Summer projects, should they be teacher-designed? Summer projects should be student-designed because, if it is teacher-designed the student may not be motivated to do it.

Although Teacher-designed projects ensure that all projects are on topics that are appropriate for school, Students may not feel motivated to do a project on a topic that does not match their interests. There may be a few students that do not write on appropriate topics, but it is better than a larger amount of students not doing it simply because they have no interest in the topic.

If a student writes about a topic that is not appropriate for school, it is quite easy to have that student do a new project. If a student is having a hard time finding a school appropriate topic the teacher could recommend some things that they think would be a good topic for a project. Most students wont write about things that are not school appropriate; therefore it will be less-likely that there will be a large amount of students that do not do the project.

If a student is not interested in the topic that is assigned, there is nothing that they can do to change the way they feel about that topic. Having no power to change it, they will simply not do the project. If the students pick their own topics they will pick something that they are interested in. Students are more likely to do a project if it is on something that they are interested in. To ensure that the student is interested in the topic it is easier to let them pick their own topic rather than come up with several topics and let them choose.

School systems would benefit from letting students pick their own topics. Not only will more students turn in their projects, they will also have fun doing them. Teacher-designed projects may not motivate students to do them which is why it is better if summer projects are student-designed. The guarantee of appropriate topics would be nice, but the likely hood of the students turning their projects in is higher if the students pick their own topics.