My Blogging Workshop Experience

On the morning of Saturday, April 25, I woke up with a start as the alarm went off. The first thing that came to my mind was my workshop. Yes, today I, along with my sister Zainab, was going to conduct a workshop for kids on Blogging.

I had been thinking and planning this workshop for weeks. I had prepared the handouts, which were six pages long, containing ‘Steps for making a blog, posting, and commenting on it’, ‘Guidelines for smart blogging’, my article, ‘The Importance of Commenting on a Child’s Blog’, an article Zainab and I wrote; ‘Why should you have your blog and what can you do on it’, and a recommended blog list containing links of mine and my friends blogs. I and Zainab had also made a presentation for the workshop.

The workshop was supposed to begin at ten. It started on time with twelve participants. The age group was ten till fourteen years.

I started the workshop, by first introducing myself, followed by a round of introduction of the participants. They had to tell their name, age, class, school, and their reason for coming to this workshop. Most of the people said that they had come here to learn how to make a blog. One girl said that she had come to enhance her blog, as she already had a blog.

After the introductions, Zainab came in the front and asked everyone if they knew what a blog is. Someone said it’s like a website. Then she explained what a blog is; she had made a mind map about blogging.

Then everyone opened their laptops or tablets and connected to the internet. Then we showed them how to create their blogs. I took this part, first explained them what to do, and then went to each person one by one to see if they were understanding my instructions. Most people were getting each step done easily, while a few were taking time to understand. This was a major challenge we faced – some of the kids were doing everything quickly, while the others were taking time. That is why; some of the blogs we helped to make had more features than the others.

After everybody had made their blogs, we asked them to start typing their first post. Some posted an introduction, while others typed their stories or posted the artwork they had brought. We moved around the room, helping the ones that needed help, and facilitating others. We also did a few things that were not in our agenda. Like a girl wanted to post her PowerPoint presentation, so I showed her how to do so; by making an account on Slideshare, uploading the presentation, and embedding it onto the blog. I showed the girl who already had her blog how to customize it and add a different background.

The posting continued till break. We had a short break at 11:30, where everyone had a few snacks.

Then we returned to the classroom. Zainab took up the next part, and showed everyone how to add a template to their blogs. After that, I showed them how to add gadgets to their blogs. We asked them to add some of the gadgets, like ‘Follow by Email’, ‘Page views’, and a short introduction. We said that if anyone wants to add any other gadget they like, they can add it, so some people added the ‘Translate’ gadget, through which the viewers can translate the blog in any language of the world. Some people added more gadgets as well.

Then we showed them how to add pages to their blog. Adding pages makes a blog look more official and website-like. We said that this part isn’t compulsory; you can add pages if you want to. Some people added pages, while others completed their work and published more posts. The time flew by.

Then, we wrote the blog addresses of everyone on the board, and asked everyone to note the addresses down, and visit those blogs. Some people visited them at the same time, and commented on them too.

Soon, it was time for the workshop to end. It was amazing how fast the three hours had passed by. We gave everyone some paper to write down their comments about the workshop. When I read those comments after the workshop, I was amazed! I’m sharing some of the comments below:

These comments really surprised me! I mean, I wasn't even confident that the workshop had been a success. But these comments made me realize that the workshop had been really good, because, most importantly, the kids had enjoyed! These comments show this!

Another amazing thing I witnessed after the workshop actually proved that the workshop had been a success: Not all, but a few of the participants posted more of their work on their blogs after the workshop! This shows that we had managed to motivate our audience towards posting their work on their blogs! This was the best thing about the whole workshop!

Below are the links of the blogs we helped create:

muaviyahbinarsalan.blogspot.com/

shaheerbaig.blogspot.com/

khadijaasif.blogspot.com/

raahimawaseem.blogspot.com/ 

shajeearizwan.blogspot.com/

rumaisawaseem.blogspot.com/

vaniasstories.blogspot.com/

zohramunir.blogspot.com/

mahaiqrar.blogspot.com/

alyasalman.blogspot.com/

syedshariqnazeer.blogspot.com/