Some schools that require students to complete summer projects to assure kids continue to learn over break is a smart idea. Yet, the question "Should these summer projects be teacher-designed or student- designed?" Can determine if a student will enjoy and do the work that they are assigned. These projects should be student-designed because this will cause a higher percent of students to do the work, while enjoying the experience, students can learn about something that they want, and teachers will be able to learn about the new students coming to their class.

There is always a problem with kids not doing their assigned work. Starting off the year with a incomplete project could ruin the year for some. If students were allowed to design the project, they would be choosing topics that they are likely to complete, and ones that they can enjoy. There is a direct correlation with kids who enjoy the topic they are learning about and completion rate of projects. Student-designed projects may lead to a higher percent of kids doing their work and less kids pushing off projects till the last minute. This can assure that kids will be learning the matirial over summer break.

Projects don't always have to be strictly information that we cover in school, sometimes it is good to learn about something that interests the individual. With student-designed projects, students will have the freedom to chose what they want to learn about. Giving this opportunity to students will allow them to show their interests to teachers and their peers. Having kids focus on something they find interesting, increases their drive to learn new information, which will help them throughout the upcoming school year.

Student-designed projects will not only benefit students, teachers will learn about new students as the school year starts. Having teachers learn about students can help build important teacher-student relationships. Teacher-student relationships are important to develop throughout the year, so students feel they have a safe place to go if they need help or if they have had a bad day. Many students tend to have hard times learning from teachers they dont respect, or like. Projects that are student-designed will increase the trust kids have in their teachers, as well as teachers about new students.

While some teachers and school officials may not be in favor of student-designed projects because it could be hard to grade if the teacher does not know the topic being presented. Many people would argue that students should not be the only people learning new things. Teachers should be able to learn about topics the students are interested in to better the way they interact with students. Although, teachers might not be experts on these topics, grade should not be on the information, rather on the way the student presents the information and how they researched each topic.

While the answer to teacher-designed projects or student-designed projects can be up for debate their are many reason to why a student-designed project are better than teacher-designed project. The level of completion, student interest, and allowing for better teacher-student relationship are all very important to assure that students will continue to learn over break.