Over the summer some schools require students to complete a summer project. These projects do help students academically but, you tend to see the best results when the projects are teacher designed. Teachers have a better insight on the curriculum rather than a new student who knows very little or anything about the curriculum. Therefore, summer projects must be teacher designed so that students can have guidelines, accurate grading systems, and work that will help them prepare for the upcoming school year.

First and foremost, students need guidelines when it comes to doing any kind of project. If you do not show a student how to accurately do something they may turn in their work and it could be the complete opposite of what the teacher wanted done. For example, a teacher's summer project could be to write about your summer experience and include pictures. With no guidelines, a student turns in a two sentence essay and a picture composed of one stick figure. But if that student was told to include six paragraphs and pictures taken from a camera, then the results would be different. Although, one may say that guidelines provide the student with a lack of creativeness there may be a student who does not have a creative mind. In this case not only will the guidelines help that student, but they will provide the student with a plan on how to properly complete the project.

To add, teachers must design summer projects so that students can have a accurate grading system. If students were to design summer assignments, the teacher is limited to grading on simple things such as completion, creativity, or even neatness. For example, a student could spend hours working on a summer project. The student completes a neat project but it has nothing to do with the class curriculum. Since the project is student based, the teacher is now forced to give a superior grade for something that does not correspond to the curriculum. One can argue by saying that having a strict grading system causes students to stress over school work during their summer break. But, the summer assignments along with the teachers grading system could prepare students for how the actual class will be once school starts. This will cause less stress during the actual school year because students will prepared and know what is expected of them.

Last but not least, students need to have a teacher designed summer assignments so they can be well prepared for the upcoming school year. Teachers know the curriculum and grading system before students arrive. So the teacher could help by assigning a project that corresponds to what topic they will be covering first. For example, a teacher is starting off the school year by teaching division. The summer assignment is to find out the definition of division and write about three times you had to divide something. The students feel more confident going into class knowing the have insight on the first topic at hand. To argue one could say that students may have a easier time completing a project they designed. But overall the purpose of the summer assignment is to help with the learning process. Which is why it is more efficient to have teacher designed summer assignments because they know the upcoming curriculum.

To conclude, teacher designed summer assignments make for a better academic outcome. Students will excel when they have specific guidelines to follow. They will not struggle with the classes grading system. Most importantly students will feel more than prepared coming to class on the first day. Student designed projects may help the creative side of the students. But overall teacher designed projects will help with everything the student needs to be successful.