Makers… Developers… Innovators… Rock stars of the 21st Century! That’s exactly what educators throughout the world began to create when they provided students with the opportunity to learn coding during Computer Science Education Week.

Yep, over 20 million students participated in the Hour of Code initiative sponsored by Code.org, including fifth-eighth graders from the Bellwood-Antis Middle School! Besides experimenting with the Angry Birds Maze puzzle, students also created fantastic animated holiday greetings using basic JavaScript on the LearnStreet site.

Of all of the Christmas activities I shared with my students over the last few weeks, the card was definitely the biggest hit—even over the hugely popular Run Santa Run game! In fact, whenever there was a free moment, students continually visited this site despite the fact that they already created, sent and printed at least one card! After the first time, the challenge became who could generate the best flickering tree lights and train cars. At one point I heard some of my Tech Club students debating which one of them could “write the coolest code” which from this educator’s point of view was completely awesome! Hopefully this is the beginning of their excitement, curiosity and willingness to learn some of the most important “real world” skills I can teach them.

Check out some scenes below of my students participating in various coding activities.

Classroom Connection:

As I’ve mentioned before—the founders of Google, Microsoft and Facebook all started their journeys with just one line of code. Like these successful entrepreneurs, our students should have the opportunity to create the technology of the future, not just use it!

That said, as you continue to enjoy your holiday vacation, maybe you can take some time to experiment with some basic (or advanced) coding resources, apps and/or programs so you can start the new year with more computer science skills than ever! Then just think—you can pass that knowledge along to your students! Who knows… You just might have the next Steve Jobs sitting in your classroom!