Summer projects are not exacly favored by students. However, if students got to pick or have a say in their project it would deminish some of the complaints and make the students more intrigued to learn. Summer projects should be student-designed because students will be interested and willing to complete the project, it will allow them to work around their summer schedule, and it will make the student feel like they are in control.

If students could pick what project they would be doing and learning about over the summer break it would increase their willingness to complete the project because they would be interested in the topic. Student-designed projects means that the students get to pick the topic that they want to learn about and allows them to create the project entirely. In 6th grade I was assigned a summer project for my reading class where we could pick any book and write two paragraphs summarizing it and make a model decipitating a specific scene from the book. Being able to pick a book that I was excited about reading for this project made it easier and enjoyable for me to complete it. The book I picked was about a wild wolf and in the book it disccussed the wolf's travels and meetings with people. The scene I choose to make a model on was a fighting scene where this wolf protected a human. I was intrigued by the fact that a wolf wanted to protect a human that it didn't know and was not familiar with. This made the project fun to do and made me want to learn more about this topic and read more books like this one. Allowing students to decide and choose what project they will be doing improves the work and interest of wanting to do the project.

A student-designed project would be indivilualized to each student, therefore making sure the student would have enough time to complete it. For most students and families summer is a time to take vacations and spend time with extended families. For instance, my family takes an annual trip down to Northern Florida for a week to celebrate The Fourth of July. Some of my friends go to two week long camps or go away for an extended period of time on vacation or to visit family. The student will be able to design a project that will work with and around their schedule so that they will have enough time to complete the project. If they go away to a camp where they won't have access to technology they can pick to do a project involving a book and bring it to camp or they can choose to do a project about thier camp so they can complete the project at camp. As you can see a student-designed project gives freedom to the student to create and work around their busy schedule to make sure they will be able to complete their project.

If asked to any student about doing a project over the summer they will answer in the same opinionated way, "I hate summer projects." However, providing a student-designed project gives the student complete control. The ability to pick what topic they will do and allowing them to design the project gives the power to the student and not the teacher. The teacher will over see the student created rubric and outline for the project but in the end the student gets to decide what they want to do. During the summer kids get a break from school but projects are a constant reminder that school is still there and coming around the corner. Having control over what the project will give the student a sense of control and choice of what they will be learning about. The learning is in the hands of the students and not the teacher. I was able to pick what project I got to do over summer break for my science class, I had the choice of picking anyone in the field of science to study. I could control who and what exactly I got to talk about in the project. Having that control made it easier to accept the fact that I had to do a project over the summer.

Overall, assigning summer projects that are student-designed will positively affect the students and their continued learning over the break. The students will have an increased interest in the project, they will be able to individaulize it to their schedule, and it will give them control. All of these reasons clearly explains the benefits for a student-designed project and how teachers should apply them. In the end grading a project completed by a student who had total control will be expressed in the effort and work put into the project.