Dealing with Procrastination…Today!
All teachers, but certainly if you teach middle or high school classes, have likely been frustrated by students delaying completing work or projects, and waiting for the last possible moment to prepare for an exam. Not only do these behaviors create understandable teacher frustration but a recent study of 38,000 students revealed that their procrastination is often associated with lower grades, and often with depression, and fatigue.
Several psychologists have studied procrastination and found some contributing factors:
• Fear of failure
• Indecision about whether the assignment is being correctly done
• Low self-esteem, blaming poor grades on deadlines rather than their own skills and abilities
• A perceived thrill and “adrenaline rush” to race towards a tighter deadline.
In order to assist students to overcome these self-defeating habits of procrastination, these strategies have been suggested:
1. Instead of having one final deadline, teachers should break a task up into evenly spaced smaller deadlines. This has shown to decrease the chances that the student will blow past a major deadline.
2. Provide private and gentle feedback to students, checking in with them before the deadline approaches.
3. Provide clarity, and examples of how to get started, and what the project or assessment should look like.
4. Teach time-management skills to students and encourage them to seek assistance, if needed. Make certain they know how much time is needed to invest in proper study and completion of a task, or assignment.
5. Teachers should be cognizant of the student’s overall workload and other events which can increase stress. Some students have tasks and chores at home, while others may also have part-time jobs. Avoid having too many deadlines and tests on the same day or week.
Utilizing a combination of these ideas will prove most beneficial to minimize procrastination behaviors and instill stronger successful skills.
