Summer projects are a helpful tool to use to gain insight of a student's capabilities and to prepare them for the upcoming school year. Summer projects can be used for any subject or curriculum to help a student for their next courses, whether they are college level or not. Even though summer projects are designed to help students and can be done in a number of ways, it is beneficial to have it designed based on the teacher's curriculum and needs.

Though there are different varieties of how to formulate a summer assignment, having it expand on student skills and help teach a new subject can be beneficial for the teacher. Summer assignments can be used as a review and to help teach a new subject based on what the course is. Having it designed around the teacher's curriculum and upcoming plans allows for students to get a grasp and to expect what will be taught and the level of difficulty the class will be. For example, summer assignments for math tend to review previous subjects that will be used for a harder math course and will help expand on this knowledge. A summer assignment that I have done is one for Precalculus with Trigonometry that not only reviewed previous math skills but expanded on them which helped to prepare me for the course. Students have voiced that these projects are too hard and can never finish them in time. That is why assignments are given at the beginning of summer to allow exponential time to do them and are made in a way to teach and prepare students for what they will learn in a harder course, making an easier assignment will not be beneficial for these reasons. Summer projects can be made with different variations, having them based on a teacher's plans allows for an preparedness and an expansion of skills.

Summer projects are a beneficial tool for all students and teachers, though it is helpful for a teacher in the new year to teach the subject if students have some knowledge about it. Students tend to struggle when going into a new year, especially with classes that are college leveled and they have no knowledge about it or what they may be getting into. For an AP class, it can be useful for a student to complete an assignment and have some indication of what the teacher's curriculum is and be able to prepare for the class or even drop if they feel like they may fail it. I am in college weighted class now, and if it wasn't for the summer project, I can say I could have possible failed the class if it wasn't based on the teacher's curriculum and I could've been entirely loss in the class. Students may say that a summer assignment should be fun and they should be able to pick what to do, but a student picking the assignment will not be beneficial for the teacher, it can cause a teacher to redo their year plans and may be behind on teaching and preparing a student for an upcoming exam. Though students can pick if what and if they want to do the summer project, the assignments being based on the teacher's future teaching plans will allow the student to know upcoming expectations.

Summer projects are a tool to help a teacher, having them designed around the teacher's plans will allow each teacher to know where each student is and know where to focus most in the curriculum. Every student had different previous teachers who teach in different ways and have different capabilities and extensions of learning which can cause a struggle for teachers. For example, my English summer project was to read and annotate a novel so I could write an argumentative essay on it. After turning it in, it became clear to my AP Language Arts teacher that not every student was on the same skill level for writing and that she would have to reteach the basis of writing for different formats of essays; without the summer project she would not have know this. Summer reading assignments should allow a student to choose the book so they will want to read and get the assignment done. Having this choice, students may pick a book that is not on their skill level and can hurt them when doing assignments in the class. It will ruin teacher plans on what each unit will be and what will be taught in said units. Though students are mature enough to choose their assignments and parts for the projects, teachers design them to know more about each student and will be prepared to reevaluate their lesson plans.

Summer assignments come in a variety of ways, but having them based on the teacher's units and plans for the school year will prepare both student and teacher. Summer projects can be used in any subject to benefit the teacher and allow a smooth year for easier teaching when knowing the students skill set and be prepared to change plans to accommodate these. As a student continues to move up the grades and start taking college leveled classes, it is imperative to have some incoming knowledge of the subject and to expand on previous skills. Summer projects can either be student designed or teacher designed, but in the end a student ill benefit only if the assignment is based on the teacher.