Blogging as a Teaching Tool

For my English 105 class, I read about thirteen articles that all dealt with blogging and how great it is. All of the articles were written by professors, predominately in the English department, and every article gave some positive feedback on blogging. The articles had a lot in common; each gave a small summary of how they used their blogs, how they first started blogging, their positive feelings about blogging, and most dealt with how they have successfully integrated blogging in the classroom. Few people found any fault with blogging, except that there was some controversy about the blurring of the line between the personal and the professional.  However, Laura Berry contested that the line is already blurred, "... everybody in an English department knows pretty much everything about everybody else, or believes that they do; there isn't much privacy to protect" (Berry). Not only are the lines blurred, but students believe that insight into their professor's personal life is helpful to the students. One student of Carlton Clark's commented, "Life stories make a person's character. [. . .] I agree on not sharing the big intimate stuff, but maybe just the little things like a good restaurant, good conversation, or a good movie. Students, especially the younger ones, forget that their professors are people too, and it is always different to find out things about them" (Clark). I agree with the articles in that blogging is a useful tool in the classroom. It provides a forum outside the classroom to express ideas; personal and academic. However, I think it would have been interesting to read a high school teacher's experience with blogging, because I'm sure it would be much different.
I've heard horror stories about teachers having a picture or a story or a link to something deemed "inappropriate" and having been fired because of web-based content. For example a teacher at a private Catholic school does not have the same freedom that a SJSU teacher would, have in sharing personal stories, experiences, thoughts, and opinions. The people in these articles, had mostly positive experiences with blogging. There was a "cautionary tale" by Dr. Eric Mason which explains the need for non-tenured persons should "censor yourself before you even finish typing your post.... You limit yourself to certain subjects, and only to certain positions toward those subjects. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as this makes you more aware of the perilous nature of writing and your tenuous position in the university." People vulnerable to being fired should edit themselves in what they write in a public forum, or use an alias to avoid being judged or punished for sharing beliefs in opposition to their employer's. 
Blogging brings people together who have similar interests, social circles, and classes. Before reading these articles I thought of blogging as more of an online diary, but the articles showed me how valuable the implementation of blogging can be in a classroom. I think that many of my teachers/classes would benefit from blogging. Also, I never thought to look up bloggers who share my interests.