Beware the Seven Deadly Sins
Follow these simply seven steps to keep your yearbook on track and keep yourself in yearbook nirvana.
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Follow these simply seven steps to keep your yearbook on track and keep yourself in yearbook nirvana.
Students readily understand the power of having a camera in hand. They see that it can make people do one of three things: hide, mug, or go on with their business but direct their activity to the camera. I teach my students that with power comes a responsibility to be above reproach at all times. To this end, my students are given lessons in manners and protocol when out of the class and on assignment.
What do two major exams, three worksheets for A.P. Art History, 20 pages of reading for British Literature and a 100-page deadline all have in common? They are due tomorrow. Without fail, you can rest assured that the busiest times in yearbook are also the busiest times for everything else in life.
You can get your staff to cheer about yearbook. Trevor Johnson, the yearbook adviser at Sherando High School in Stephens City, Va., gets his staff to cheer and play games, all in the interest of motivating students to a new level of dedication to the yearbook.
Yearbook staff members need to feel as important to the production of the publication as the editor is. I did this by empowerment, which enabled my small staff to produce the 2006 Spartonian yearbook for Hempfield Area High School in Greensburg, Pa.
It does not behoove the modern yearbook adviser to exercise extreme control over the middle school photographer. Granting permission to shoot the scenes as they see them can afford fantastic results. Better still, encouraging artistic license will ensure a yearbook that is thoughtful and exciting for the consumer.
Grading student work in yearbook class is complicated because yearbook production has many facets. Many advisers come up with their grading system by trial and error. That is how Greg Keller, adviser at Lincoln High School, Lincoln, Neb., developed his system.
Anyone who has been on the yearbook staff probably knows that it is not all fun and games. It is highly unlikely that any staff has not endured those long days – and sometimes nights – filled with coffee, food, the occasional tear and, of course, utter chaos. Therefore, in addition to overseeing the publication of a however-many-page chronicle of the year, it is the responsibility of the editor to make sure yearbook includes activities to lighten the experience and unify the staff.
Middle school students are scary, to put it mildly. Turning them loose with digital cameras, computers and the internet could turn into something from a bad horror film. Beyond all that could and did go wrong during the fifth period communications class, the staff did publish a yearbook last year. We made a ton of mistakes, left in a few too many typos, but ensured that everyone’s picture showed up in the book at least one time. For a 72-page book with a first-year adviser, things went well.
Judy Pierce feels like she cannot catch a break. Five years ago, Pierce took over the yearbook program at Cedarcrest High School in Duvall, Wash., and from day one, management of the class came with complications.
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