects he was using to complete it. He has to have something from each subject in the project.