It is always better to talk directly with a student about an assignment. You then can make a decision on whether to accept the assignment late or to give the student a zero. The student will appreciate your interest in their work whether they hand in that assignment or not.
Keeping the gradebook current and up-to-date is important in reducing student anxiety and lets them know where they are in the course.
Make clear cut policies for my class. Post them at the beginning of class so that every student knows them.
It is important that extra credit not exceed regular credits earned so that students must do all mandatory coursework to pass the class.
I think the advice to create a clear grading system is very good. I also like rubrics where the students can see what level of work equals an "A," etc. This way they can budget their time.
Being sure to follow the guidelines of the institution as well as being clear about what is expected of the students.
I personally don't like the idea of extra credit because it encourages students to skip assignments they don't like, knowing that they can just make it up later. Especially if all requirements and expectations are outlined in the syllabus, I don't see a valid reason for extra credit.
Make policies and stick to them. Students need expectations.
I use a combination of competency-based grading in a letter-grade format. This allows my students to always improve and still understand where they fall within a letter grading system.
I think I'm going to change my late assignment policy and also try to send an email for every assignment that is missing or late with my school's policy on those procedures.
Ask an extra credit question on a test: what is something you learned in this unit/class that I did not test you on?
Make sure your grading policy is clear so students understand the expectations.
It is important to clearly outline specific standards for your grading. These standards should be maintained, and reliable.
I learned in this lesson to make clear policies in my classroom. This allows me to set expectations the first day so that students are not unsure of what is expected. I also learned to have formative and summative evaluations in my classroom. I also learned about grading and what should be expected and some tips on what shouldn't be done.
Evaluation is much more nuanced than just the numbers.
Comment on Candace Boehmke's post: I agree that policies regarding making up work should be clear and explained to the class at the beginning of the term. The policy should be clear to anyone and it would be a good idea to have students sign off on it that they understand it.
Never been a fan of giving extra credit, but I can see how giving it as long as it does not exceed the regular earned credit could help the student who needs it the most.
Have a clear grading policy and explain it to the students.
Make all expectations clear and understood.
Formative evaluation is important it allows the students to know the progress they making. If a student misses an assignment before giving a zero for the work not turned in should find out the "why"?
