Students with a gripe about the yearbook will still grumble in the halls with their friends. Now, they have an additional avenue to vent – Facebook and other social media.
Staff Management
Tom Schloen thinks about the theme his East Rockaway High School yearbook staff developed for the 2013 yearbook, and when he tells you what it is, in light of everything that’s happened over the past six weeks, it’s almost impossible to believe.
Once deadlines begin to fall continuously like dominos, leading to the completion of yet another yearbook, some staff members may fall behind in their work, leaving editors scrambling to fill in the gaps to complete the production sequence.
My calendar on my desk reads like a roadmap of my chaotic life. It is ringed with coffee stains. Highlighted, double-checked and scratched out appointments and deadlines are scrawled across each week. But anyone familiar with the world of yearbooks knows a little bit of chaos is what keeps this industry running.
Staffs need all hands on deck, every person contributing in their own way. But if your staff is properly trained and cared for so they feel needed, you can turn even the do-nothings into do-somethings.
Advising a middle school yearbook staff sometimes feels like a game of telephone. Remember that game? You whisper, “I like cheese,” to the first person in line, only to end up with, “Did you know that Sarah is dating Bobby?” at the end of the line.
Let your staff identify and help select students for next year’s staff. After all, they probably know their peers better than you do.
Y-B-O-D – yearbook or die – is the rallying cry of the yearbook staff at Stamford High School in Stamford, Conn., when the advisers appear stressed. But the size of the staff – 49 students in 2012 – is not the reason for strain.
As your work on this year’s yearbook wraps up, it’s a good time to think about how you can honor the staff – acknowledge all their hard work and provide some inspiration to the staffers who will be returning next year. A great way to do that is with a year-end party.
As an adviser of a yearbook at the college level, I can tell you: We want your students! We want staffers who know a little about design, photography, reporting and writing, and have heard of gutters, colophons and divider pages.
