Programming Technique 1
There’s been a lot of debate about which programming language is best for teaching students to program, but, ultimately, it doesn't matter. Learning to program isn’t about syntax, it’s about the algorithmic thinking. It isn’t about learning the commands from Codecademy, it’s about breaking down a larger task into a number of codable steps. That's why I don't like the term "coding" - it's not what we're trying to teach.
Cognitive scientists tell us that we learn and remember the things we think about. We need to make sure that our lessons get students to think about what we actually want them to learn. That’s why word searches have no educational value (other than for teaching students to spell) - they make students think about what the words look like, rather than what they mean.
I wouldn't, therefore, start students off with exercises on spotting syntax errors in existing code. It's not very exciting, and it also seems somewhat back-to-front – like getting primary-school children to proofread novels. More crucially, it’s getting students to think about the not-very-important issue of syntax (which they can look up if they need to) when they should be thinking about the programming techniques and the steps required to create the program.