Should summer projects be teacher-designed or student-designed?

During summer break some schools require teachers to give out summer projects to assure that students continue to learn while on vacation. Even though students may not enjoy getting it done, it gives the teacher feedback on how well you are learning in the summertime. These projects are either teacher-designed or student designed. While teacher-designed projects may have it's advantages, summer projects need to be student-designed so that it is less challenging, more motivational to do, and allows the student to get their project done faster.

When projects are teacher-designed, teachers will usually design them as more difficult to do so that it can give their students a challenge to do better. This technique is often done by teachers but what they do not realize is that when teachers design projects that are more challenging it is much harder on the student to understand, let alone get the project done. On the other hand, some students may be out of the country the whole summer so giving them teacher-designed projects that are challenging will give them a harder time for them to learn or get the assignment done.

In the past I have had a very hard time getting most of my projects done because of lack of motivation and because of the way teachers design certain projects. If students are the ones to design it, it will increase the amount of students who do the project because they are the ones who are designing it. In addition making it much more easier for them to understand and get the project done. If summer projects are student-designed, students will not have to use the excuse of not getting the project done because they "didn't understand it", instead their will be no excuse because they are the ones who to designed it, not the teacher.

Most students work a lot faster than others because of lack of understanding. Although teachers may not even realize it, they design these projects in ways in which students will often have a hard time with having at least some progress done because they simply do not know where to begin. When the student is the one who is able to design it, it allows them to have the opportunity to decide what to include and what not to, so that it makes their learning easier. In addition, having summer projects be student-designed allows them to work twice as faster than using teacher-designed projects because the student is the one that knows what they have to include.

In conclusion teacher-designed projects may have it's advantages but all projects need to be student-designed because at the end of the day the student is the one who is learning. All projects should be student-designed for these reasons: less challenging, more motivational to do, and allows the student to get their project done faster. Summer projects that are student-designed instead of teacher-designed ensures that the student is more likely to succeed. In addition teacher-designed projects may have it's advantages but all projects need to be student-designed because at the end of the day the student is the one who is learning.