Summer projects can help students continue learning during summer break. However, there is a debate on whether they should be designed by the teachers or the students. I think they should be designed by the teachers for several reasons: teachers' experience will help them create more engaging projects, teachers will know what their students struggled on throughout the year and will be able to address those topics in the project, and teachers will assure that the project is on the student's grade level.

First of all, teachers have way more experience creating assignments than students do. This superior knowledge will help them create a project that will go deeper than the surface level, which students might not be able to do if designing their own project. This more in-depth project will be more engaging in the students and should help them learn better over the summer break.

Second, the teachers have been with the students for at least a year. Throughout the year the teachers have been seeing what topics students are doing well in or what topics they need more help with. If a student is struggling in a area, then the summer project should be about that topic to ensure that the students jumps back into learning prepared. If a student were to design the project them self, they would want to make it about easy topics or topics they are already good at, not the ones they really need help in. Having teachers create the projects will ensure that the most needed topics are covered and will help students get back to learning with less confusion.

Finally, If a teacher designs the summer project it will definitely be on the student's grade level. While a student might be able to create a project that they would enjoy doing or is engaging to them, they will most likely make it easy for them self which will hinder their learning. A summer project should challenge the student's knowledge on their grade level, and only a teacher can ensure that that happens. A on grade level project will properly challenge the students without being to easy or to hard which studies have shown to be more effective for the students learning.

Overall, summer project should be constructed by teachers and not students because the teachers can make the projects engaging, specialized, and on grade level. Students will learn better over break, come back to the classroom with less confusion, and will learn more effectively. While it might be fun for the student to design their own project, students should be given the best possible opportunity for learning and only a teacher can guarantee that. That is why teachers should design summer assignments rather that students.     