Another vote for heavy focus on SQL. It sets the stage for so much and covers bases that may not be covered very well down the road. It's a skill that won't be going away unlike so many programming trends. It'll serve all of your students well, no matter what field they choose, and empowers them. SQLLite would be great and easy for them to use.
When I was in school, we focused on touch-typing and BASIC. I think touch-typing and SQL are must-haves with large return on investment, and then moving onto some programming.
For programming, I'd personally teach what I know best, which is C#. Whatever you choose there, I'd set them up as the language is used in the real world, full tooling chain so if they want to do more on their own at home in the summer, you've fully enabled them.
Generally speaking, by high school I'd like to see schools no longer teaching subjects at all. Leaving that to elementary and junior high. High school should be reserved to hammer into kids on how to filter out unsubstantiated information, critical thinking skills and essentially the medieval trivium. In the information age, we don't really need to teach subjects as we have the internet. The challenge now and going forward is working through all of it in an effective way.
When I was in school, we focused on touch-typing and BASIC. I think touch-typing and SQL are must-haves with large return on investment, and then moving onto some programming.
For programming, I'd personally teach what I know best, which is C#. Whatever you choose there, I'd set them up as the language is used in the real world, full tooling chain so if they want to do more on their own at home in the summer, you've fully enabled them.
Generally speaking, by high school I'd like to see schools no longer teaching subjects at all. Leaving that to elementary and junior high. High school should be reserved to hammer into kids on how to filter out unsubstantiated information, critical thinking skills and essentially the medieval trivium. In the information age, we don't really need to teach subjects as we have the internet. The challenge now and going forward is working through all of it in an effective way.