So, why just use technology, when you can build it, right? But first—students need the programming know-how… And that begins with you!

Whether you choose to embrace the concept or not, it’s becoming more and more important to equip students with coding skills. Having this knowledge not only strengthens general skills such as critical thinking and problem solving, but it will become invaluable in their future as a wide range of industries are eager to hire individuals with programming abilities. Furthermore, this field that is projected to have 1,000,000 more jobs than there are qualified people to fill them by the year 2020! Seriously!

That said—here’s a cool inforgraphic denoting 10 reasons to teach students how to code.

A shout out to Brian Aspinall for giving me the green light to share his work (illustrated by the sketchnote guru Sylvia Duckworth) on my space!

Classroom Connection:

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!

And by the way—I realize that coding sounds intimidating to some, but if your students can type, they can code! And you know what? You can even learn, too!

It’s summer! Time to relax and recharge the batteries indeed, but it’s also time to gear up for another year of making a difference in the lives of our students. Why not make a plan to incorporate some coding into your classroom activities!