First coding class (in fourth grade)
My first school coding course, fourth grade, age nine. By that point I had been writing batch scripts and Minecraft commands for a couple of years, so when the teacher introduced Scratch (visual programming, drag-the-blocks) I was enthusiastically disappointed. It still turned out to be a fun year.
What we did
- Block-based programming in Scratch. Sprites, simple loops, event handlers wired up by dragging.
- A handful of small games, the kind you can finish in an afternoon and show to a parent in the evening.
- Group projects with classmates who had never written code before, which turned out to be the more interesting part.
The "real coding" misconception
I had a strong opinion, at age nine, that Scratch did not count. That opinion was wrong, and I have made it a habit to revisit it every few years. Visual programming is real programming. The syntax has just been made forgiving so the ideas can come through. The kids in the class who had never touched a keyboard before were learning the same skills I had picked up from batch scripts, just in less time and with fewer typos.
Still, once class was over I went home and wrote more batch scripts.