Summer-break, which traditionally takes place in June/July and ends August/September, is a great time off, a far distance given from the classroom. Because of this great distance from a learning environment and the fact that the summer break is the longest out of every other break in the school year, some schools require students to complete summer projects to assure that they keep up to speed, with school content. These summer projects are traditionally teacher based, but recent years have given students more freedom. However, these summer projects should remain teacher-designed because of the content covered in the classroom, as well as the teacher having knowledge on what material will be covered in that following year after summer break, given that they actually end up teaching the content planned for that year, which is a valuable insight for the students. Additionally, many students are still in touch with the classroom environment, and it gives a smoother transition to those students who come back from their periodic break.

Teachers in the classroom face a struggle, that comes after the periodic amount of time that summer break takes. What will the content consist of? What will be the new learning objectives for the students when they come back from their break? That is why during the summer break, teachers designing specific projects that aim to target learning objectives that they themselves know, are important for the students to get a grip of, as well as still sticking to the curriculum, which greatly benefits students in the way that they actually get a sneak peek of what next year's curriculum could be built as. In addition to this, students get valued "class time", so even though they might be on their summer breaks, and they might not possibly do the projects to the best of their abilities, they are still soaking up valuable education time that you could only gain in class. For example, in schools that do not hand out or require students to complete projects during the time of the summer break, these students tend to forget some important learning objectives, simply due to the fact on how much time students have spent outside of school. But those who do indeed assign summer projects, give students a peek into the upcoming school year, which definitely does give a boost to the students preceding knowledge prior to the school year, as well as encouraging possible additional studying, which all leads to a future of a bright learning environment.

Another important factor on why it is essential for schools to give out teacher-designed projects is to bring out more of the "integration period", or coming slowly, back to the school environment in order to prepare them for learning. Teachers find this valuable so that they can get their students "accustomed" to their classroom environment before even stepping through the door, which is very precious for most teachers, given that in a school year, teachers take around a month and a half before all the assignments and daily motions become routine. In a time where every period counts, this is a major victory for teachers, as their designed projects can go over and reflect on the material that they hope to teach their students, which gives them a starting to the school year edge, above all. Students often struggle at the beginning of the year at first, because of the time they have taken off, without any classroom instruction, which is also an adjustment period. Teacher-designed projects enable students to take the initiative, while on vacation and step up to learn important material that has basis, and will be taught in class at some point.

Even though student projects allow for the students to choose their own projects, and whatever central topic of focus that they have the most interest in, students will still choose topics that might not be relevant to them in education, whereas teachers have the best idea due to the fact that they, and them only teach the curriculum. In addition, teachers know exactly what learning objectives are prioritized, while students might have a faint idea, but not close to what the teachers understanding of the goals and learning objectives that he might have set for his/her students. Specific examples would include how in English, summer reading projects would be assigned so that when the students returned back, they would have that "touch" with their books, and their education beforehand, so rather than deal with the trivial, novel things that teachers would normally do at the beginning of the year, they are allowed to follow the curriculum, full stretch.

In conclusion, teacher-designed projects help students due to the amount of content covered in the classroom, as well as teachers having knowledge on what will be covered after summer break which benefits students greatly, and begins the integration into the classroom, before even stepping foot into the classroom. This also alleviates the pressure on teachers greatly, as they can plan more accordingly giving their own designed summer projects to their students in the classroom. Students benefit from this due to how they are accustomed earlier then usual in the classroom, while teachers are benefited due to how they are able to focus on specific learning objectives that might be of importance.