kzbteach

I’m just going to say it: I hate extra credit.

I despise it. I get that it’s good for those who need it, but often those who need it don’t necessarily go for it.

Rarely on any of my assessments would there be opportunities to win points. I can count on one hand how many opportunities I’ve given to hoard points that would be later used to make a 100 percent even better. 

I won’t even address what it did to my gradebook. Every time I entered an inflated grade, the screen would glitch and I’d get an “ah, ah, ah… you didn’t say the magic word” a la Dennis Nedry in Jurassic Park before an electrical hiss and the screen would snap to black. 

There. I said it. However, I don’t come to the table empty-handed. 

I present to you: Insurance. 

I know, I know. For most, this is a word that sends shivers down our spines. In my Spanish classes, though, it was a pedagogical shift from garnering extra points to redeeming points.

I’ll explain.

At the bottom of an assessment, I would put three boxes (spaces) that students could fill in. I explained to them that they could use each box to write something from the material covered before the assessment that was not on the assessment (AKA something that they studied that I did not put on the quiz or test). 

I would then explain to them that this was not extra credit and that if you aced the exam it would not count as additional points. Hence, the name INSURANCE was born. 

They could earn up to 3 points back on their assessment if I, their judge and jury, deemed it worthy. 

Some students loved it. Some students scoffed, leaving blank boxes. Sometimes it was a Hail Mary, one last shot at resuscitating a not-so-great quiz. Some students presented their cases as to why the picture they drew of a cat was a valid redeemer of points. It was not. 

Insurance was optional. You could choose to do it or not. You could choose to go for all three boxes or maybe just one.  It did not hurt your score in the end. 

As assessments were wrapping up and I walked around to collect them, some students would wave me away, saying “Hold on, Señor, I still gotta take out insurance.” It made me smile.

It stopped feeling like students were chasing points and started feeling like they were reclaiming learning.

Here’s what it would look like (a student’s POV, if you may):

Is there something that you studied that I didn’t include? Write up to 3 things and I’ll give you some points if you messed up above. THIS DOES NOT COUNT AS EXTRA CREDIT; IT IS MORE LIKE INSURANCE.

– Zach, May 2026