A glass box. A glass box is what many teachers and schools put one in. While a student is in school there is never really much room for choosing ones path in their work. For all class work there is directions, for all project there is directions , and for all exams there is directions. Students never really get to design or create what they want to do for ones classes. Recently some schools have been testing the water to see what the benefits of having student- designed work by allowing students to design some summer projects. Although many might say it is not a smart idea to allow students to design summer projects because students will just always pick the easy way out, having a restrictive project with so many directions and rules will not benefit the student in any way, nor will it help the teacher. It does not help the students in any way because all the directions in a teacher designed project truthfully makes all the project cookie cutter, which in the long run is not helping anyone because it is not showing the teacher the true potential of the child. All school should allow student- designed projects because it allows students to express their creativity,it shows teacher the students strong suits, and it allows teachers to see what the student still needs help with.

Allowing a child to express their creativity is the single best way to get to know them and see what they are best at. For example for Generic_Name's summer project Mrs. Generic_Name let all of her students choose what they wanted to do for their project, and when school rolled around she was amazed with how thoughtful all the projects were. If Mrs. Generic_Name would have given the students a specific project they would all be boring and bland due to the fact that the students would have to follow a long list of directions. If teachers always put so many restrictions on all the students work it will never allow for them to grow and flourish to their full potential. Another examples for Mr. Generic_Name summer photography project, he allowed all of his students to bring him pictures of whatever they wanted, that year Mr. Generic_Name said he had gotten the best photos he had gotten in years. Because Mr. Generic_Name did not put his students in a box, it allowed them to all work with their strengths to get the best pictures they possibly could. If Mr. Generic_Name would have given the students specific directions of the photos he wanted they would have not came out as amazing because all the students would have the pressure off getting the exact picture that was being asked for, instead of their work coming naturally. Allowing creativity to flow through students work really allows them to flourish into their best selves.

By allowing students to design their own summer project it shows the teacher the students strong suits. Mrs. Generic_Name told her upcoming art class to do whatever they are best at. By Mrs. Generic_Name giving her students a chance to pick their project all of her students pulled through and showed her all their strengths. If she were to have designed the project herself she would have never found out all of the students strengths and she would have spent valuable class time teaching things that the students already know. Mr. Generic_Name told his class that they could write their summer English essay on anything they wanted. He choose to allow the students to chose their summer project because he knew they would show off all they have, and use the writing techniques that they know best. By not restrictions his students Mr. Generic_Name has the ability to see the best in everyone's essays. By having the student designed summer project it really allows teachers to see the talent behind each student.

Along with helping teachers discover what each students strengths are, having student-designed project also allows teachers to see what a student still needs help with. Generic_Name AP bio teacher Mrs. Generic_Name said that for the students summer project they can do anything using all the information they learned the previous year. On the first day of school Mrs. Generic_Name saw that Generic_Name still needed help with learning about the cell cycle. If Mrs. Generic_Name would have a assigned a specific project for all the students she would have not found out that Generic_Name was really struggling with the cell cycle, which would have put him even farther behind in the class. The tenth grade math department allowed their students to make the summer project for the rising tenth graders. By having the students make the summer project it ensures that only critical information is getting reviewed, and if the student does not know something it alerts the teacher that in the beginning of the year they need to review the material. Also by taking the summer project out of the teachers hands it also helps teachers figure out what they need to help students with, because with many years of teaching, teachers often forget what students need help with. With the freedom of having a student designed project it really helps the teachers out by picking out the students weaknesses and helping them focus on improvement.

By allowing students to take control of their summer project it allows the maximum amount of creativity and it shows the strengths and weaknesses of each student. Having teacher designed projects will never truly allow students to be as creative as the can be. With the student designed projects teachers will easily find what the students strong suits are and they will help the student enhance their talents. And lastly having student designed projects will also allow teachers to see what the student is still struggling with and create a plan of improvement. Many times having the freedom in ones hands to be able to choose what one does givers one the power to completely blow everyone's expectations out of the water.