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5 Ways to Use Class Time After the Yearbook is Complete

The yearbook is complete, submitted, done. Now what? You have several months of school left, and you aren’t sure how to keep your students on task for the remaining days. Does this sound familiar? With spring delivery or even summer delivery books where students take yearbook/journalism as a class, it’s often difficult — and even daunting — to come up with creative and constructive ways to use that time. As we all know, doing nothing is not an option! In this blog post, I’ll share 5 ways to use class time after the yearbook is complete.

1) Listen

Podcasts are super popular right now, and I think they are here to stay! The trick with using podcasts in yearbook or journalism class after your big publication is off to the presses is in choosing a series. Another tip is to choose a podcast show or series that has its roots in journalism. We also enjoy podcasts because they are mobile. I grab a Bluetooth speaker with my phone, the kids bring chairs and Enos, and we head outside on a pretty day!

Here are several podcasts I have used in class after the yearbook has been submitted that I think work wonderfully in the yearbook classroom. Also hop over to my free podcast catalog for even more. Search “yearbook.”

This American Life, Serial Season 1: This podcast series was done by journalist Sarah Koenig. It is a true crime series about a student who goes missing. Grab my free Podcast Series True Crime Listening guide here, and your students will be set. Rated for older students.
Up and Vanished, Season 1: Another in the true crime family, this podcast is a series as well. In this one, a teacher goes missing. Rated for older students. *Tip: Consider sending a permission slip home for parents/guardians to sign for anything that might be questionable.
Dolly Parton’s America, Season 1: Whether you are a Dolly fan or not, this podcast is perfect for notable interview techniques, storytelling, and just feel-good fun. As students listen, have them complete a double entry notebook for each episode. This listening strategy allows them to decide what’s unique, interesting, and special as they listen and note their reactions as well. A no-prep double entry notebook sheet is included in my Podcast Analysis Pack for Print and Digital. Rated for older students.
It’s All Journalism, Beyond the Ivory Tower, Picture This, Grammar Girl, or Stuff You Should Know. These are all content-specific podcasts where students could pick and choose something they are interested in learning about. The task: Write three interesting things from the podcast, two questions, and one other thing you wonder.

2) Read

Engaging students with something to read is never a bad idea! (You have to know I’m an English teacher, too!) However, you don’t have to be an English teacher to embark on a reading journey with your yearbook students after the yearbook is submitted. Novel selections abound and articles are endless online. Plus, to make your job easier, select a novel or article with a pre-made guide and/questions. Here are a few suggestions:

Columbine by Dave Cullen- This is a nonfiction piece that reads like fiction. It was ten years in development and researched by journalist Dave Cullen. In it, he dispels the myths that surrounded the tragedy with facts, evidence, and quotes – all while maintaining a safe distance from giving Eric and Dylan the credit and accolades they craved. Its detailed characterization draws readers in from page one, and its complex structure challenges them while keeping students engaged from beginning to end. You can get a complete unit guide here or just a set of questions/answers for each chapter here. Rated for older students.
Peeled by Joan Bauer – This fictional novel is perfect for piquing student journalists’ interested in mystery, and it ties in nicely with a journalism class. A reporter for her high school newspaper, Hildy Biddle is just waiting for a chance to prove herself as a real journalist. Not content just covering school issues, Hildy’s drawn to the town’s big story–the haunted old Ludlow house. It’s a fun, quick tale that you won’t have to beg your students to read. Rated for any age. A unit guide for this is on my to-do list.
Legacy versus Likes by Mike Smith – If you’ve never met or heard of Mike Smith, then now is your chance. Mike is full of energy and life and passion. This book, published via his work with Jostens, challenges readers to make a difference in the world. Along with engaging anecdotes and real-life tales of challenges and lessons learned, this book asks tough questions. My students were captivated and convicted by this quick read. The best thing about it for you is that it comes with built-in questions and tasks!
Article of the Week for Journalism – Reading pedagogy suggests that students are most successful with a text when they revisit it more than once with a different and meaningful purpose each time. The “article of the week” approach does that. With this resource, I’ve designed daily tasks unique to the articles linked in that give students a meaningful and skills-based reason to revisit the article of the week again each day. It’s no prep, and students learn vocabulary and figurative language in addition to the interesting weekly challenges that ask them to look beyond the article. Answers are included. Grab a set of 9 or the entire bundle!
Article of the Week for High School (General)
The New York Times also offers daily current events and self-guided lessons of the day. You could mix these up a bit and use their picture of the day as well.

3) Watch

You just can’t wrong with a movie (or two) every now and then. Movies really do provide numerous opportunities for learning, and I am an advocate of using them as a text. I either have movie guides made for specific movies, or I grab one of my movie guides that go with any movie. I like to use movies that in some form or fashion relate to journalism, yearbook, photography, or media. If I have a group of mostly seniors, I’ve sometimes used that to inspire my choice. Along those same lines, it does not have to be a movie; you can also use documentaries. Amazon, iTunes, and Youtube have numerous documentaries that students find interesting. Below are a few that I have on hand for using in my yearbook class after the book is complete. These are all for older students.

Age of Adeline (Fiction), Photography connection
Memory Keeper’s Daughter (Fiction), Photography connection grab my free movie guide
Campus Confidential (Fiction), Journalism connection
Cyberbully (Fiction), Media connection, grab my no-prep guide here
The Pursuit of Happyness (Fiction), Connection for senior students
Searching (Fiction), Media connection
Ivory Tower (Docudrama), Connection for senior students
The Social Dilemma (Docudrama), Media connection
Just Mercy (Based on a true story), Journalism connection
WACO (iTunes docudrama series by CMT/Paramount), Journalism connection
Columbine 20/20 Interview Documentary with Sue Klebold, Journalism connection, grab my free guide here
Any TED Talk
Mean Girls 2, Journalism connection

4) Sell Books

When the yearbook is done, you can’t ignore the second biggest task of the year: selling books! Whether you have been hosting sales campaigns throughout the year or not, now you have time to focus on it specifically. Be sure to reach out to all students. Develop a plan to contact each one. I like to assign my staffers groups of students to reach out to during our last big sales push. We also do an “adopt-a-student” promo, where we ask for community members to donate money for our lower-socioeconomic senior students to receive a book for free. I tell those students they were given a “book scholarship.” We usually have in the neighborhood of 15-20 books donated. Get the student body “bought in” with these ideas:

Funny sales flyers in the hall or on student cars and lockers
Yard signs
Social media posts (Canva is free for making eye-catching designs)
Videos
Ice cream party for all buyers
Countdown wall displays
Cover reveal

5) Plan Distribution

Hopefully, distribution day is a huge event at your school, too! And if not, now might be the perfect time to plan for one. I have an entire blog post on distribution, so I’m going to link it here. Definitely hop over and give it a read. This is certainly an important way to use class time after the yearbook is complete; you want students to be excited about picking up the book you’ve worked so hard to create!

Hopefully, these 5 ways to use class time after the yearbook is complete will help you and your staff make the most of the last few days at the end of the year. If you have clever ways you use class time after the yearbook is submitted, drop a comment below!

Love this content? Join a group! There are already tons of ideas, freebies, and fabulous teachers in my new groups, and joining is simple. Just click over to the following links, answer a few questions, and voila! Thanks again for following along my classroom stories and small-business journey. I really do hope you to see you over in my new “backyards” where we can chat and share all things English and Yearbook.

Written by: Julie Faulkner, 2021

Tips for New Yearbook Advisers

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!

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, un-supportive 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! Be sure to stop over to my other post: Kicking Off Back-to-School in Yearbook Class for some other fun tips!

Written by: Julie Faulkner, updated 2020

Increasing Yearbook Coverage: 5 Ways to Include More Students

In a previous post, I mentioned some challenges I had as a first year as a yearbook adviser regarding coverage (the number of times each student appears in the yearbook), so I wanted to elaborate and provide some ways I eventually worked through increasing yearbook coverage. Unfortunately, when I became the yearbook adviser, the publication was exclusive for big sports and seniors. That saddened and worried me all at the same time. If a book is to document the year that everyone enjoyed and was a part of, how can this time capsule I am helping to create only reflect a portion of those events, memories, and people? So, with gnashing of teeth and some tears, we forged ahead and began to reshape our purpose. Ultimately, we increased our yearbook coverage to represent our entire school — all students at least 3 times. Here are 5 ways that any staff can maximize coverage in your yearbook.

1) Creative Projects Yield More Diverse Pictures

Most of the time students stick to one group or set of friends because that is easy and safe. Yearbook students are no exception. One way to ensure diverse coverage and to increase yearbook coverage is to assign staffers projects that reach out to different students throughout the school. If staffers have a task (attached to a grade), that pushes them out of their comfort zone, then they can reach out to more students. Not only does this begin to build more opportunities for coverage, but it also begins to build trust bridges between the staff and the student body. If the students see that we are reaching out to all students, no matter what group, then they begin to see value in what we are doing. And that, well, that affects our bottom line. Over the years, I’ve done several projects that promote coverage. The projects always have a theme, require an interview and picture, and must be presented in class. That ensures my staffers are reaching out to a variety of other students, we are collecting good pictures, and I have a grade for my grade book. Check out a few of the projects I’ve done in the past that really ignite some great discussion and images. Find several ready-to-go projects in my Yearbook Curriculum.

2) Offer Incentives to the Student Body

Whether you are having to repair the relationship between your yearbook staff and student body or not, there is always a struggle to get student buy in. Issues include student shyness, teenage angst, rival groups, and even more. Knowing how to reach out is a struggle because we don’t want to embarrass anybody, but we also know we have a task to do. We want everyone, and we really want them at least three times. That is a tall order, I know, but it makes for a much more meaningful book. Here are a few ways we get kids involved, which makes their participation seem more like it was on their terms than ours and increases coverage.

Social media is your friend when it comes to yearbook. Kids are always taking a selfie or posing with their friends before a game, but they would never feel comfortable letting a staffer take their picture. Set up a Dropbox, email, Facebook group, or Instagram where students can submit their own pictures.
Everything doesn’t have to be a secret! Feature images and spread sneak peeks in the hallway.
Another idea to get stellar images from students is to host a photo contest. I set up 5 or so categories (school spirit, landscape, illustration, etc.) and let students submit their images. We get our yearbook representative to help us judge (sans names), and those students win a small prize. Plus those images with the photographers’ names are featured in the book and in a hallway display, and you can use all the other images, too!
Post the index or write individual notes to place on students’ lockers telling them a few pages they are featured on.
No one can resist a sweet treat! Invest in some candy to give students who are willing to pose, and you will have line.

3) Redesign Spreads to Get in More Coverage

Thoughtful design and layout plays a big role in how many students you can cover in a book. My book is about 180-190 pages, the smallest trim size available, and we have about 550-600 students. Some pages you may have not thought of to use for coverage include business advertisements and index. If a business has affiliations with a student, maybe they would like to give a shout out on their ad. Another type of ad that generates both coverage and money is the Senior Memory Ad paid for by the family of the senior. Also, you can include sidebars or photo bars on the portrait pages or club group pictures in the reference section. Just get crafty, shrink those mugs, and move in some cute packages with tons of interesting pictures and coverage. Most kids don’t love their school picture anyway. Use that space to cover them in a more natural, fun way.

4) Think Beyond Pictures for Coverage Opportunities

Words and numbers “count” as coverage, too. Plus, this strategy really helps with increasing yearbook coverage of those super shy students I mentioned above.

Include authentic quotes from students in all body copy and captions.
Use charts and graphs that relate to your theme to showcase survey results that include entire classes or groups of students. Tag all the names of students surveyed, and add a picture/quote/response from one or two of the students (depending on how much room you have).
Scoreboards for sports seasons reflect entire teams. With a quick quote or image carefully placed, those stats have extra meaning.
For students without a portrait in the picture section, be sure to create a list of “not pictured” students at the end. They need to be documented as part of the class even though they didn’t have their picture made for whatever reason. Tag those names to another picture on the page, so it populates to the index flow (if your publisher has that feature.)

5) Maintain a Diverse Staff

Birds of a feather flock together, right? Yearbook can definitely be its own little tribe (and that’s ok), but staffers must be open-minded and invested in the goal. I think part of the problem I had when I first started was that yearbook class was only for seniors. It was an exclusive ~~entity~~ clique, and the privilege was there to be taken advantage of. Only certain people were able to join, and everything was a secret. I want my staff to think of themselves as working for the school, not the other way around. We are creating a gift for everyone. If possible, take applications to see what qualifications students have and how diverse they are with their interests, activities, and skills. Accept applications from sophomores, juniors, and seniors, so that it is easier to reach out more. Once you have an established staff, be sure to keep it mixed up to avoid cliques forming inside the staff. Randomly assign projects and keep page assignments thoughtful and purposeful. I also assign each of my staffers “families” from the student body. Basically, I get every student in the school and divide the names among my staffers. They are responsible for making sure every person in their “family” gets covered. This one strategy (aside from the mindset shift) has made the biggest impact over the years in increasing coverage. Find a printable and digital application in my Yearbook Starter Kit for Advisers.

Covering each student at least three times is a huge task, but one very
worthy of our time and attention. We’ve never had 100% coverage of every
student three times, but we’ve gotten close — upwards of 80% for several consecutive years. Increasing yearbook coverage is something we start focusing our energies on from the first week of school. Be organized, keep lists, and make sure it’s everybody’s task. Challenge your staff to see how many different people they can cover on a page and offer incentives to them. It is a struggle, but it’s a productive one. Everybody wants to be part of a group — part of something — and the yearbook is for sure the ONE THING of which ALL students can be a part.

Written by: Julie Faulkner, updated 2020

5 Ideas for Back-to-School in Yearbook Class

5 Ideas for Back-to-School Yearbook Class

Being the yearbook adviser allows me to 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 yearbook class, it is important to set the stage for a structured class right from the start. Here are 5 ideas for back-to-school in yearbook class!

TEAMWORK

The idea of teamwork cannot be considered 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. Doing a few teamwork challenges at the beginning of the year can really help students get to know each other and build up trust. One successful teamwork activity I have done is The Marshmallow Challenge: Can you build the tallest tower to hold up your marshmallow before the clock runs out? After the contest, I have students reflect on their process afterwards. It was crucial that they talked through the process to determine what worked and what didn’t. Another fun teamwork challenge for back-to-school in yearbook class is an escape game. I have a few ready-to-go escape games that would be perfect for a yearbook class. Click here to check those out.

SCHOOL SPIRIT

When I first was asked to be the yearbook sponsor, the staff consisted 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. I assign each staffer a group of students in the school that they have to reach out to and cover throughout the year. The entire student body is covered that way. Staffers write welcome notes to their new “families,” and throughout the year we plan gifts for the entire student body. 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 teaching activity that I do every year back-to-school in yearbook class to remind the student body that we care about them is my Yearbook Class Back to School Activity: The World’s Smallest Interview, which is part of my Journalism Interviewing Complete Teaching Pack. Another activity that works really well is my selfie project. This informational hot topics lesson gets my students thinking outside their own circle of friends.

Yearbook Info Text Hot Topics Lesson with Photo Project, Selfie Obsession

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 shout out here) commitment. It is a huge responsibility to be on yearbook staff, and I believe my students deserve to know that I value them! Each year for back-to-school in yearbook class, 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. 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 and coffee handy.

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.
Having a plan and process for checking and storing equipment is also vital for a yearbook class.
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 and assign photography beats at the beginning of the year so staffers can take ownership in managing their time getting pages complete. Tools to do that are included in my full Yearbook Curriculum.

BELL RINGERS

For taking yearbook class in the high school where I teach, students 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. One of the ways I do that is with my yearbook bell ringers. They not only deliver mini-lessons and materials, but also they are perfect for kicking the class off on the right foot. Bell ringers are huge for class management and structure. The yearbook bell ringers I’ve created come in three formats: projectable, printable workbook, and digital workbook format. I begin the bell ringers on the first full week of school to set the stage that we will be treating yearbook class like our other academic classes as well.

If you are a new yearbook adviser, check out my blog post here: Tips for New Yearbook Advisers. I also have a video for tips for getting your yearbook going over on my Facebook page. You can also get more great tips, freebies, and access to webinars for yearbook/journalism by joining my Yearbook Advisers Facebook Group. It’s free to join!

Written by: Julie Faulkner, updated 2020

5 Ways to Use Class Time After the Yearbook is Complete

1) Listen

2) Read

3) Watch

4) Sell Books

5) Plan Distribution

Tips for New Yearbook Advisers

Increasing Yearbook Coverage: 5 Ways to Include More Students

1) Creative Projects Yield More Diverse Pictures

2) Offer Incentives to the Student Body

3) Redesign Spreads to Get in More Coverage

4) Think Beyond Pictures for Coverage Opportunities

5) Maintain a Diverse Staff

5 Ideas for Back-to-School in Yearbook Class

TEAMWORK

SCHOOL SPIRIT

GIFTS AND GOODIES

ORGANIZATION

BELL RINGERS

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