YEARBOOK EXPERTS A WALSWORTH YEARBOOKS NEW ADVISER RESOURCE

OUR BEST ADVICE: LESSONS NEW ADVISERS FROM THE FOR YEARBOOK EXPERTS A WALSWORTH YEARBOOKS NEW ADVISER RESOURCE

OUR BEST ADVICE: LESSONS NEW FROM THE FOR ADVISERS YEARBOOK EXPERTS Experience is often the best teacher in life. No matter the task, pursuit or goal, getting advice from people who have gone before you, and have experienced success, can be as comforting as it is helpful. The real-world lessons found in this guide are written by experienced yearbook experts who share their best advice and their love for yearbooks. Each lesson provides simple, easy-to-follow tips that will help you prepare for your first year advising yearbook with more knowledge and confidence. After reading this guide, if you would like to speak one-on-one with an expert, send your request, including the expert adviser you would like to speak with, to mentorship@walsworth.com and we will coordinate the conversation. Best wishes as you begin your yearbook journey. 1

MEET EXPERTS THE EMILY PYEATT ARNOLD Emily Pyeatt Arnold, CJE, is the yearbook adviser at Haltom High School in Haltom City, Texas. She was named a 2015 JEA Rising Star. In her eighth year at Haltom, she teaches photography, journalism and yearbook, and also advises Stampede TV and the Stampede online newspaper. The 2015 Buffalo yearbook was an NSPA Pacemaker Finalist. Emily s students have earned awards from NSPA, Quill and Scroll, the Interscholastic League Press Conference in Texas and the Association of Texas Photography Instructors. Emily shares her expertise at workshops and conventions across the country. LYNN BARE Lynn Bare, NBCT, is advising her 22nd yearbook at Southern Alamance High School in Graham, North Carolina, where yearbook is her favorite class. She also teaches journalism and is preparing to launch an online paper this spring. The Southerner yearbook has earned both Gold and Silver Medalists from CSPA, and almost every year it has been named a yearbook of distinction by the North Carolina Scholastic Media Association, which also honored her students for feature writing, caption writing, design and advertising design. She has led sessions at the NCSMA journalism day, at Walsworth s Camp Carolina and CSPA. KATHY BEERS Kathy Beers has advised both middle school and high school yearbooks, and has been the yearbook adviser at Timber Creek High School in Fort Worth, Texas, since the school opened in 2009. She also teaches photojournalism. Her school s yearbooks have received multiple NSPA All American honors and been named CSPA gold medalists, and spreads from the yearbooks have received multiple awards from the Interscholastic League Press Conference in Texas. She teaches at Walsworth summer workshops in Texas. 2

MEET EXPERTS THE JONATHAN Jonathan Bickel advises the yearbook and teaches ninth grade English at Eastern Lebanon County (ELCO) High School in Myerstown, Pennsylvania. He has been teaching yearbook journalism for 21 years. The yearbook has won the Pennsylvania School Press Association Clyde F. Lytle All State Award twice and 17 PSPA Gold Awards, plus one All American Award from NSPA. Jonathan has served as the PSPA State Secretary for three years and the PSPA Student Journalism Regional Contest Coordinator for three years. BICKEL CECE BOEHME Cece Boehme resides in San Diego County, California, where she is a veteran English teacher who was as surprised as anyone when she was called back for a fourth year as yearbook adviser. Despite being self-taught and winning not a single award, she draws encouragement from the incremental improvements she sees in her students professionalism, photography and writing skills as well as her own increased connection to the school community of West Hills High School in Santee, California. Guiding yearbook has helped her to experience through refreshed eyes the place where she has taught for more than 20 years. Ironically, no known photos exist. RENEE BURKE Renee Burke, NBCT, MJE, is a yearbook and newspaper adviser at William R. Boone High School in Orlando, Florida. Renee is the 2015 JEA Yearbook Adviser of the Year and a 2014 JEA Distinguished Adviser, 2012 OCPS Teacher of the Year, 2011 FSPA Journalism Teacher of the Year, and a 2011 CSPA Gold Key recipient. She teaches at national and regional workshops, including Walsworth s Adviser Academy and Camp Orlando. Both of her school s publications have earned CSPA Crown and NSPA Pacemaker awards. The 2016 Legend yearbook is a CSPA Crown finalist; the 2015 yearbook earned both a CSPA Gold Crown and an NSPA Pacemaker. 3

MEET EXPERTS THE JIM JORDAN Jim Jordan is the yearbook adviser at Del Campo High School in Fair Oaks, California. He has been advising yearbooks for 35 years, and was the 1996 JEA Yearbook Adviser of the Year. His books consistently win national awards. Most recently, the 2015 Decamhian earned an NSPA Pacemaker. He has taught at summer journalism workshops for more than 30 years. He was among the first to embrace desktop technology and apply it to yearbook, and remains an innovator in the yearbook industry. VANESSA JUAREZ Vanessa Juarez is a journalism teacher and yearbook adviser at El Dorado High School on the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas. She has been advising The Legend yearbook, a CSPA Silver Crown publication, since 2014. She also advises the student journalists of El Dorado s Aztec Gold news website. The Legend has been the recipient of numerous Bronze Stars from the Interscholastic League Press Conference, has won photography and writing awards from Quill and Scroll s Yearbook Excellence Contest, and has been featured several times in Walsworth s Possibilities book. In 2007, when Vanessa was an editor-in-chief of the yearbook at El Paso s Andress High School, The Talon yearbook was nominated for an NSPA Pacemaker. Yes, she s been a yerd all her life. Vanessa received her B.A. in Multimedia Journalism from the University of Texas at El Paso and worked in Washington, D.C. and at the El Paso Times before she became a journalism teacher. CRYSTAL Crystal Kazmierski advises the Wings yearbook at Arrowhead Christian Academy in Redlands, California. Crystal was the JEA Yearbook Adviser of the Year in 2000, and she was awarded a Gold Key by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and a Pioneer Award by the National Scholastic Press Association. She teaches design and photography at journalism workshops across the country. Under her guidance, Wings has received multiple CSPA Gold Crown and NSPA Pacemaker awards. The 2016 Wings is a current CSPA Crown finalist; the 2015 yearbook earned both an NSPA Pacemaker and a CSPA Gold Crown. KAZMIERSKI 4

MEET EXPERTS THE TIFFANY Tiffany Kopcak, M.Ed., is the adviser at Colonial Forge High School in Northern Virginia. With 10 years experience and more than 100 students in her photojournalism program each year, Tiffany promotes a classroom environment where real life offers opportunities for real-world learning. Her students work has earned consistent CSPA Gold Medals with All-Columbian Honors, NSPA All-American recognitions, and state-level honors. The 2016 Apollo yearbook is a CSPA Crown finalist. Tiffany teaches at the CSPA Spring Convention and Yearbook East Summer Workshop, in addition to other workshops. KOPCAK ELIZABETH Elizabeth Luna, NBCT, M.Ed., is the yearbook adviser and graphic design teacher at Athens Drive High School in Raleigh, North Carolina. She also teaches graphic design at Wake Tech Community College. She was the Athens Drive 2014 Teacher of the Year and received the Wake Education Partnership Grant in 2013. The 2013 and 2016 Torch yearbooks were ranked No. 1 by the North Carolina Scholastic Media Association, which has also bestowed several awards on the book and students for several years. Elizabeth has taught Photoshop at Walsworth summer yearbook workshops and Adobe classes for teachers in Wake County schools. LUNA LORI MORTLAND Lori Mortland has been advising an extra-curricular yearbook staff at Calhoun High School in Hardin, Illinois, for 13 years. She was awarded the Southern Illinois Scholastic Press Association s Adviser of the Year in 2013 and her staff earned a SISPA Golden Dozen award for the 2014 yearbook. The 2016 Pow Wow yearbook earned an Illinois JEA 2016 First Place General Excellence Overall. Lori was an instructor at the 2014 Walsworth Adviser Academy, and she has also taught at Walsworth summer and fall workshops and the 2011 JEA/NSPA convention in Minneapolis. 5

MEET EXPERTS THE STEPHANIE CASSO PERLUSS Stephanie Casso Perluss, CJE, is the yearbook adviser and an English teacher at West Covina High School in West Covina, California. The Quest yearbook has received a First Class ranking with the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) and her students have won multiple Write Off awards from the Southern California JEA and the East Los Angeles JEA. Stephanie has taught at the Walsworth SoCal summer workshop at Chapman University. STEFANI RUSS Stefani Russ, CJE, is the yearbook adviser at Raymore-Peculiar High School in Peculiar, Missouri, where she also advises the print and online newspapers. During her 15-year career of advising, she has served on the board of directors of the Missouri Interscholastic Press Association. Stefani has taught sessions at the JEA/NSPA national convention, MIPA state contests and convention and Walsworth summer workshops. The Panther yearbook has been an All-Missouri winner six times and earned numerous state-level awards for design, copy and photography. VERONICA Veronica Sarmiento, CJE, is in her 12th year of teaching and fifth year of advising yearbook at Seminole High School in Sanford, Florida. She has more than 20 years experience in graphic design and advertising, and teaches digital art/ design classes. She was a 2017 winner of a JEA Rising Star Award and was named the 2017 Seminole Teacher of the Year. Recent yearbooks, including the 2016 Salmagundi, earned an All-Florida rating with Marks of Distinction from FSPA, a First-Class rating with Marks of Distinction from NSPA and a Gold Medalist rating from CSPA. Veronica has taught at Walsworth s Fall Fest and the 2016 JEA/NSPA Fall convention and been an instructor and coordinator for Camp Orlando. SARMIENTO 6

MEET EXPERTS THE CHRISTINA TOLISANO Christina Tolisano, CJE, is the yearbook adviser at Saugus High School in Saugus, California. The Sword & Shield yearbook was a 2016 Gold Medalist and received All Columbia Honors with Three Marks of Distinction from the CSPA. The yearbook also has received 2016 All-American Honors with Four Marks of Distinction from the NSPA. Christina has taught design at the Walsworth SoCal summer workshop at Chapman University. BRIAN WILSON Brian Wilson has advised the yearbook and two magazines at Palo Alto High School in Palo Alto, California for two years. Prior to that, he was the yearbook, newspaper, and online news adviser for 18 years at Waterford Kettering High School in Michigan. He has served as the JEA s NCTE liaison, Michigan s JEA State Director, and is a past-president of the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association. Brian was MIPA s 2009 Golden Pen winner as journalism adviser of the year, a 2011 JEA Distinguished Yearbook Adviser and a 2013 Dow Jones Special Recognition Newspaper Adviser. He has advised at the Washington Journalism and Media Conference and the MIPA and Ball State summer workshops. JESSICA YOUNG Jessica Young, MA, MJE, teaches photography and advises the yearbook and newspaper at Orange Glen High School in Escondido, California. She was named a 2012 Rising Star by JEA. She is the president of the San Diego JEA and was co-chair of the local committee for the JEA/NSPA convention in San Diego in April 2014. Jessica also is a member of the Quill and Scroll Board of Trustees and Directors. She teaches at various summer workshops, including the Washington Journalism and Media Conference in Washington, D.C., and Walsworth s SoCal Yearbooks and Newspapers2. 7

DEVELOPING PHILOSOPHY Empower your students. Remember they have very few other outlets that allow them to feel as if they are truly in charge of their education. Do you remember those days of going from class to class, always being told what to do and how to think? Yeah, that mostly still happens. But being part of the yearbook staff gives them a sense of ownership that they don t get anywhere else. Foster that feeling and they ll have so much more appreciation for what they re doing. BRIAN WILSON Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto, California 8

SETTING GOALS Don t try to achieve perfection immediately. You will only get overwhelmed if you try to do everything new you have learned at once! Make simple goals that are achievable. Better captions this year. Better stories next year. CRYSTAL KAZMIERSKI Arrowhead Christian Academy, Redlands, California Instead of trying to be an expert on everything yearbook, pick one thing to learn that first year and then learn it well. You will pick up other knowledge but don t get overwhelmed trying to learn it all the first year. LYNN BARE Southern Alamance High School, Graham, North Carolina Understand that there s no such thing as a perfect yearbook; strive for perfection but don t beat yourself up when your staffs don t achieve it. Remember that the New York Times doesn t achieve it either. Neither does National Geographic. Neither does your school s football team or debate squad. That being said, perfection is most important for the students working on the senior section. BRIAN WILSON Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto, California Good enough is never good, nor enough. Always push yourself and your students to do better and create more. They will thank you for it. Hard work is hard, but the payoff is fantastic. JESSICA YOUNG, MJE Orange Glen High School, Escondido, California Don t be afraid to set high standards. Yearbook is a chance for students to prove to themselves and the world what they are capable of and to discover new ways to excel. TIFFANY KOPCAK Colonial Forge High School, Stafford, Virginia Don t be available all the time. If you re an extracurricular program, have set days and times students can work after school. Keeping the yearbook staff room open all hours can get confusing and keeps students from making the commitment to work. LORI MORTLAND Calhoun High School, Hardin, Illinois 9

HANDLING FINANCES Know the finances. Make the financial administrator a close ally. Ask as many questions as you can. Stay on it weekly. This becomes such a stress if you feel you are in the dark. Try to maintain as much control of your finances as school policy allows. Ultimately, everyone just wants to pay the bill at the end of the year and maybe have a little cushion to add some bells and whistles. STEFANI RUSS, CJE Raymore-Peculiar High School, Peculiar, Missouri Purchase equipment using yearbook funds so the equipment cannot be redistributed to other departments. STEPHANIE CASSO PERLUSS, CJE West Covina High School, West Covina, California 10

GETTING SUPPORT Plan a meeting with the administration (principal and any assistants in charge of supervising yearbook) right away. Find out if there are any prior review policies in place (depending on your state). Inquire about the policy for students parents who do not want their student in the book and obtain any of those records. I even had to get approval from the administration to do all-calls and emails to parents for marketing. Establishing a positive and open relationship with your school s administration needs to be a priority. EMILY PYEATT ARNOLD, CJE Haltom High School, Haltom City, Texas Build relationships with the business agent, custodians, front office personnel and the assistant principal in charge of you. I don t mean to send them a polite email. I mean, invite the custodians to get some food from the potlucks you have on work nights, visit the front office ladies and hold conversations with them, invite your assistant principal to get an exclusive sneak peek of your best photos or completed spreads or anything from the yearbook. They love that! Talk to the people who can make your life easier, and not just when you need something from them! VANESSA JUAREZ El Dorado High School, El Paso, Texas Practice an attitude of gratitude. Show everyone from your receptionist to custodian to your student staffers how much they matter to you. Thank you notes and thoughtful gifts go a long way. EMILY PYEATT ARNOLD, CJE Haltom High School, Haltom City, Texas Create a POPS (Parents of Publication Students) program and began utilizing parents for food, awards, etc. Parents DO want to be involved but in high school they feel like they are intruding. I have found that inviting them to chaperone and to participate lets them feel a part of the process. I get so much support from my parents, but I think it s because ask and ye shall receive. It s best to have them on your side early on, so if a problem occurs you already have a good relationship. RENEE BURKE, MJE Boone High School, Orlando, Florida 11

MANAGING SENIOR AND UNDERCLASS PORTRAITS Find out about requirements for senior portraits if they are different from the other classes. Get that information to seniors as early as possible. Request the contract details from the photographer and find out who traditionally gets the commission check. Does this go to the school or directly to the yearbook program? Schedule picture days far in advance and get them on official calendars. EMILY PYEATT ARNOLD, CJE Haltom High School, Haltom City, Texas You are most likely in charge of picture day at your school. Find out from the previous adviser or a co-worker how it works at your school and then coordinate with your photographer to make it happen. LYNN BARE Southern Alamance High School, Graham, North Carolina 12

FINDING ASSISTANCE Ask for help. TIFFANY KOPCAK Colonial Forge High School, Stafford, Virginia Use your Walsworth Yearbooks sale representative as much as you need. Don t be embarrassed. STEPHANIE CASSO PERLUSS, CJE West Covina High School, West Covina, California Ask for help. It is OK not to know everything. Parents may be a valuable resource. My own photography skills improved immensely when I invited a local parent who was an avid photographer to speak to my yearbook students. There is usually a local photographer who would be willing to work with your students and you. JONATHAN BICKEL Eastern Lebanon County High School, Myerstown, Pennsylvania Network with other advisers. Start your own adviser network of friends in the area or throughout the country. Start by getting a mentor and then expand from there. JIM JORDAN Del Campo High School, Fair Oaks, California Join JEA, NSPA, CSPA and local journalism organizations immediately. They can provide invaluable support. In addition, submit books for critiques to get feedback to know how to improve. EMILY PYEATT ARNOLD, CJE Haltom High School, Haltom City, Texas 13

ASSISTANCE FINDING CONTINUED Join your local State School Press Association or NSPA or JEA. This is a great resource for new advisers. There is a whole world of resources and learning events out there. You need to find out what is offered. For example, the Pennsylvania School Press Association hosts Student Journalism Competitions in conjunction with Penn State and other universities. Have students compete and meet other students and advisers. JONATHAN BICKEL Eastern Lebanon County High School, Myerstown, Pennsylvania Learn from the best. Identify the yearbooks you think are the very best in the country and contact the advisers and ask for help learning to do what they do. Ask to purchase their books. Ask them if you could call them for advice. Go to a workshop they teach at. Early in my career I met Bruce Watterson, H.L. Hall, John Cutsinger, Ann Akers and Tom Rolnicki. They became my mentors at a summer journalism workshop in the early 1980s and they have been mentoring me and inspiring me ever since. JIM JORDAN Del Campo High School, Fair Oaks, California 14

MANAGING THE YEARBOOK STAFF Don t fight the current establishment (if you inherit a staff). If you have a group of upperclassmen on the yearbook staff, they are most likely feeling some level of loyalty to the former adviser and probably feeling a bit neglected. Let them have their book, interject your ideas and suggestions, but don t fight it. They will make life miserable for you if you try to overhaul the program in year one. Focus on the younger students and bring them along to see publications through your eyes. Before you know it, they will be your yearbook staff and your program will begin to reflect your vision. STEFANI RUSS, CJE Raymore-Peculiar High School, Peculiar, Missouri Write a contract for your staff members. This will communicate to them and their parents that you expect them to contribute after-school hours to photographing events, reporting and working on pages. Make it thorough and include a part that states what the consequences are for not meeting a page deadline. Clearly explain that yearbook isn t just a class, it s a commitment! Get the contract approved by your principal and head counselor, so that they are willing to make schedule changes should the need arise to remove someone from staff. Have your editors and staffers create their own job description and why they want to be in yearbook. I find this is useful to do at the beginning of the year when students are very excited to have made it to a leadership position on staff. When the going gets rough (and it will, especially around deadlines!) have the students go back and remember what they wrote. It reminds them of why they re doing this very challenging, but very rewarding job. VANESSA JUAREZ El Dorado High School, El Paso, Texas 15

MANAGING THE YEARBOOK STAFF CONTINUED Let the kids have as much control over the publishing process as possible. Otherwise you will be correcting pages in any amount of free time you can muster up. STEPHANIE CASSO PERLUSS, CJE West Covina High School, West Covina, California Lead by example. If you ask your students to be at the football games (in the cold weather, on Friday nights) then you should be there as well to give them tips on improving their photos and just as a support for them as student journalists. VANESSA JUAREZ El Dorado High School, El Paso, Texas When a student isn t working out on staff, conference with them, document and contact parents EARLY. Put their expectations in writing. If they need to be dismissed at semester, it shouldn t be a surprise to anyone. KATHY BEERS Timber Creek High School, Fort Worth, Texas 16

ESTABLISHING STAFF WORKFLOW AND COMMUNICATION Keep yourself organized and work with your staff to establish an effective workflow. Study how the pros do it in the real world, and your yearbook class will be running like a business. Be proactive. Make sure your staff members and editors are communicating with one another and with you. It s the best way to avoid unwanted surprises and help solve little misunderstandings before they become monster blow-outs! VERONICA SARMIENTO, CJE Seminole High School, Sanford, Florida Communication is key. We hold weekly staff meetings. The adviser and editor brainstorm the agenda, but it s the editor s responsibility to lead the meeting. Again, it s another opportunity for editors to gain experience and confidence. CHRISTINA TOLISANO Saugus High School, Saugus, California Communication is everything. My staff struggles and I struggle with them when we aren t communicating well. Be sure to set aside time for meetings when everything that needs to be discussed can be discussed. I expect my editors to keep a yearbook notebook and clipboard where they set goals, make lists and record EVERY thing they need to be working on. JIM JORDAN Del Campo High School, Fair Oaks, California 17

ESTABLISHING STAFF WORKFLOW AND COMMUNICATION CONTINUED Facebook Messenger keeps everyone on track. I ve tried numerous other methods but had the best luck with Messenger. Start the year with every staffer and sponsor in one group. Post information, questions, camera needs, etc., and you ll know that everyone s seen it. LORI MORTLAND Calhoun High School, Hardin, Illinois Don t be afraid to destroy that which you love. If a design isn t working, redo it. If copy isn t working, find a new approach. If an editor is doing something you don t like, model open and clear communication by telling them. And invite them to give you feedback as well. TIFFANY KOPCAK Colonial Forge High School, Stafford, Virginia 18

HAVINGFUN Bonding experiences are essential for your staffers to know they are a team, which is how the yearbook is going to get done! This year my editors have been creating spirit-point games for the staffers to win points for their section, with the winner receiving a lunch of their choice at the end of the semester. CHRISTINA TOLISANO, CJE Saugus High School, Saugus, California Spend time each week on team bonding with your staff. This will help you get to know them and them to know you. More importantly, it will help you recruit the next year because you have formed those bonds. LYNN BARE Southern Alamance High School, Graham, North Carolina Keep it fun. Work hard to build in FUN to your staff routine. It may be something as simple as celebrating staff birthdays, having a monthly pizza deadline party, or something more elaborate as having class competitions throughout the year. Remember that it can t be all deadlines and work. Celebrate each other whenever you can. JIM JORDAN Del Campo High School, Fair Oaks, California Don t take yourself too seriously. Yearbook should be fun. Make the experience for your yearbook staff fun. It s OK to laugh at yourselves. JESSICA YOUNG, MJE Orange Glen High School, Escondido, California 19

HAVINGFUN CONTINUED Celebrate. We work in isolation. You are the only person on your campus doing what you do. Your students are the only kids on your campus that know what it s like to be them. Don t be shy about letting your whole school know what you re doing. Yearbook isn t a secret! JESSICA YOUNG, MJE Orange Glen High School, Escondido, California Pancake mix is cheaper than pizza. For about $4, you can make pancakes or waffles for days! They are filling and versatile. Pizza has its place as a major reward, but random waffle days make life worth living. I had a staffer cry this year when she came in and saw it was a surprise waffle day! LORI MORTLAND Calhoun High School, Hardin, Illinois Find and create traditions that are meaningful to you that you want to continue each year. Here are some ideas: oocreate a wall of something favorite things, inside jokes, inspiration, whatever. Decorate the space so that your yearbook space is different than any other place in the building. oofind opportunities to eat. We have food every Friday that different people contribute to each time. ooplay music. Choose music people can t help but sing along to. It boosts the mood. oospend time in forging connections and practicing communication. You must make them want to be together and want to be in your space. TIFFANY KOPCAK Colonial Forge High School, Stafford, Virginia 20

DEVELOPING CURRICULUM AND TRAINING Spend time at the start of the year with a teaching unit. As your staff becomes more experienced, begin to delegate out lessons to staffers. Not only does this infuse leadership, but also transfers the accountability of the book back to the staff. CHRISTINA TOLISANO Saugus High School, Saugus, California Go to training. Create training. Tired of explaining the same thing over and over again? Make a poster! Is it complicated? Make a YouTube video. TIFFANY KOPCAK Colonial Forge High School, Stafford, Virginia Never stop learning. Let your students teach you. It will make them feel so valuable. There is always a new way to do something. JESSICA YOUNG, MJE Orange Glen High School, Escondido, California 21

YEARBOOK GRADING STUDENTS Establish clear guidelines and expectations of the students. Having a rubric of some sort so students see that the class has academic expectations and clear, reachable standards is helpful to you and the staff. RENEE BURKE, MJE Boone High School, Orlando, Florida I think it is valuable to have experienced staffers actually create the rubrics with the adviser for how they think they should be evaluated. This gives them a sense of ownership and validates their work. EMILY PYEATT ARNOLD, CJE Haltom High School, Haltom City, Texas 22

ATTENDING CONVENTIONS AND WORKSHOPS Go, go, go to national conventions, and take as many students as possible. This has been so inspiring and FUN. Make sure to plan special things to do while visiting other places with your students. CRYSTAL KAZMIERSKI Arrowhead Christian Academy, Redlands, California Take your students to contests, camps and conventions. These events build team pride. You also get to hear from other professionals the same message you pound into students heads every day, but they seem to hear it for the first time when a yearbook rep says it. These events make the job fun! STEFANI RUSS, CJE Raymore-Peculiar High School, Peculiar, Missouri Go to yearbook camp every year to get a head start. STEPHANIE CASSO PERLUSS, CJE West Covina High School, West Covina, California Summer camp starts the year out right. Taking my staff to a summer yearbook workshop has made the biggest difference in getting the yearbook year off to a great start. We choose our theme, we bond as a staff, and we see who is really committed to the process. JIM JORDAN Del Campo High School, Fair Oaks, California Go to a workshop, either a state media association or one hosted by your yearbook company. It will be a good introduction and a good time to meet some of your staff members and bond with them. If you go to a yearbook company workshop, it is also a good time to get introduced to your sales rep and start forming that partnership. LYNN BARE Southern Alamance High School, Graham, North Carolina 23

EDITORIAL SETTING POLICIES Read and have student editors revise the previous editorial policy. If there isn t a policy in place, show students examples from other publications and then create one. Make sure it is posted somewhere where the administration and parents can access it. EMILY PYEATT ARNOLD, CJE Haltom High School, Haltom City, Texas Have a written editorial policy in place to use in case of the loss of a student or staff member. Think of every situation and how it will be addressed in your book. Give copies to admin and counselors so everyone knows what to expect. KATHY BEERS Timber Creek High School, Fort Worth, Texas Have the staff brainstorm staff policies for each section. For example, know how the book will honor an unexpected student death, how senior tributes will be collected, or how to run club photo day. We often revise these policies at the end of the year to have a running start to the next year. CHRISTINA TOLISANO Saugus High School, Saugus, California 24

MANAGING DEADLINES Set your students deadlines one to two weeks earlier than your publishing deadline. ELIZABETH LUNA Athens Drive High School, Raleigh, North Carolina Set as many tiny deadlines as you possibly can. Deadlines for plans, deadlines for pictures, deadlines for spreads. Use deadlines as your way to teach students time management and problem solving. Be flexible with what is due, but make sure you have ongoing evidence that progress is being made. Never tell the staff what the plant deadline is. TIFFANY KOPCAK Colonial Forge High School, Stafford, Virginia Create and post workflow charts in the newsroom. We create charts that list everyone who is on deadline, who their designer is and then check off when copy, photos, captions and secondary deadlines have each been turned in. It s a great visual reminder for me and the kids to see who is ahead and who may be lagging behind. The kids LOVE checking off the list. It s also helpful to have a chart posted with the order in which staffers turn in items to editors. Ours starts with first drafts going to a copy editor, then a final draft going to another copy editor, next to the EIC and finally to me, the adviser. We do the same for photos. VANESSA JUAREZ El Dorado High School, El Paso, Texas 25

DEADLINES MANAGING CONTINUED Have deadline calendars posted in the class, on Google, shared in Google with reminders using software like Slack. The more places to share reminders, the better. RENEE BURKE, MJE Boone High School, Orlando, Florida Work on several deadlines at once. Don t just focus on the first deadline and then have nothing going for the next. Get as much done up front as you can, even if it is in a future deadline. It will keep you ahead of the game and make life a lot easier. Plus, the advanced progress feels great! CRYSTAL KAZMIERSKI Arrowhead Christian Academy, Redlands, California Have students create a daily task chart and prove that they are completing each task (especially for the first deadline as students are not usually the best time managers). ELIZABETH LUNA Athens Drive High School, Raleigh, North Carolina See another school s yearbook room and find out what they do and how they do it. One of the best things a new adviser can do is to visit a veteran adviser s yearbook classroom and find out what works for them. You will find many useful tips. For example, we have the entire book organized by deadline on the white board in the classroom. Each spread is assigned to two class members. We always assign spreads two deadlines in advance. Deadline dates are posted at the beginning of the year so students do not have excuses for not making them. These things help the production flow smoothly. JONATHAN BICKEL Eastern Lebanon County High School, Myerstown, Pennsylvania 26

USING TECHNOLOGY ALWAYS backup your yearbook computer files. It is too easy for someone to delete a folder or two. So much time goes into producing your yearbook, and you will want to protect that. Confirm with your school or district technology staff that your files are being backed up on a regular basis. If not, find out a way to make it happen. VERONICA SARMIENTO, CJE Seminole High School, Sanford, Florida Be ignorant. If you need to use YouTube or look up how to do something to explain it to someone else, make them look it up instead and teach it to you. If you find your students repeatedly asking for help on the same technological issue, pretend you don t know and send them to an editor to figure it out. TIFFANY KOPCAK Colonial Forge High School, Stafford, Virginia 27

MARKETING SELLING AND Offer a special promotion the first two weeks of school to increase yearbook sales. For example, offer free namestamping or offer this option at a discounted price. ELIZABETH LUNA Athens Drive High School, Raleigh, North Carolina Find out current business and senior ad policies. If none were in place, set some guidelines: no torso nudity at any age, no song lyrics or other copyrighted material, scanned images must be at 300 dpi, etc. EMILY PYEATT ARNOLD, CJE Haltom High School, Haltom City, Texas Post lists of who has purchased yearbooks. Leave it up a week, then take it down. Post another a month later. Place it in a heavy traffic area AND near an attendance office or somewhere else parents might see it. Be aware of theatre/choir/band performances or events in the gym. ALWAYS have an updated list posted nearby for parents and grandparents to glance at while they wait for the doors to open. Then post the website or method to order. Show your cover. We used to keep it a secret, but those days are gone. Why would you buy a concert ticket if you ve never heard the band? Why buy a yearbook you ve never seen? Show off your cover and give glimpses of pages. Send notes to kids who haven t purchased and tell them what page they re on. If they re in it, they re more likely to buy it. KATHY BEERS Timber Creek High School, Fort Worth, Texas 28

GOOD GETTING PHOTOS Photo Fridays! Most Fridays we take the last few minutes of class and review the best photos from that week. The top three students get tickets that are put in a drawing at the end of the month. This does two things. It gives the photographers recognition for the longs hours they put in to get the perfect shot, and it also gives the editors an opportunity to see some great photos that they may not even know about. JONATHAN BICKEL Eastern Lebanon County High School, Myerstown, Pennsylvania Once you ve taught them how to take quality photos, it seems students can t be stopped from photographing and uploading copious images of events, people, chairs, the sky, themselves... just about everything. The result is an overloaded photo collection that s slow to load, hard to sort, filled with photos that are only a millisecond apart, and (maybe worst of all) show unidentified people engaging in mystery activities in photos taken by unknown photographers. Save the headache and make your photo filing topics work for you with the following six tips. 1. We find breaking up topics into small pieces gives us the greatest flexibility in terms of searching and finding what we need. It s a few more seconds, but it makes our searches so much more effective later. Instead of girls varsity volleyball, we tag as follows:»» Girls»» Varsity»» Volleyball»» Sports»» Record: sports»» Fall 29

GOOD GETTING PHOTOS CONTINUED 2. To facilitate photo credit, each staffer has a topic (photobylinda, photobylogan, etc.). The photo editor can upload, but the photographer still gets credit. We also have photobyoutsidecontributor, and we clarify on the actual spread. 3. Not able to identify every person? We use the topic ERRORuntaggedperson. A quick search, and we know all the photos that still need people tagged. The topic is easily removed when tagging has been successfully completed. 4. Kids forget to rename photos, but IMG_8756 isn t helpful when we search, so we use ERRORunnamedphoto. This draws staffers attention to photos they need to properly name, and it works even better when combined with those photobyname topics. 5. Kids also forget to add topics, or they do an incomplete job. ERRORmissingtopics helps draw this to their attention. 6. Two great photos, just different orientations? Don t know which you will ultimately need? Add a WARNINGduplicate topic. When one gets finalized, you can drop the topic and delete the other photo to avoid repeats. This is also useful when over-enthusiastic staffers upload four shots that are milliseconds apart because they just couldn t decide. The adviser can add the topic, and staffers know they need to solve the problem by selecting one shot and deleting the others. CECE BOEHME West Hills High School, Santee, California 30

SELECTING THEME AND UNDERSTANDING COVERAGE Your year, your school, your students. Remember who the book should revolve around. JESSICA YOUNG, MJE Orange Glen High School, Escondido, California Have fun with theme, but don t let that be the only good thing about your book. The focus should be on what goes BETWEEN the theme pages, not just on them. When covering the year, less is usually more. Keep things simple but substantial. Cover fewer things in more depth rather than skimming through everything you can think of that happened. What you include is just a representation of the year. Fortunately, kids have way more means of saving memories than in the past. That should liberate your staff from feeling under pressure to mention every single thing that ever happened. You just can t. CRYSTAL KAZMIERSKI Arrowhead Christian Academy, Redlands, California Convince your yearbook students that they are JOURNALISTS. Their job is to cover the events that make your school year unique. To do this well, consider going to chronological coverage. It s the best way to get your staff to feel like they are reporters. BRIAN WILSON Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto, California Don t forget about journalism. The good yearbook relies on solid journalism. Don t get so focused on meeting deadlines that you forget about your mission to tell the truth. JESSICA YOUNG, MJE Orange Glen High School, Escondido, California 31

MAXIMIZING DESIGN AND PRODUCTION Templates are life changing. Taking the time to set a template will eliminate many small issues that could drive a person crazy as deadlines approach. LORI MORTLAND Calhoun High School, Hardin, Illinois If you are using Adobe InDesign, make a library that will allow yearbook staffs to pull mods onto their pages as they work. Also, stress the importance of how to edit these mods without messing up layouts. ELIZABETH LUNA Athens Drive High School, Raleigh, North Carolina As you reach the final drafts of your layouts, have your section editors create final to-do lists. We distribute these to staffers so they know the final, nit-picky things that need to be done. CHRISTINA TOLISANO Saugus High School, Saugus, California Make kids edit kids. No need to spend hours poring over every spread before submitting. Have your leaders help you create a check sheet. Include folio, font size, and all the other details from your style book. Then a peer (or two or three) must mark corrections so they can be fixed before it ever gets to the editor or adviser. KATHY BEERS Timber Creek High School, Fort Worth, Texas 32

MAXIMIZING DESIGN AND PRODUCTION CONTINUED If you have a small staff, tackle pages by type (student life, sports, etc.). Assign the same type of page to all staffers for the same deadline. This way, as issues arise they are addressed at the same time and everyone is on the same page. LORI MORTLAND Calhoun High School, Hardin, Illinois Build the index as you go. We index our proof pages and print the index after each proof deadline to keep track of who is in and who is not in the yearbook. From there we circle the names of the students who are in at least twice. We make a least wanted list so we can get more students in the yearbook. It is everyone s book, not just the popular few! JONATHAN BICKEL Eastern Lebanon County High School, Myerstown, Pennsylvania 33

KNOWING THE BEST-KEPT SECRET The book WILL get done. It literally took me 10 years to really believe that the book would get done. For 34 consecutive years, it always has. Kids will come through when you need them too. Even if it s at the last minute. :) JIM JORDAN Del Campo High School, Fair Oaks, California 34