Would you want to spend the entire summer on a project that youre not getting a grade for, not enthusiastic about, and are never going to see again in your life? Well that is exactly how students feel about teacher-designed projects. It is important for students to meet the teachers half-way in all classroom situations. It is the teacher's responsibility to set expectations and requirements, as well as help the students get things done. However, it is the student's responsibility to accept that help and actively participate in class. But, it can be hard to do that unless you care about the topic being presented. That being said, I believe that these summer projects should be designed and executed by the students. The teachers should lay out their expectations and the students should try to exceed them. I believe this because, in my experience, when teachers try to tell the students exactly what to do, they feel that the teachers don't trust them to make their own decisions. This is also a way to motivate the students to continue learning. If students could decide what they wanted to learn more about, and focus on that rather than what the teachers want, then they are likely to be more interested. Furthermore, allowing students to design their own projects, forces them to be creative and think outside of the box, thus developing skills that could be helpful in the future.

One reason that student-designed projects are better than teacher-designed projects is that the former give students the opportunity to show what they care about. If students are given the opportunity to design their own projects, it is likely that they are going to pick a topic that they are enthusiastic or passionate about. When they do, they will want to continue to learn more about it. For example, My brother is not very interested in the typical things they teach in middle school. He would much rather be building model kits or learning more about the ever-growing Star Wars universe and story line. But every year, at his middle school, they do this thing called a Passion Project, which allows students to pick any topic and complete a project on it --which they will present to their entire grade-- and every year my brother does it on machinery or weapons in the Star Wars universe. He puts a lot of time and effort into this project each year and the results are phenomenal, showing that with passion, you can accomplish anything to the best of your ability.

The next reason that student-designed projects are better is that teachers will be able to trust students to make reasonable academic decisions. If teachers gave students the opportunity to show that they can be studious, then teachers would trust students to make their own decisions and get work done without being micro-managed. I realized this when I was assigned a history project in sophomore year. We were put into groups of two, and were assigned to different genocides throughout history that we had to research and create a poster on. When I was assigned the Rwandan Genocide I was excited to start this project. The Rwandan Genocide was something that I had done research on before and I was enthusiastic about spreading the information to those who had not heard of it yet. This resulted in the teacher trusting me and my partner do our own work without her having to ask about our progress very often. That poster ended up getting a 100% and was one of the best posters I had created because I was enthusiastic about the topic.

Additionally, student-designed projects force the students to think about educational topics on their own, without adult guidance leading the whole process. Teaching yourself is a very important skill that you should have in the future. If students got into the habit of primarily relying on themselves, they are setting themselves up for success because every functioning adult needs self-reliance. Before someone grows up, they must first learn how to manage their own schedules, complete their own work, and rely on themselves rather than others to get things done. The best time to learn those things is as a teenager. If teachers are designing and managing students' projects, then what exactly is the student learning? In student-designed projects, the student is the one making all of the decisions that affect the project, which is why they can be beneficial to young teenagers. Students must learn and understand how to take their lives (and projects) into their own hands.

To conclude, not only do student-designed projects motivate the students by allowing them to use their enthusiasm to fuel their education, but they also help students become more independent and self-reliant by teaching them how to design and manage a project on their own. Student-designed projects also help teachers form a trust with their students by allowing them to show that they can take control of their own academic life. These skills can be helpful throughout the coming school year, and life, as well.