Thing 3

     I think a great way to incorporate blogs into the education program is to use them for students to complete work independently and somewhat on their own schedule, and then have teachers grade the final product.  They also allow for much more flexibility and creativity than a standard assignment such as a paper or test.
     In my future classroom, they can be used in ways similar to a written journal that a student would keep.  They can be used for several subjects, such as literature, creative writing, history, and science.  By simply creating an assignment for each week's post at the beginning of the semester, students can complete their work from the classroom or at home, and as the teacher I can view them from any computer, making the entire process much more convenient. 
     Another idea for a classroom blog would be a creative way for parents to keep up with important events, assignments, and general day-to-day activities in our classroom. This would be a great way to communicate with busy parents in today's technologically obsessed world, and make sure the information is always communicated directly from myself to the parents, rather than the traditional method of sending a note home in a student's folder and hoping it makes it to the parent.  This is much easier than calling each parent individually as well.