Winter Blah: Coverage Ideas for Yearbook

Ideas for coverage seem to sag this time of year.  Here are a few suggestions to inspire your staff on these chilly winter days:

Each yearbook company has samples of spreads posted on their websites.  If your staff is lacking the creativity they had in September, but still need fresh ideas for coverage...log on to one of the company sites to generate new life in your staff. 

Companies also have a "best of the best" book available to all advisers.  Ask your rep for your company's book.  Taylor/Balfour's book is called "Yearbook Yearbook".  I think Herff's is "Ideas that Fly".  Nevertheless, all the companies have one and you can request it.  If you're up for bid this year, do a little sweet talking and see if the local rep will drop off one for free.

Also, your yearbook rep will have sample books from other high schools.  Ask he/she to bring the best book in the pile for your staff to view.  Maybe, they can find innovative ideas and spin them to use in the book.

National Journalism Adviser Certification

jea.org lists the requirements to become a CJE (Certified Journalism Educator) and an MJE (Master Journalism Educator).  These certifications issued by the Journalism Education Association are recognized nationally.  I highly recommend completing the certification process, especially if your state groups journalism education into a language arts or English teaching certification.

Trolling

After a student death over the Christmas break, our newspaper staff has learned more than they ever wanted to know about "trolling".  This method of searching out specific sub-groups of people on social networking sites, such as Facebook, has become an issue of much debate.

Watch this link with your students and have a discussion on how much they know about trolling.  How much do you know?  It is time to educate your school about this phenomena.

Travis' Law Video

Caption Writing ppt

Here is an easy 5 Step Powerpoint to teach basic caption writing.

5 Steps to Effective Captions

Snow Days=Photo Ops

We have a very unusual situation in Arkansas today, a snow day.  Our district is notorious for refusing to call school because of weather.  We've actually gotten more time off for tornadoes than snow.

Point being, encourage your photographers to capture images of students in the snow.  If they can walk or travel safely to your campus for shots, that's great.  It makes great filler for recapping the inclement weather policy or to use photos as support for an editorial on weather policies.  Plus, your yearbook staff should include photos of the students and snow covered campus, especially if you're like us and it doesn't happen very often.

Enjoy, if you have a snow day!  I'm sure we'll be back in session on Tuesday.