When students hear the sound of the bell on the last day of school, all they can think about is their excitement for the summer.

Most students instantly forget all of the information they had just recently learned and are mainly looking forward to the time they're going to get in the sun.

Although, recently teachers have been searching for an effective way to to eliminate the forgetfulness students portray during the summer. They are striving for their students to continue to learn, rather than taking a three month break. Teacher-designed assignments are the most efficient way to enforce summer learning because it assures equal project difficulty, and sets students up for their future correctly.

Equality in project difficulty is critical when asking students to learn during their summer break. Teachers understand that there are different types of students. There are kids who work hard, and then kids who take short cuts. By allowing students to design their own summer projects, many would take the easy way out. They would create a project that requires minimum work and effort. I once had a math teacher who made an assignment optional for my class, although the other math teacher in the department made her students' assignment required. As predicted, many people in my class didn't even attempt the assignment. These students took the short cut and did not reach their full potential. However, every single student who had the other teacher learned a lot from that project. This is a perfect example of why teachers should be creating summer assignments, and not the students. By giving students a choice, many will look for the easiest way. In order to keep a class united it is important that they are all given the same task. This takes away the chance of students cutting corners and creating an easy project that they don't gain any knowledge from. Teachers have the ability to keep their students learning, and in sync, by assigning the same project difficulty to everyone.

Another reason summer projects should be teacher-designed is because it assures students will be learning the correct material to prepare them for the future. Teachers have a great understanding of the educational pathway students experience, and can successfully prepare them for what's to come. For example, a student isn't aware of everything he or she will learn throughout the year in science, although, the teacher does. Therefore, the teacher will then set up the year's units to build off of each other, in order to simplify the learning process. This also applies to summer assignments because the teacher knows what students will be learning in your next year of school, even though the student doesn't. When a teacher designs a project, he or she will make it so that the information prepares kids for the future. It would be useless to spend three months learning about something that might never be encountered again. A student could easily create an assignment that won't prepare them for years to come because they lack specific knowledge a teacher has. Ultimately, teachers have the ability to keep their students on a pathway to success that students might not understand yet.

Even though there are many reasons why teacher-designed projects would be successful, some many say that there are advantages to student-designed projects. Some people believe that allowing a student to create their own summer assignment will create a sense of independence. They might think that kids will be better prepared for the future when they have to do things on their own. Although, not all students are quite ready for complete independence yet. A student's schooling years is a time for learning and growing. When faced with the large challenge of creating a project, many will get flustered and ultimately not perform well. Many students will also get confused and not fully understand the topic that the project should be on. There have been many times where a rubric or set of directions have helped guide me through specific projects. Helping students is what teachers do best, therefore we should allow them to do their job. When the ultimate job in to learn, it is vital that we choose the best learning technique. Student-designed assignments may seem to have a few decent advantages, although in the end teacher-designed assignments advantages greatly overpower.

In conclusion, there are a lot of factors to consider when deciding the best way for a student to learn. When looking at a summer assignment, it is important to understand the best way to get students engaged. They need to be learning relevant information, and keeping up with their work during the fun months of summer. Considering the maturity level and knowledge of a student, it would not be the best decision to allow them to create a summer assignment. A teacher-designed assignment would assure learning during the break because it assures equal project difficulty, and sets students up for their future correctly.