Has a situation ever occurred to you when you are relaxing at home, maybe enjoying some television, then all of a sudden have a sudden realization hit you? the thought of “crap I have an assignment due tomorrow!!!”. This being said, the various reactions to this thought is what makes the situation unpredictable, well predictable somewhat, in that one thing for sure is going to happen, this being procrastination. It could vary from someone immediately jumping out of bed to complete that assignment, and possibly many more they have yet to finish, or someone who keeps the procrastination alive knowing they will still have two weeks to make it up before they are punished. They are punished similar to test procrastination, in the way that not everything or every idea will work out when the idea of putting their work off comes to mind. For some, it works out just fine, for others, when it doesn’t work out it will feel like the world is ending as they receive that graded piece of paper.

The Stresser

     This is the person who as soon as they remember about an assignment, immediately hops up and to their backpack. It doesn’t matter if it is one in the morning and it wakes them up, this person won’t stop at anything until they finish. The next day they will go into school absolutely exhausted and praying that they at least passed. This is also the same person that when the test comes around, won’t study until the class right before trying to cram everything in all at once in hopes of their last minute efforts being enough to get an A. “This has to work, or it won’t” is usually the thought process behind this logic. It usually always works out because, even though it was at the last minute, that assignment got turned in and somehow received an A, which is in much disgust of others who worked a whole lot harder just to get a lesser grade.  Similarly, the test will always almost come back with a passing grade, leaving everyone else who worked way harder and way earlier, speechless. 

Excuse Aholic

There is always that one person in the class that, rather than actually doing their work on time, they take a different approach completely. This person will walk into class very calmly, with it being virtually unnoticeable that they have any care about the class. When it’s time to turn in their assignment they raise their hand, simply asking the teacher to come over for “assistance”. In reality this is them making their pitch to the teacher. This is similar to a salesman or entrepreneur that has to make a pitch for their idea to be accepted. In this situation the idea is some random excuse that could very much be a complete lie. This student's goal is to play with the teachers emotions and make them feel like they have to be a good person by letting them turn in something after its original due date or even sometimes after the time frame where late work is accepted. Somehow this will always work and it is a never ending cycle of one kid being able to dictate when their assignment is due, instead of their teacher. 

The Crier

Although this is a rough situation for someone to be in, most people end up stressing out at least once over not doing their work and putting it off until the last minute. Whether they would like to or not it is stressful trying to rush to beat the time of a due date looming only hours, sometimes even minutes away. Much like the stresser, this person will stay up all night, not stopping until they have completed what they are trying to complete, at least that is what they try to do until they go into a downward spiral of emotions. As they spiral deeper and deeper down a rabbit whole of emotions they slowly realize that the time is slipping right out of their fingertips and it will not be possible to complete the assignment. This just leads into less and less work being done and more anxiety kicking in leading to a rather nasty cry. I, myself, have been through this in elementary school regarding a cursive packet that had not been started. It turned out to be just an overreaction and complete waste of time for everyone involved. The only thing that can stop the crying and near anxiety attack is an exhaustion so enormous, which hits that person like a wave of heat instantly knocking them out for their hard fought night. 

Accepting 

     Unlike the majority of procrastinators, there are a select chosen few that have the ability to simply not have a care in the world. Now, this isn’t for every assignment but if need be they will be completely fine with just not completing what needed to be done. This mostly stems from past experiences of it not being worth it to stress about the outcome and how it will affect them and their grade. There are two possible scenarios for this type of student. They either never do any work at all and are happy failing in all of their classes or they have such a high grade in a specific class that they feel like being “rebellious” and don’t do a couple assignments because in the long run they will not affect them one bit. The acceptance part comes when that grade goes in solidifying to them that they did indeed not even try to finish it and turn it in.  

The Secretive

This person is secretive for one reason and one reason only, it’s the teacher. This is for many reasons, perhaps there was a week with multiple tests, swamping the teachers pile as it gets so big, one cannot tell if it ever ends. It could also be due to the fact that students who procrastinate turn in their assignments late while expecting it to be graded right away as if they are the only student. Everyone is guilty of this, just like everyone is guilty of procrastinating at some point. Teachers are not exempt from this choice just because they are the ones grading and asking for work. Late work flees a student's grimy hands while teacher flees late work and all of the stress it induces. Nonetheless, teachers are not immune to the very easy action of procrastination. In that moment it is great, but only to regret the decision later on. It comes down to teachers hate late work but late work loves teachers.