Blogging... a reflection.

My goal at the beginning of the school year was to create a professional teacher blog, then to have each one of my students create one for themselves.  I wanted to use mine as a communication tool with parents, and for them, as more of an online portfolio.
We started the year off on a good note, the students were keen, and off we went!
I found my efforts fell flat pretty quickly for several reasons:
- With Blogger you can really only post on the main page.  I wanted students to be able to create tabs and postings within those tabs.  This was not possible.  I was disappointed that this feature is not available.
- Many students were engaged, others not so much.  I found that I didn't have enough classroom time (only having my main class for Math and Language two blocks per day) to allow for blogging time.
- Let's face it, parents are busy, reading my blog is just another thing on their list, and it probably rarely every happened.
- I found it hard to read and track 32 student blogs.  I would read them here and there, comment when I could, but it was hard to keep up when the pace of school picked up.
- The other features of Blogger were relatively easy to master and teach my students.  A simple Google search would help if I was stuck.  I liked that it was user friendly.
I can't say that I follow any professional blogs.  I have looked at some briefly, but have not regularly read any.  Most of my professional reading takes place on twitter.
I still think that blogs are a great way to get students writing, and a wonderful opportunity to give them a voice they may not be able to find in the classroom.  I'm just not sure it was the right fit for me, at this point in my learning journey with technology.