If you are interested in starting a blog I recommend Blogger, it is the easiest platform I have used. Start by taking a look at this tutorial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA4s3wN_vK8
Once you have created a blog think about how you want your students to view your blog. I wanted a choice of methods for accessing my blog since many of you are at different user levels. I chose an RSS feed for your readers, and an email subscription for those of you wanting a more traditional method. Below is the code I used for my feeds.
Follow by email:
Go to layout and add gadget and select follow by email
Follow through as RS Feed:
Go to layout and add gadget and select subscription links
ClustrMaps:
If you would like a map showing your visitors go to http://www.clustrmaps.com/getone.php and sign up for a free account. You will receive an email with the code you will need to insert.
Code for search this site:
<div class="searchform">
<form method="get" id="searchform" action="/search">
<table width="100%">
<tr>
<td><input type="text" style="width:98%;padding:2px;" value="Search this blog..." onfocus="if (this.value == "Search this blog...") {this.value = ""}" onblur="if (this.value == "") {this.value = "Search this blog...";}" name="q" id="sbox" class="sbox" /></td>
<td width="75px"><input type="button" value="Search" id="sbutton" class="sbutton" alt="" /></td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
</div>
