Setting up Blogs

I have been trying to set up blogs and am getting frustrated for a few reasons. One is that I have a hard time remembering how to do these tasks of "grabbing" things and putting them into my blog. Maybe it is my own mind that is over-stuffed with things, but, I think it has more to do with the fact that with each website I am on there seems to be a different way to capture things than the last site. Some have a feed, others want you to copy and paste, others want you to do it from the blog - not to the blog, etc. Then again, I am playing with two blogs - edublogs and blogger, and several different grabbing tools. I guess I am trying to figure out which ones would be best to use with my class. For blogs,I think that blogger is more manageable, but edublog was purposely designed for educators so I feel like I should use it. Plus, I was able to get all my kids their own blog without using their email accounts. Now the problem seems to be that any time they want to comment on another child's blog they have to put in an email address. Sometimes I just feel like I can't win. But, I will persevere!
On a more positive note I just can't say enough about Sir Kenneth Robinson and what he has to say about creativity and finding your passion as it relates to school and education. I loved his TED talk and am now reading his book "The Element" and learning how he supports the ideas that he alludes to in the TED talk. I agree with the notion that our ways of teaching on based upon what we thought was the way to educate students in the Industrial era. We based our mode of teaching on preparing kids for "the one" job they would have in life and the limited skills they would need to carry out that job. We also wanted to fill them with knowledge - were we thinking this was their only opportunity to really have the opportunity and time to take in quantities of knowledge? Now, of course, we have instant knowledge at our fingertips so kids don't need to be pumped with knowledge. Instead, they need to know how to be life time learners that can access knowledge, ask the right questions, find multiple resources, share their learning, build their knowledge base, acquire, store and share their knowledge, work in a team, be creative, etc., etc. Our schools and our curriculum need to change to meet these new needs. Our students won't be holding down one job and they will engage in jobs that we may not even be able to fathom right now.
So, right now I am trying to reassess how I teach and how to make the time to incorporate more of the skills that I know will be essential for learning. Added to that, I am aware that in the media world that we live in students are looking for engagement in their learning similar to what they experience outside of the classroom. As it stands now, for many, their world outside of school can be more enriching, collaborative, engaging, and informative. We need to change that!
Check out these clips: