yearbook class

When I was asked/told I would be the yearbook adviser over ten years ago, I said what any good new hire would say: “Sure!” I had never been on the yearbook or newspaper staff before, and my degree wasn’t in journalism. I stepped into a situation where the previous adviser had left on bad terms, so the staffers hated me – that is an understatement. So, through much blood, sweet, and tears, I eventually learned everything the hard way and on my own – again, another understatement. Now, I am still learning, but along the way, I learned to love it. I have a supportive administration, faculty and community, good vibes from our student body, great publishing company, and an amazing yearbook rep. Hopefully, with that bit of good vibes going, I can share with you the things that have worked for me. So here we have the first five things that you need to do NOW if you are just starting out.

Deadlines and Ladder– Yearbook class is almost like a company. It operates with one foot in the school world and one foot in the business world. The first thing you need to do is sit down with your yearbook rep or company and find out when your deadlines are. Once I have those deadlines, I handle them a couple of ways. First, I make the ladder and set every page that needs to be created. Second, I NEVER give my students the drop-dead deadline. In fact, they get a couple of deadlines from me: a preliminary and a final. Often, there is one in between that one, too. I chunk my pages based on content and what I know we can get done first. For example, my business ads are always submitted on the first deadline, student portraits usually go next, and so on. Also, I give students at least two deadlines to work on a time – the closest one and the next one. In fact, my students are basically assigned every page/topic they will be completing for the year the first or second week of school! That way there are no surprises, and we can make our deadlines!

Budget – Again, this is something you will need to sit down and talk to your company rep about the first week of school or before. Once you know what the overall bill will be, you can work backwards to begin collecting money. We sell business advertisements and senior tribute advertisements to help lower the cost of the book for our students. I teach in a very rural school district, and I wanted as many students to have the opportunity to purchase a book as possible, so the ad sales help. It’s important to know the end goal up front, so you don’t overspend on book design extras, etc. My full yearbook curriculum has an entire teaching pack included for business sales, etc.

Equipment Organization and Photography – Whether you have a small staff or a large staff with a lot of equipment or a little, there has to be a system to keep up with everything so it’s all protected. My staff has several cameras, lens, etc. and each staff has a laptop as well. Before they can even use the equipment, they must sign a release form. My principal approved my form, and I hand it out on the first day. Next, I have system for check outs. Anything checked out must be signed out and signed back in. For the computers and other materials, each student has a bucket and a cubby. Last, one of the most important things you can do to protect images and keep them organized is to require each student to have his/her own memory card. In the past, I’ve supplied those cards and they get lost, stolen, broken, and/or erased. Once I started requiring staffers to have their own cards, those problems were almost nonexistent.

Teamwork and School Spirit – The dynamic of yearbook staff can be really tough for a couple of reasons: large personalities and the pressure of getting things done. I start on the first day building the concept of teamwork and collaboration. We do team-building activities, and we talk about what each person has to offer. We also take a look at our own struggles, so that we know everybody has room to grow and we can learn from each other. The other component of keeping a positive attitude going is making sure the student body feels connected and supported by us. Each of my staffer gets a list of students (I divide the entire student body up) that he/she keeps track of all year. They get to know the people on their list through projects I assign, and they make sure those people are being covered in an authentic way. I have several of these projects in my store, or you can let your students brainstorm some! Also, I always have a small gift for my staffers on the first day to let them know how much I appreciate them! Our theme this year is related to the idea of authenticity – so I went with Coke’s real thing slogan! Plus, my staffers know how much I love my real, RED coke!

Back to School Gift for Yearbook Staffers, Coke Gift Tag

Grading – If your yearbook class is for credit, grading can be a sticky issue, so it must be consistent and formulated. My staffers get grades several ways: selling ads, selling my books, meeting deadlines, projects, and pages. I use rubrics to grade their pages with. Projects include photo challenges, interview challenges, presentations, etc. They also do grammar worksheets and sometimes we read info texts on hot topics and answer questions. All of these items can be found in my full yearbook curriculum that is ready to go for you.

In all, I realize there is a lot of turnover in the yearbook adviser world, and rightfully so. It’s not an easy job for many reasons: deadline stress, money worries, drama from staffers, unsupportive admin and/or faculty, nosy or apathetic community members, subpar publishing companies, and the list goes on and on. So, if you are a new or newish yearbook adviser, I hope I can share something from my struggles along the way that can help you. If you have a little bit of extra time, stop over by my FB page and watch my webinar on “Getting Started as a Yearbook Adviser.”

So…..my #1 tip for new yearbook advisers? Eat the elephant one bite at a time. You can’t change the world — or a yearbook program — in a day!

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Yearbook is that class for me at the end
of the day where I can take a deep breath and spend time
being creative alongside my students. We
have a very open environment where we share ideas and issues openly. However, building up this type of environment
does take some time and nurturing. Even
though students take a lead role in this class, it is important to set the stage for a structured class right from the
start. Here are my top 5 ways to kick
off the yearbook class!

#1) Teamwork

The idea of teamwork
cannot be a cliché in a yearbook class if things are going to run smoothly.
While I do typically assign students individual tasks to complete regarding
pages and photography, etc. if we are going to make the most out of everyone’s
talents and time, the staff must learn to lean on one another. By the same token, each staff member must
step up to the plate to be reliable. One
successful teamwork activity I have done is The Marshmallow Challenge. We simply did the challenge as instructed on
the website, and we did have some winners!
More important than winning (Because I gave them all candy anyway!),
though, I had students reflect on their process afterwards. It was crucial that
they talked through the process to determine what worked and what didn’t.

Yearbook Marshmallow Teamwork Challenge

#2) School Spirit

When I first was asked to be the yearbook sponsor, the staff was made up of only seniors and so were the pages of the book. It was my first goal to stress that the book we create is a book for everyone. The yearbook staff’s job is to tell the story of the entire student body, not just the story of a few. We wrote this motto: “Everybody’s Story. Everybody’s Book.” And I held them to it. To ensure we were covering more people, we made lists and checked them off. Staffers worked to attend events they would have never attended before, and we reached out to different friend groups. It took our staff a while to build up trust from the student body after having an exclusive book for so long, but we got there. One activity that I do every year to remind the student body that we care about them is my Yearbook Class Back to School Activity: The World’s Smallest Interview.

Yearbook Back to School Activity

#3) Organization

A little bit of order promotes fairness and reduces anxiety. We already have enough of that, so we don’t want to create more. There are so many moving parts to operating a successful yearbook staff. Without proper organization and a plan in place, things, and people, are forgotten.

To
ensure all ads are evenly distributed and sold and that all pages are assigned
evenly and are being maintained we keep tally in Excel.

Be
sure to keep a printed copy and an electronic copy up-to-date of the ladder! It
is tragic if something happens to the ladder!

I
also publish all due dates at the beginning of the year so staffers can take
ownership in managing their time getting pages complete.

#4) Mini lessons/Lectures

For my yearbook class, students actually get a fine arts credit for taking the class. I submit paperwork to the state each year, and they are approved for FA credit rather than elective credit. Therefore, I have worked the past few years to develop lessons that meet those requirements and improve the quality and content of the book, too. Even before students were getting the fine arts credit, we worked through lessons each day to improve our photograph, design, writing, and more. Recently, our school’s schedule changed to four block periods, and we thankfully have even more time in class! As a result, I wanted to do a little something extra each day with the staff to keep them on their toes. I love these 100 Days of Bell Ringer Yearbook Class Starter Activities for each day!

100 Days of Yearbook Bell Ringers

#5) Gifts and Goodies

Yearbook advisers and veteran staffers know that taking yearbook class is no cakewalk. It is a 9-5 (to give a little Dolly throwback there) commitment. It is a huge responsibility to be on yearbook staff, and I believe my students deserve to know that I value them! When I can, I like to give them some perks! Each year we design a staff shirt that suits their personality and alludes to the theme of our book. We always put our “catchy saying,” book name, and year on the front. On the back they love for the word STAFF to be written across the top! So, I happily oblige them. I even order myself a shirt, too, and we wear them throughout the year. You can usually order custom t-shirts for around $10 each at a local shirt shop!

Change It Up POCOHI Yearbook Staff Shirts

Another thing I like to do for the staff is periodically bring them treats. Sometimes I include a message. Other times I just have chocolate handy! Click the image below to get that cute FREE printable for your staff. For less than $10, you have shown your sweet side!