What do connected educators love to read about? If you can draw conclusions from the 10 most popular posts of the year, it looks like EdTekHub readers love tips and advice from educators who share their passions. They want to know how to align their lessons with standards, especially the ISTE Standards and the Common Core State Standards. And they like practical lessons with step-by-step guidance on how to replicate those lessons in their own classrooms.

If that’s what you’re looking for, check out the top 10 posts published on ISTE’s EdTekHub during 2015.

1. Find free and fair use photos

Grabbing photos from Google Images and republishing them is easy. Teaching students about digital citizenship is a little trickier. That’s probably why this post resonated with so many educators looking for resources to help them teach students about digital citizenship, a hallmark of the ISTE Standards for Students. In this article, Pete Ferrell, an ed tech coach at Singapore American School, will show you how to find fair-use photos your students can use in digital presentations.  

2. Steal these ideas from Project ReimaginED!

Last summer Chip Cash, a high school math teacher and the network leader for Project ReimaginED, compiled five of the best lesson ideas submitted to the project website. All the lessons in this resource roundup align to the Common Core and ISTE Standards and run the gamut from environmental science, engineering and social studies to creative writing and kindergarten math. 

3. Turn your classroom into a personalized learning environment

The termpersonalized learning is tossed around a lot. But what does it really look like in action? Delaware English teacher Robyn Howton explains how she combined face-to-face teaching, technology-assisted instruction and collaboration to leverage each student’s learning style and interests for deeper learning.

4. Technology leaders: Do you have the Tech Trinity of Expertise?

Navigating the complexities of instructional technology today requires a much different leader than the days of computer labs with standalone Commodore 64s or Apple II computers. Paul Zeller, a high school director of instructional technology in New Jersey, explains that today’s technology leaders need to possess the Tech Trinity of Expertise — technical, administrative and instructional skills.

5. 8 new apps to test drive in your classroom

It’s not easy to keep up on all the apps available to educators. That’s why we went to some ed tech experts to find out what they recommend. These apps will help you create interactive videos, teach coding, develop formative assessments, communicate and create some cool looking designs.  

6. Student-run genius bar: The facilitator’s guide

Jennifer Scheffer, the facilitator of one of the country’s first student-run “genius bars” modeled after Apple’s Genius Bar, writes that launching the program didn’t come without challenges. The keys to sustaining success for both students and staff were continued attention and constant adjustments. Find out how her team made it work.

7. Engaging lesson plans that will make your students crave school

This round-up of the best step-by-step lesson plans published on the EdTekHub will make you breathless to return to your classroom to try them out. This article is packed with standards-aligned lessons embedded with technology.

8. Middle school students dispel technology myths

Middle school students, for the most part, love technology. But what would they say if you asked them to defend educational technology to naysayers? Here’s how some students at North Rowan Middle School in North Carolina responded to some common complaints from their local community.

9. Use Minecraft to teach math

We know that kids love computer games and will spend hours totally engrossed in them. But often “education games” are neither educational nor much fun. Jim Pike, a fifth grade teacher at Einstein Academy in Beverly Hills, California, explains how he uses the popular game Minecraft to organize, implement, manage, assess, guide and provide ample learning opportunities while still keep the game fun.

10. Make math concrete with digital fabrication

Digital fabrication is the process of creating a physical object from a digital design developed on a computer. Kimberly Corum and Joe Garofalo from the University of Virginia explain how you can transform your classroom computers into personal fabrication systems that your students can use to create both virtual and physical manipulatives.

If you got something useful out of these articles, stay tuned. We have a lot more rich, engaging, standards-aligned articles coming your way in 2016!