Codecademy's HTML & CSS lessons guide students through the process of building a website over a span of about seven hours. As they work through the module, students immediately see what their website looks like as they alter the code. The only downside is that the instructions are all written, making them less accessible to struggling readers. This is where teachers can step in to support and assess student learning. If you have students who struggle with reading, try frontloading some of the vocabulary bolded in the lessons. You're best off using this course as in-class independent work or as pair work. Opportunities for homework, or even for extra credit are certainly an option, too. One missing component teachers should address is how students should organize their code (when to indent or use line breaks). Students will also benefit from working on a larger collaborative project outside Codecademy. As they learn here, have them work in teams to create a specific type of website using the skills they're learning.
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