Talk to yearbook advisers and there seems to be little debate – February and March can be really stressful months for the staff. So the question becomes: what can the yearbook staff do to keep from pulling their hair out?
Five Simple Ideas
Since only juniors and seniors can enroll in yearbook at my school, each year I have to train a new group of five talented individuals to ride this new bike around school, so to speak. So what kind of training wheels do I need to provide for these newbie leaders?
School administrators hire new teachers every year. But hiring a teacher who also will be the yearbook adviser can present unique challenges. Here are characteristics to look for when seeking a yearbook adviser who will be successful in the position.
Journalistic writing style is different from writing done in English class and for business. To teach journalism style, you may incorporate the Associated Press Stylebook since it is the standard for journalists everywhere.
Few high school journalists have a keen understanding of libel law, but not knowing may put your publication and reputation at risk. Do study up on libel, but you can also use these five tips to remember the main points of how to avoid libel.
Documentary photography is the art of telling a story through photography, which should be taught among the fundamental principles of good yearbook photojournalism. Here are five ideas for understanding and applying documentary photography.
An interview that lasts less than an hour can still lead to a ton of useful information and quotes. That is, if the reporter takes proper notes and gets the right details down.
Using correct interview techniques will lead to better information from sources and therefore, better stories.
It’s a fact of life – students die. So do teachers. It is an emotional time for any school. But for publication staffs, emotions cannot rule your decisions. Your staff needs a clear policy so that all school deaths are handled equally, avoiding questions of favoritism.
Yearbook staffs view the index like the mom with four children contemplates her youngest child’s baby book. Ideas for what to put in it are few, and time is limited. Because yearbook staffs wait until the last deadline to think about the index, the section is often only a boring gray list that students open simply to find their own names. But the index can be a section in itself, an archive with sidebars, group shots and group coverage. Assign a staff member to the index and let them use one of these five simple ideas to give it a little flair.