Ideas for Writing in the Classroom

As our approaches to teaching have evolved over the years, experts now see the validity of incorporating students' daily activities and personal interests into the classroom. I notice in my reading from the National Council of Teachers of English, that it should be no different for the English student.
It is true that we do not have the resources available to allow students to use certain types of media and technology in the classroom itself, but since writing should not be just an in-class experience, I think that incorporating forums like the blog, social networking sites, text messages and e-mails into the teaching - learning experience would not only allow us to captivate students' interests but would also allow us to demonstrate the value and authenticity of "writing" to the human experience.
It is important to show students that we write not simply to attain good grades or answer questions on a test, but also to communicate daily; and that the experience we have in the classroom with writing goes in tandem with what we write/experience on a daily basis.
Of course with new teachers and even experienced ones there is always a level of trial and error when incorporating new ideas into our teaching, and finding a way to make these newer approaches work may take some time and a lot of careful planning but I believe that those ideas should be explored and may very well make an impact on how our students respond to writing in the long run.