I've been volunteering for three years in the classroom on behalf of a non-profit [0]. We teach HTML, CSS, and jQuery. Here are some high level lessons I've lea

I've been volunteering for three years in the classroom on behalf of a non-profit [0]. We teach HTML, CSS, and jQuery. Here are some high level lessons I've learned: * Don't teach unnecessary details. For example, students get hung up on the <title> tag because titles are usually at the top of the page. Just skip or defer teaching it - it's not important to their end goal of understanding code. * Reinforce that the computer is dumb. I tell my kids outright that the computer is stupid. What this gets across to kids is that when they talk to this box, they need to be very precise with their language. Syntax errors---a constant demoralizer---then become not a shortcoming of the student but of the machine. * When you craft / select exercises for practice, make sure they always fit two criteria: instant gratification and fun. By the former, I mean the students are producing code and instantly seeing a visual reward for it. With the latter---adults always forget that kids are kids. They couldn't care less about "Hello world". But an "About me" page is fun because they get to express themselves. When you talk arrays, don't push and pop fruits. Push and pop Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande. I might expand on this in a blog post. Happy to talk more offline. [0] - https://scripted.org/ https://scripted.org/ PS - if you're in the bay area OR NYC and want to teach underserved high schoolers how to code, reach out!