With many schools just past that first big yearbook deadline, now is the perfect time to refocus on storytelling. In this week’s episode of Ask Mike, host Mike Taylor, CJE, speaks to two advisers who lead their students to tell great stories. Tiffany Kopcak Tiffany Kopcak teaches her students to eavesdrop. Really. That’s how the yearbook staff at Colonial Forge
How can you get better if you don’t have anyone telling you what you could improve on? It’s true that we’re often our own worst critics, but if you don’t know the rules of the game, how can you possibly know whether what you’re doing is right or wrong? It would be akin to someone calling themselves an excellent Olympic-level
Halloween can be one of the most photogenic times of the year, what with people dressing in costume and putting up interesting (sometimes wild) decorations.
Take a look at this post from the website digital-photography-school.com for some tips specific to taking pictures on Halloween.
It’s important to get your yearbook off to a strong start, and Walsworth wants to make sure that happens.
Advisers can get organized at the beginning of the year by using our First 35 Days (for InDesign users) or First 40 Days (for Online Design users) lesson plans to get their staffs up to speed.
The Yearbooks Blog loves talking to advisers who are doing things to keep the yearbook relevant in their school. Recently we got a chance to chat with Melissa Falkowski from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
Falkowski has been the yearbook adviser at MSD for seven years, and is currently working on her master’s degree in journalism through a program from Kent State University.
Has your yearbook staff thought about turning the halls at school into a spooky haunted house over the next couple weeks?
If not, there might still be time to do so. The staff should have a great time creating the haunted house and it’s a chance to raise some money for yearbook at the same time.
Work with printed publications long enough and you know mistakes happen. The usual ones are typos and misspelled words. But sometimes it is a misidentified student in a caption or students left out of the book.
Some yearbooks put a disclaimer in the colophon reminding readers that the book is a student creation. Just like the rest of the colophon explains how the book was created with specific computers and cameras, the disclaimer adds that throughout the long process, which is done by students, mistakes can be made.
A little music in the yearbook room can pick up the spirits during these busy days.
Some people work better to music and others do not. Poll your staff to see how they like to work.
In December, the sun only shines about nine and a half hours a day – less in Alaska. Your yearbook staff may be getting to school when it’s dark and leaving when it’s dark. And the upcoming holidays only bring stress, as you and your students work to meet deadlines and prepare for the festivities.
So, take your own break before your school break with one of these ideas for celebrating the season and having fun.
Maybe your yearbook staff has thought about producing a YouTube or Facebook video before to promote the book, but then skipped on the idea because you thought it would be too difficult, or too time-consuming.
Take a look at this yearbook video from some guys at Mariner High School in Cape Coral, Fla. As they show, sometimes the videos can just be fun, simple, and maybe even a little crazy.
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