Coding in the Classroom: Is It That Important?

When coding in the classroom became mainstream, I must admit I wasn’t ready to jump on the bandwagon. For one, I didn’t understand it well. How can I teach students something I don’t know myself? I also worried that it was just a fad. I didn’t see the connection it played in the mandatory curriculum. So I put the idea to the side and let others teach coding to their students.

Then last week I went to a Project Lead the Way conference. I was intrigued by how educators were teaching coding. They were infusing it into their regular subject areas. Integration was something I could get behind. I need a way to show teachers how to use coding in the classroom as part of the curriculum. Teachers have enough on their plate. I don’t want to put more on them. I decided to do some research. Over the next few weeks I am going to share with you what I have learned:

• Why we should teach coding in the classroom
• Coding resources you can use in the classroom
• Use coding for Interactive Storytelling

I always like to start with the why. One article I read discussed whether we should teach coding to everyone. The author mentioned that coding is deemed, by some, to be a new type of literacy. This idea is one to consider. Technology is changing the way we do things every day and logically effects the jobs of our students’ future.

Another article suggests that coding should be considered “as essential as reading, writing and arithmetic due to its fundamental importance in the digital world we are now living in”. I was intrigued by these strong opinions and needed to know more. I came across a great article from Kodable that gave me specific reasons for teaching kids coding in the classroom.

But if coding is to become emedded in schools wouldn’t it take a massive overhaul in teacher training and honestly a massive overhaul within the curriculum? I consider myself pretty proficient with technology and curriculum but even I didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of teaching my students how to code. Nor could I see the connection between coding and teaching students how to read and write. Teachers need to feel confident in teaching coding skills in the classroom but they also need to be able to do it with what they already do on a day-to-day basis rather than having to add one more thing to their schedule.