We’re spending the next two weeks in the company of high school students who are visiting the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. If you haven’t been there yet, it is an amazing interactive museum devoted to issues of hate, from the Holocaust to cyberbullying, and the personal decision-making of the individual to make the world a better place. The challenge is making this trip extend beyond a single experience. The History teacher has all his students writing a letter to themselves and dated one year from today. They’re describing the three personal commitments they made and how it resulted in a better situation. He’ll return the letters to them on January 7. 2011.It brings to mind a question we’re often faced with: how do you make the learning from a field trip endure beyond a single day?

The new school year brings lots of excitement and a host of new resources for teachers. These recommendations aren’t necessarily for direct student use, but can be a boon for you when creating materials to use in your teaching. We like Many Eyes (http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/) for creating visual data for your students that causes them to sit up and take notice of the facts.  Another favorite is MashOn for creating comics and posters  (http://mashon.com). Finally, we find ourselves consulting HowCast to find out how to do a whole host of things. What are your favorite websites for creating materials for your classroom? Let us know and we’ll share.