Blogging on Blogs

Before this class, I had been only slightly exposed to blogs. My husband had kept a blog on our hiking excursions and he regularly visits the blogs of several different people. So I had heard about them and visited a few through him but I had never actually written a web log. However, I am excited to utilize a blog in my classroom.
At our school we have a laptop cart which would allow all of my students to blog at the same time. I think that when only one or two students are blogging at a time, the rest of the class might be more distracted. I also think that having everyone doing the same thing would alleviate anyone feeling left out. Although the cart is a bit cumbersome, I can definitely commit to getting it at least once a week to keep students interested in writing. I think the students would love to get to use the computers on a regular basis and they wouldn't even realize that it was good writing practice and a great way for me to see what they have retained. With each child blogging, parents could use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) to have just their child's blog sent to them, but if they wanted to see what the other kids were saying, they could.
I would like to have students use blogging as a way to summarize what they've learned in the classroom each week or unit. All students could write on each of the subjects they have with me. Therefore a child might do 2-3 blogs a week (1 math, 1 science, 1 other). I would most likely use questions to make sure they would stay on topic and cover the week completely.
I'd also like to have the students keep a blog in which they respond to journal prompts just like they currently do in their personal journals. I think that this might encourage the kids to write more than they would in a traditional journal. I imagine that by allowing the students to type their ideas, they would not want to put the computer up, so they would think a little harder than when they are handwriting their ideas. I often find that when they get tired of writing, not necessarily when they run out of ideas, they stop writing. By allowing them to blog, I think they would be more engaged and engaged for longer.
I also like the idea of having my own blog where I could model using proper grammar, answer questions and model thoroughly answering a prompt. My blog would also be done weekly, so that the parents could compare my thoughts of what was covered during the week to what the students thought about the lessons.
The ultimate example of blogs in use... Mr. Coley (a fifth grade teacher in CA) maintains an elaborate website which includes this blog done mostly by his students. This impressive working model of using blogs is something I hope I can eventually achieve!