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.
advisers
It is registration time and we’ve put up posters saying, “Yearbook wants you.” We’ve run announcements advertising the yearbook class and distributed applications to interested students. Registration finishes and my principal calls me up to pick up the preliminary list. In addition to those students that my staff and I worked hard to recruit are students I don’t know.
To Susan Asher, the idea was simple.
Every day, she saw dozens of students walking around the halls of Inza R. Wood Middle School carrying iPods and MP3 players, the small, portable digital music players that have become popular and commonplace among kids today.
Asher, the yearbook adviser at the school in Wilsonville, Ore., figured that the trendy devices could be put to productive use by her staff.
They can’t always spell.
They can’t always read.
They can’t always write.
However, I have found Individualized Education Plan (IEP) students deserve a spot on my yearbook staff as much as the straight-A-in-every-English-class students.
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.
I am addicted to conferences. I love to attend the workshops and conventions, where I can learn about new ideas for yearbooks, software and writing. I always leave with something I can use in my classroom. However, when I get back into my routine of grading papers and preparing lessons, my new-found ideas get lost in the shuffle.
Veteran advisers understand the importance of summer workshops to their yearbook program. New advisers or reluctant staff members may not fully comprehend the benefits of getting a jump-start on the next yearbook.
Recruiting a top-notch yearbook staff is important to the success of a yearbook program – just ask advisers who have no control over the process.
Life is a balancing act, and some people do it better than others. Some of the
best examples of balancing work and professional life come from yearbook
advisers, who must be a contributing family member and teach while overseeing
yearbook production.
In the spring, it is time to get organized for the next yearbook. One way to start the process may be to take time and do a little investigating about organizational tactics. Some of the chapters in these books may be helpful by leading you down the path for improving organization wherever you need it in your program.
