Writing

No one reads yearbook stories. Sound familiar? I felt that way in my first five years advising. Focusing on photojournalism was almost an act of rebellion against the genius who mentored me in my high school’s newsroom. Yes, pictures are worth a thousand words and all that. By adding writing to your yearbook pages, you give names to faces and intent to actions. It’s more than so-and-so on the thing doing the thing; it’s context and clarity. It's a change for the better.

Copy as Design

I’ve said it for years because my aforementioned high school adviser brainwashed me (in a good way): Content drives design. If you plan on increasing your yearbook’s written content, learn how to design with copy. 

Headlines

Headlines are a great way to connect yearbook spreads back to the theme. On a spread about robotics, push yourself to make the main verbal entry point read more than “Robotics.” Your headline font, weight, color, and placement are just as important as the dominant photo.

https://blog.treering.com/how-to-improve-yearbook-headlines/

Captions and Stories

While not every topic may need a story, (nearly) every photo deserves a caption. Captions are entry-level writing opportunities. Compare the two spreads below. They are from the same yearbook. One is captions only; the other has a story.

The captions are close to the photos they complement. The story connects to the headline and subheadline.

How to Introduce Writing to the Yearbook

As an adult, it can be tough to approach another adult and have a conversation (cool mom at the playground, I’m looking at you). Likewise, getting students to approach their peers isn’t the easiest skill to teach. As with all skills, take the easy +1 approach: start small, master that skill, and add another. 

A progression, like the one below, builds confidence while building familiarity.

1. Introduce a Question of the Day (QOTD)

The heading says it all. Advisers or the editorial board select a question, and yearbook students ask four non-yearbook students the QOTD. 

• How do you pass the time during passing periods?
• Which childhood foods will you eat forever?
• How do you prepare for finals? 

Yearbook creators are encouraged to start with their peer groups and branch out. The only caveat is that they cannot ask a student a QOTD twice until everyone has had a chance. No repeats. You can track this with a BOLO (Be on the Lookout) board, via a Google Sheet fed by a Google Form, or with your roster.

Do the math with me for a second: if six yearbook students each interviewed four students daily, that would be 120 student voices added to your yearbook in a week. With a larger staff of 18, that’s 360 new voices. Use these as Q&A moments in your portrait section or sidebars through athletics, arts, and student life spreads.

With those figures, you could get a meaningful quote from nearly everyone on campus each quarter.

2. Practice interviewing in class weekly

Repetition builds skills, and we educators know that. In the yearbook classroom or club space, the work of photoshoots, layout design, and marketing sometimes overshadows the process of creating. Take time to teach, practice, and evaluate your team’s skills. Here are a few ideas:

• Provide interview “notes” to the class and have them backfill the questions or craft them into a story
• Interview one another and create staff bios
• Have a student teacher or coach come in for a group interview
• Read an article together and reverse engineer the questions the interviewer may have used (Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone magazines work well for this)

3. Take it to the street!

The key to a good yearbook interview is to have good questions. While there are hundreds of lists on the interwebs (we list some of our favs below), tailoring the interview to the subject will always give you the best material.

The best way to prep is to craft questions using the Five Common Topics: definition, comparison, relationship, circumstance, and testimony. 

https://blog.treering.com/using-the-five-common-topics-for-yearbook-copy/

Once you have a list of questions—“Give me a quote for the yearbook” does not count—ask them! 

The late Casey Nicols inspired a love of focus groups in me. As a journalism mentor, he encouraged me to bring in clubs or teams at lunchtime and interview the group. There was strength in numbers for them, as interviews were new for our yearbook staff. And our staff received some of the best quotes because they would play off each other. 

As a result, their writing became interesting. Students read it. It became the expectation.

4. Start small

Remember, easy +1. If there is no writing in your yearbook, add captions. Play with sentence structure so it’s not always subject-verb-adverb. Add a prepositional opener. Make it a complex sentence. Then

• Second year: add expanded captions
• Third year: add body copy
• Fourth year: add personality profiles

You don’t have to do it all. Ever. Tell your community’s story your way. 

Help with Interview Questions

Use these lists of interview questions for creating QOTD, practice interviews, and as launch pads for longer form copy.

• 11 Yearbook Bell Ringers to Teach Writing
• 40 Evergreen Story Ideas
• 75 Awesome Interview Questions

You can even have students rank their favorite and least favorite questions. Make sure they have a reason why. Re-write the “bad” questions and craft follow-ups for the helpful ones.

The inverted pyramid is the go-to launch point for budding journalists. (Anyone else hear a journalism teacher’s voice: “Don’t bury the lede!”) For these emerging writers, filling each level equates to squeezing the five Ws into its ranks. This could lead to repetitive or restricted writing. The “easy” fix: asking better questions. 

Integrating the five common topics with the inverted pyramid structure helps students create engaging yearbook copy because it models inquiry. They move beyond “What was your favorite…?” They create questions with analytical depth. They craft stories worth reading.

What Are the Five Common Topics?

How would the ancient Greek and Roman orators write a yearbook story? (That might as well be under “Adviser questions I’ll never ask for 1000, Alex.”) The five common topics are definition, comparison, relationship, circumstance, and testimony. The early scholars used this method of inquiry to discuss, persuade, and analyze. Developing yearbook interview questions based on the five common topics can be a structured way to gather information and insights.

Definition

The five Ws fall here: the topic of definition breaks down your subject into key components. What it is and who does it. Where it takes place. Why it’s important. When it occurs. 

What is a clear definition of [the subject]? 

This is extremely helpful for students when they craft copy on an unfamiliar topic. For example, most people use “bump, set, spike” somewhere on a volleyball spread. We don’t bump. We pass.

How would you characterize the key features that distinguish [the subject] from other similar concepts? 

Each game, dance, movie night, and fun run is unique. So are labs, presentations, debates, and study sessions. Find out what sets this event or activity apart. By defining what it is holistically, you are also defining what it is not: just another day. (Remember, there is a reason for this story beyond an opening in your page template.)

What are the essential elements that makeup [the subject]? 

Sports and arts copy can always be improved by understanding the technique. Start with your photos and ask the stakeholders to explain what they are doing step by step. Define tools, from cleat spikes to microscopes, and their use.

Back to our volleyball example: She’s aligning her feet to the setter and positioning her body so her belly button is behind the ball. Straight arms and little-to-no movement are key for her to give a high pass the setter can push to the outside hitters or run a quick hit from the middle. She starts each practice by passing 50 free balls as an offense-defense transition drill. 

No bumping is involved.

Comparison

The next step is to expand upon the basics by drawing parallels or highlighting differences. Using analogies, journalism students can make complex ideas understandable. Sometimes, it helps to take the opposite approach and point out key differences.

In what ways is [the subject] similar to [another relevant entity], and how are they different?

Familiarity is comfortable. By relating new topics to known ones, you can ease your reader in. 

Are there instances where lessons from [a related concept] can be applied to [the subject]?

Again, even though chemistry class repeats the gummy bear lab annually, it is not the same year after year. The same can be said about an AP class preparing their art portfolios or a Link Crew orientation. 

Using the topic of comparison, student reporters have a reason to cover recurring events–they are digging into the differences.

How does the comparison to [another relevant entity] enhance our understanding of [the subject]?

Keyword: enhance. Comparison is valuable if it adds value. And before you flinch at the intended redundancy, remember new writers need to evaluate their notes as part of their process. Listing related and opposing concepts will also strengthen the topic of definition. 

Relationship and Circumstance (This is a Twofer)

I’m combining topics three and four. Event sequences, cause-and-effect relationships, and the outcome of the event all have a place at the proverbial table. Understanding circumstance helps in tailoring yearbook copy to be more relevant and effective because we use it to examine the context of each story. It’s the here and now.   These details help readers understand why the event is significant at this moment.

What current events or trends are influencing [the subject]?

More than the water bottle du jour, the timeliness of a yearbook story gives its place in your school’s historical record. You give campus events context by relating them to the community or even the world.

Are there specific challenges or opportunities related to [the subject] that are particularly relevant now?

In the example above, a student gave a speech. This is a daily occurrence around the globe. The author used the subject’s reported challenges and testimony (spoiler alert: that’s topic #5) to illustrate what led to the moment.

Chances are, this story wouldn’t have been printed in your mom’s yearbook. The circumstance was different.

Can you identify any cause-and-effect relationships associated with [the subject]?

Part of contextualizing your yearbook stories is adding what resulted from the story. Did the fundraiser set a new record? Athlete return for her final game of the season? AP Language class win the literary food festival? Wrap up your story.

Testimony

“Give me a quote for the yearbook.” Next to definition, testimony is the most commonly used of the five common topics. It’s the human element. Including testimonies from different sources helps balance the story, gives authority to student writing, and showcases varied perspectives. 

While it’s the fifth topic, when students write, they should incorporate the questions below.  

What diverse perspectives contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of [the subject]?

Scores, stats, fundraising figures, and meaningful quotes enhance credibility and give voice to yearbook copy. 

How do you navigate conflicting testimony or opinions from authoritative sources regarding [the subject]?

The short answer: ask more questions. How do you find out what is true and who do you ask? (This could be more common with sporting events over bio labs.)

Example Structure for the Inverted Pyramid and Five Common Topics

Let’s start with this photograph of four students on the green. 

To come up with the copy, students identified:

• Names of students and their grades
• Location of photo
• What is going on
• Background on Xilam
• What aspect of Xilam is shown in the image
• Relationships between Mexican martial arts and Spanish for native speakers class
• How many languages–and which ones–are spoken on campus

This structure delivers both the essential information layered with insights. It moves beyond a listing of the 5Ws because it begins with inquiry.

This is the final installment in a four-part series on creating a yearbook in 60 days. By now, portraits and spreads are in the book, and it is time to polish both. Day 46-60 tasks center around communication to parents and the print process. 

Yearbook (yes, it is a verb) along with us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

1. Custom Page Reminders

Marketing Rule of Seven aside, parents are busy. Teachers are solving the world’s problems. We need reminders (not the “loving” ones that are really sassy in disguise). Remember the parent purchase date you set during days 1-15? This is the date by which parents should customize and purchase their yearbooks. 

While parents do not have to fill their free, two custom pages with memories, a little education goes a long way. Here are a few ideas for reminders:

• Include a flyer in the monthly newsletter
• Share a video tutorial on your parent group’s social media page
• Create a virtual parent event aligned with one of Treering’s parent webinars to “attend” together
• Host a custom pages night and walk parents through the process

Custom Page Resources

Remember, you must use the login button to access the editor articles.

• Editor Video: Reviewing All Students' Custom Pages 
• Parent Video: Creating Custom Pages with Page Builder 
• Parent Video: Creating Custom Pages from Scratch with Page Editor 
• Spring Parent Webinars: Yearbook Club

2. Make Corrections

Continue using those PDF proofs and the page warning tray to manage duplicate images, low-resolution images, margin warnings, and spelling errors. 

Page Warning Tray Resource

• Editor video: Page Warnings 

3. Print Ready Process

You tell Treering when to begin the printing process. When your Finish Editing Yearbook Deadline arrives, your yearbook does not automatically head to the printers. Remember, your three-week turnaround begins from the date you send the book to print.

It will take 15-20 minutes for you to complete the pre-print process below.

After you complete the checklist and select the dancing “Print my Yearbook” button (cue the confetti), you will receive an email with your final-final PDF proof and instructions if you find a grievous error and need to stop the printing process. There is an extremely short, blink-and-it's-over window to do this; it may cause production delays.

Sending Your Yearbook to Print Resource

• Video: Setting the Yearbook to Print Ready

4. Never Say, “No.”

You will never have to turn away a student at a Treering school who wants a yearbook after the print deadline. With Treering, you can even order and personalize past years’ books. 

Additionally, with the fundraiser and book donation options, you can ensure students in need have books as well.

Post-Print Ready Resources

• Parent Video: Buying a Yearbook for a Previous School Year 
• Article: After Deadline Orders 
• Video: Fundraiser Disbursement Options When Setting Your Yearbook to Print Ready 
• Case Study: Yearbook Hero Janet Yieh Gives Away Yearbooks 

Feeling Adventurous? Plan a party!

Yearbook signing parties need not be extravagant: tables, pens, tunes. 

Yearbook Signing Party Resources

• Blog: 10 People To Thank
• Blog: The Best Yearbook Distribution Ideas

You did it! How will you celebrate building a yearbook in 60 days? Be sure to tag @treering on Facebook and @treeringcorp on TikTok and Instagram to show us. Happy yearbooking!

‘Tis the season to show appreciation. A quick internet search nails myriad resources outlining how regularly expressing thanks can positively impact one's mental health and overall well-being. That’s why we created the yearbook thank you shortlist. 

Below are ten people to thank who may have made a significant impact on the yearbook students' productivity:

1. Custodial and maintenance team: Appreciate the custodial and maintenance team for their hard work maintaining a clean and functional school space, which creates a conducive environment for creativity and collaboration. 

2. Administrative staff: Extend thanks to the administrative staff for their behind-the-scenes efforts in answering all the, “Did I buy a yearbook?” calls while serving as a veritable who’s who for campus activities. Seriously, every campus has that one seasoned staff member who knows all the kids' names and helps you proof the yearbook, and chances are she’s running point in the front office.

3. Teachers: Thank teachers and instructors who opened their doors for yearbook interviews and shared photos of their classroom happenings. They’re the yearbook heroes who pitch their upcoming projects and presentations as photo opportunities, and they use the Treering App to upload great pictures from their field trips.

4. School librarians and media specialists: Thank the school librarian for their assistance in research, providing valuable resources, and supporting the yearbook team in gathering information and materials, including tech tools.

5. Principal and assistant principals: Express gratitude to the admin team for their leadership, support, and commitment to fostering an environment where creative projects like the yearbook can thrive. (Bonus points if the principal and/or AP also ensure the yearbook photographers get good angles for snapping action shots during fun school events.)

6. Cafeteria staff: Thank the cafeteria staff for their role in keeping students well-nourished and providing energy and sustenance during busy yearbook project periods.

7. Parents and guardians: Extend thanks to those who bought their book by the deadline for supporting history-in-the-making with the yearbook, that mom with the nice DSLR camera who is at all the events taking great pictures, and the parents who added 30 extra custom pages making their childrens’ books double the size!

8. Anyone who responded to a crowdsourcing request: Express thanks to the contributors for their valuable insights, diverse perspectives, and the depth they brought to the yearbook.

9. Student body: Express thanks to the entire student body for their active participation, cooperation, and enthusiasm, making the yearbook a true representation of the collective experiences and memories of the school year. (We’re talking to you, middle schooler, who think it so "cringy" when your mom is on campus taking pictures for the yearbook that you won’t even wave at her. You’ll thank us later.)

10. Yearbook publisher: Acknowledge the service, printing, and production teams for their hard work in bringing digital designs to life, ensuring your school’s yearbooks are of the highest quality.

To demonstrate gratitude, your yearbook team can write a card, decorate a gratitude wall in the hallway, or sponsor a lunch or coffee hour.

Yearbook captions provide the context and information to help tell the story behind each photo. They explain what's happening, who is in the picture, and why it's significant. Without captions, many images may lose their meaning or context. Conversely, it is not a storytelling photo if you cannot write about it.

Try this: open your middle school yearbook and try to name all the people on page 24. Can you do it without looking at the captions?

Three Types of Yearbook Captions

Ident Captions

Also, called ID captions, they do just that: identify who is in the photograph. Often used in photo collages, ident captions preserve the names of individuals for posterity and historical record. At a basic level, knowing the names of the individuals can make the yearbook content more personal and relatable, and, from a student’s point of view, their name equates to their mark on your campus community.

Summary Captions

These captions tell a brief story or narrative related to the photo. They engage the reader by presenting the photo as part of a larger, unfolding story by answering who, what, when, why, where, and how in a sentence. Summary captions are always written in the present tense.

Start by being Captain Obvious and use the why and how to give readers more information.

Expanded Captions

Writing an expanded caption for a yearbook involves providing more context and detail about the photo. It’s journalism. It requires practice. It’s a skill. Each expanded caption is a three-sentence story that adds depth to your spread and supports the whole year’s narrative.

Expanded captions have three parts, four if your yearbook has a lede.

1. Answer the 5Ws and H (present tense)
2. Add context you cannot readily see (past tense)
3. Include a direct quote from the subject (attributed by said)

How Do I Write Expanded Captions?

Because writing is a process, each of the following steps takes time and attention to be effective.

Step 1: Observe and Analyze the Photograph

Identify key elements, people, objects, and actions using who, what, when, why, where, and how. Be sure to consider the emotions, expressions, and details within the foreground and background of the image. 

Verify names and activities before moving to the second step.

Step 2: Prepare Interview Questions

Use open-ended questions to gather more information, opinions, and insights from individuals. Find out what happened before and after the photograph and the relationships between the people in the image. Remember, it’s better to have to cut down content than scramble to fill space.

The goal of your interview is to provide additional context and meaning. Showing up and saying, “Give me a quote for the yearbook,” isn’t going to achieve that.

Step 3: Put it all Together

1. Write a detailed summary caption in present tense. 
2. Using your interview notes, create a second sentence that goes beyond the obvious. Write this in past tense.
3. Add a quote that further details the story or expresses emotion. Keep your strong verbs relegated to your caption: attributed your quote with x said.
4. Tie it back to your theme or the spread topic with your lede.

What Not to Do

Avoid editorializing and jokes. It’s not your job to critique what is happening (Romero’s awesome painting) or change the narrative (Is that Bob Ross? No, it’s Ezekiel Romero). Your job is to report. Quotes should be used to convey the feelings or reactions of the people involved.

https://blog.treering.com/free-yearbook-curriculum/

By adding captions—ident, summary, or expanded—you not only describe the photo, but also provide a deeper understanding of the moment and its significance, making your yearbook more engaging and informative.

Fonts can be the Marsha Brady of the yearbook world. Overshadowed by epic theme packages and color palettes, the power of typography cannot stay silent. (In fact, the correct font can be louder than your graphics.) With 44 new fonts in the Treering catalog, you can share your story with boldness or a touch of whimsy. It can be focused or zany, handwritten or high-tech.

“Typography, like other design elements, evolves over time. Keeping up with current trends ensures that your designs feel fresh, relevant, and aligned with contemporary aesthetics,”  Treering’s Director of Design, Allison V. said. “Typography also strongly impacts how a message is conveyed and perceived. More importantly, we listen to our users and try to accommodate their needs and wants. We often receive requests for fonts and appreciate the input from you.”

One such request came in the form of a text.

Meet OpenDyslexic

Since origin stories are a big deal in the superhero world, here is OpenDyslexic’s: app and game designer Abelardo “Abbie” Gonzalez developed the font in 2011 to help people with dyslexia improve their reading experience.

OpenDyslexic’s design addresses common challenges faced by many readers with dyslexia:

• Letter Weight: OpenDyslexic uses a slightly heavier letter weight, which helps the letters stand out more clearly on the page and reduces letter crowding. When designing for readers with dyslexia, avoid using italics or underlines because they cause letter crowding.
• Bottom Heavy: The base of the letters is slightly thicker, which provides better anchoring for letters. This can reduce the chances of them being flipped or reversed.
• Distinct Letter Shapes: The font uses distinct letter shapes to minimize letter confusion, such as avoiding mirror-image similarities between letters like "b" and "d."

Because it’s an open-source font, it is freely available. You can even make it your web browser’s font.

How Would You Use OpenDyslexic in Yearbook Design?

The short answer: headlines and captions. 

The British Dyslexia Association and the UX Movement established Dyslexia-Friendly Style Guides. Summed up, the following tips can increase the readability of your spreads.

• Modular design: use negative space to break up content into meaningful chunks
• Keep backgrounds to a single color, ideally cream or pastel peach, orange, yellow, and blue
• For text, ensure there is contrast between the background and words on your yearbook spread
• Left align text
• Use font size 12-14 pt.

As with anything, it is essential to note that while dyslexia-friendly fonts and design can be beneficial for some individuals, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for all learners. If possible, seek stakeholders' feedback during the design process to identify potential improvements.

How different would your yearbook class or club be if you had ten minutes at the start to focus your team on the day's objectives and transition them from hallway to classroom mode? Working with middle and high school yearbook advisers, we created 60 Bell Ringers to do just this. Use the prompts below to teach and strengthen skills by dropping them in Google Classroom, displaying them in a slide deck, or writing them on the board.

Why Do You Need Bell Ringers for Yearbook?

While we often pump the intro to design and copywriting lessons the first few weeks of the school year, the overwhelming nature of organizing photo shoots, liaising with club sponsors or athletic coaches and scheduling picture day take precedence. (Validation: those things are vital for the success of your yearbook–keep doing them!) 

https://blog.treering.com/yearbook-class-what-to-teach-the-first-six-weeks

If you’re submitting documentation for WASC or your admin, bell ringers activate learning by giving students a quick thought-provoking question, problem-solving exercise, or yearbook critique activity. Some bell ringers encourage critical thinking, and others serve as an anticipatory activity because they stimulate students' curiosity.

TLDR? Use bell ringers to set the tone.

Teambuilding

Yes, you’ll have your group games, yearbook weddings, and human knots. And no, that’s not all you’ll need to forge connections and build trust. These prompts help students share and learn about each other's interests, preferences, and experiences and teach empathy for those they'll interview in the weeks ahead.

1. "Emoji Introduction": Share three emojis that represent different aspects of your life. (Afterward, students share their emojis with the class and explain their choices, providing insights into their personalities and experiences.)
2. “Time Capsule”: Describe five things you would put in a time capsule for yearbook students 10 years from now.
3. “Do-Over”: What is one thing you wish you had done differently this year and why?
4. “Influencer”: Share a book, movie, or song that profoundly impacted you and explain why it resonated with you. (If appropriate, you may want to create a yearbook team playlist for motivation, or when it’s time to celebrate good times… come on!)
5. “Self-Promotion”: What role does the yearbook play in fostering a sense of community and collective identity within the school? How are you contributing?
6. “Dear Younger Me”: Reflect on your overall personal growth and development throughout your time on the yearbook staff and how it has shaped you as an individual. What did you wish you knew at the start of the year? 
7. “Mind Shift”: Describe a class or subject that you initially didn't enjoy but ended up loving and why your perspective changed.
8. “Second Life”: What is something you are proud of accomplishing outside of academics this year?

https://blog.treering.com/7-yearbook-traditions-we-love-for-2021-2022

Bell Ringers to Teach Writing

Quick math lesson: one five-minute writing bell ringer debrief a week will give your students an additional 200 minutes of writing practice. With these short writing tasks, advisers can also provide more immediate feedback to students when they share their work. Don’t think of it as an informal assessment that requires a line item in the grade book, but rather as facilitating continuous growth.

Ledes and Captions

9. What is the importance of a compelling lede in a piece of writing? Share an example of a lead that successfully captures your attention and explain why it stands out to you.
10. Think about a memorable article or story you've read recently. Analyze the lede and discuss how it effectively hooks the reader and sets the tone for the rest of the piece.
11. Choose a recent photo from your phone and write three possible ledes: one pun, one using your theme, and one three-word attention-grabber.
12. Reflect on a nearly finished spread and revise at least one lede. Share how it improved the overall impact of your writing.

Feature Stories

13. Think about a significant moment or event from your school year that you believe would make a great yearbook story. Outline the key elements of the story, including the people involved, the emotions experienced, and the impact it had on the school community.
14. List potential angles, interview questions, and storytelling techniques you would employ for a personality profile for a student you do not know.
15. Interview another yearbook student about a personal experience or accomplishment from this school year. Write a brief summary of the story, including the central theme, key moments, and the message or lesson it conveys.
16. Brainstorm ideas for a yearbook story that celebrates the diversity and inclusivity of your school community. Share potential story angles or interview questions that would help capture the richness of your school's diversity.
17. Have students gather in small groups and share one memorable experience or event from the school year. Each group should choose one story to develop further as a potential yearbook feature. Encourage them to discuss the key moments, people (directly and indirectly involved), emotions, and impact of the story.
18. Provide students with a collection of unused photographs from a specific school activity. In pairs or individually, students should select one photo that catches their attention and write a brief story idea based on the image. Encourage them to consider the context, characters, and potential narrative elements.
19. Organize a "Story Pitch" session where students can present their yearbook story ideas to the class. Each student should prepare a short pitch, explaining the central theme, key moments, and the significance of their chosen story. Encourage constructive feedback and discussion among the students.

https://blog.treering.com/yearbook-story-ideas-procress

What’s Happening Here?

These yearbook caption bell ringers work best when paired with a photo of a prominent event on campus or one from history or pop culture. The goal is to unpack the action and the story within the image. For consistent practice, make a weekly event, such as “Photo Friday,” to cycle through these prompts.

20. List the who, what, when, where, why, and how of this photo.
21. List 10 or more verbs to describe the subject's action or state of being in this photo.
22. List 10 or more emotions to describe the subject's action or state of being in this photo.
23. Create a caption using only emojis.
24. Caption this in five words.

Do you need photo inspiration? We love the New York Times. 

Brainstorming Bell Ringers

Sometimes a five-minute brain dump is all you need to break out of a slump.

25. Looking at the school events calendar for the week, list different approaches you could take to cover each event in a table labeled before, during, and after.
26. Design a unique "map" page showcasing the school campus and highlighting key locations, such as classrooms, the cafeteria, and outdoor spaces.
27. Create a visual timeline of major school events throughout the year, using icons or symbols to represent each event. 
28. List 10 “hacks” that make school easier for you.
29. Create a mini infographic showcasing interesting statistics or facts about an aspect of the school year.
30. Design a series of icons or symbols to represent different academic subjects, extracurricular activities, clubs and organizations, and sports teams in the yearbook.
31. Sketch a "Behind the Scenes" spread showcasing the yearbook team’s work so far.
32. List teachers, labs, projects, field trips, and assignments that challenged you to think creatively or outside the box.
33. [Display unused yearbook photos of note in a "Yearbook Story Idea" station.] Consider uncovered aspects of the school year and brainstorm three ways to get them in the yearbook.

https://blog.treering.com/six-ideas-to-fill-pages

Use These Bell Ringers to Model a Yearbook Critique

Every student (and adviser) who helps produce the yearbook puts their work on display. No other group of students’ homework is hanging around 10, 20, or 50 years later like a yearbook. Boom. That said, use these critique prompts to reinforce positive comments. 

34. [Display a spread] Sketch the layout and identify each component (e.g. gutter and caption). 
35. List the elements we used to create a sense of unity and flow throughout the yearbook. What are there recurring visual motifs or elements that tie the pages together?
36. [Display three spreads from your yearbook] Give five specific examples of how these spreads carry out our theme.
37. Using an in-progress spread, give five examples of how your design connects to the remainder of the yearbook. 
38. [Display a spread] Sketch the layout. Identify the primary and secondary design elements and explain whether the hierarchy of information is clear.
39. Reflect on a memorable moment from a previous yearbook. Analyze the elements that made the module, spread, or story engaging.

Two things:

• Start with examples of strong design from your students to highlight the wins. 
• Keep it technical. When students use terms like eyeline, dominance, and alignment, there is a specific element to which we can attend versus “I don’t like it.” 

https://blog.treering.com/24-yearbook-terms-everyone-needs-to-know

Writing Prompts for Reflection

Sometimes, students need time and space to be introspective. These bell ringers are less about the how of yearbook and more about the why. After answering them in class, try using them for interview topics for other students to use in personality profiles or sidebars.

40. If you could give one piece of advice to future students, what would it be and why?
41. What is one thing you learned about yourself this year that you didn't know before?
42. Describe a moment when you felt proud of yourself and explain why it was significant to you.
43. If you could choose one word to summarize your overall experience in this school, what would it be and why?
44. Share a story about a time when you overcame a challenge or obstacle and what you learned from it.
45. Describe a teacher or staff member with action words and explain how they influenced you.
46. Share a funny or embarrassing moment that happened to you during the school year.
47. Share a piece of advice you received from someone that changed your mind.
48. If you could create a new school tradition, what would it be and why?
49. Describe a time when you felt like you made a positive difference in someone else's life.
50. What is one thing you wish you had known as a freshman/sophomore/junior that you know now as a senior?
51. Describe a moment when you felt like you truly belonged and were part of a community.
52. If you could interview any historical figure, who would it be, and what five questions would you ask them?
53. Share a piece of advice you would give to incoming freshmen and explain why you think it's important.
54. Reflect on a moment when you felt inspired or motivated by someone else's actions or achievements.
55. Share a quote or motto that has guided you throughout this school year and explain its significance to you.
56. If you could go back and change one decision you made this year, what would it be and why?
57. Describe a meaningful friendship.
58. Reflect on a time when you had to step out of your comfort zone and how it contributed to your personal growth.
59. What would you want to ask or know about your future self?
60. Describe a memorable moment from a school event or celebration and why it was special to you.

By choosing to incorporate bell ringers, you’re optimizing instructional time by utilizing the initial minutes of class effectively. By engaging students immediately, you’ll minimize transitional periods and idle time, ensuring that yearbooking (and learning) begin promptly.

Your academics section needs stronger headlines. Agreed? The headline on each yearbook spread influences the reader's scanning behavior. (Read: it makes buyers look at your hard work.) When skimming a spread, the eye is naturally drawn to the headline first, and from there, it can guide the reader to other important elements such as subheadings, captions, and images. While headlines traditionally are larger text, additional design elements such as type treatments and mixed fonts help also set them apart. Below are the why, how-to, and 65 examples of headlines you can use in your yearbook.

How to Write Captivating Headlines

It’s easy to drop football or science fair at the top of your yearbook spread. For those looking to up their writing game, crafting journalistic, punny, or thematic headlines can enhance your yearbook storytelling. 

https://blog.treering.com/how-to-improve-yearbook-headlines/

Not sure where to begin? Use some of the academics-centric headlines below to inspire or jumpstart your writing process.

STEM Headlines

1. Calculating the Memories
2. Chart a Force
3. [Mascots] Count Get Enough
4. Easy as Pi
5. Formula for Fun
6. Here Comes the Sum
7. In Our Prime
8. Make Sum Noise
9. Massing Around
10. On this Equation
11. Pi-ous Celebration
12. Rule for Thought
13. Square One: [Year]
14. Squaring Is Caring
15. The Final Equation
16. The Sum of [Year]
17. Up and Atom
18. Write Angle

Humanities Headlines

19. Act your Page
20. Anything Prose
21. Blurb the Line
22. Bookmark my Words
23. Born and Read
24. Bursting at the Themes
25. Do the Myth
26. Full Theme Ahead
27. Get Booked On
28. Go for Baroque
29. Move in the Right Direction
30. Plot it Down
31. Prose and Cons
32. A Rhyme a Dozen
33. Setting Pretty
34. Strike a Prose
35. The Write Stuff

Arts Headlines

36. All Hands on Deco
37. All Strings Considered
38. Band New
39. Band Over Backwards
40. Bright of Passage
41. Brush with Greatness 
42. Canvas of the Year
43. Choral High Ground
44. Emboss Level
45. Face the Music
46. Fair and Snare
47. Fluid for Thought
48. Hip Hop to It
49. Horn to Fly
50. Rhythm and Reflection
51. Size the Day
52. Soul in One
53. The Stage is Set

Senior Section Headlines

54. A Class Act
55. A Degree of Fun
56. From Student to Scholar
57. Looking Grad-ulous
58. Making Moves
59. Onward and Upward
60. Rising to the Challenge
61. Stepping Into New Horizons
62. Taking Flight (good for a bird mascot)
63. The Final Exam
64. The Final Lap of our Academic Race
65. The Future Begins

Now that your yearbook is a wrap and there’s nothing but sunshine ahead, it’s nice to take some time to reflect on your achievement. You may not want to spend all summer analyzing your yearbook (and who does?), but here are some quick "yearbook debriefing" tasks to help set yourself up for the new school year:

Bask in your success.

You did it! We hope you feel accomplished, proud, and gratified. First and foremost, this is the perfect time to round up your team to celebrate a job well done. Whether it’s a picnic in the park, a backyard super soaker battle, a trip to a local amusement park, or a pizza party at the pool, gathering everyone together is a great way to close this chapter (pun intended!). 

A shared celebration is a morale boost, a “thank you,” and a fantastic way to show everyone how fun yearbooking is as you ride that wave of camaraderie into the upcoming year.

Solicit and evaluate feedback.

Whether utilizing an informal compilation of comments or a more formal survey or meeting, it’s helpful to evaluate the yearbook from the experience of your school community. This process can include everything from design and content to distribution and will be invaluable during your yearbook debriefing.

While we all would prefer kudos to criticism (here are some tips for dealing with complaints), your audience's honest feedback is crucial to improving and enhancing your yearbook program. Additionally, considering suggestions and allowing people to feel heard goes a long way toward creating a solid yearbook culture. 

Analyze growth opportunities.

When doing your yearbook debriefing, looking for ways to refine your process is essential. Did you and your team encounter any challenges building or marketing your book? Can you enhance your collaboration process? Is there room for improvement in your workflow or organization? If your timeline proved challenging, have you considered a company that allows you to control your deadline? 

Lay the fall foundation.

Remember to take a few minutes to set yourself up for fall success by verifying details with your publisher (e.g., logging in to confirm your account for next school year). And if you would like to spend some time planning for your next yearbook over the summer, here are three steps to kick off another fantastic year of capturing your school’s spirit. Here’s hoping you can do all your prep work poolside! 

By participating in Teacher Appreciation Week, students and parents recognize the efforts of their teachers. We’ve created two free printables to help make it easy because this week can be a powerful way to build rapport between home and campus life, which can ultimately enhance the learning experience for everyone involved. Additionally, participating in Teacher Appreciation Week can teach students the importance of showing an attitude of gratitude.

The Science Behind Being Thankful

Studies show that when you share gratitude with others, your brain becomes re-wired in a positive way. Gratitude helps you

• Feel happier: Gratitude can make you feel good by making more of the happy chemicals—dopamine and serotonin—in your brain.
• Think better: Gratitude can help you use the prefrontal cortex (thinking part) of your brain more, which helps you make good decisions and solve problems.
• Reduce stress: Gratitude can help you worry less and feel less scared by calming down the part of your brain that makes you feel anxious. 

Now that’s something for which to be grateful.

Free Printables

We made these printables available as a convenient way for parents to participate in Teacher Appreciation Week. Simply download and print the materials from the comfort of your own home for your child or work with other classroom parents to cultivate a display on the classroom door in the teachers’ lounge. Whichever you choose, you and your child can personalize the messages, which can make them more meaningful and memorable for the teacher.

"All About My Teacher" Printable

This full-color mini poster with fill-ins is a fun way for parents and their children to document the impact of their teacher. Download it here. (Did you know this page is also available as a pre-designed yearbook spread you can drag and drop into your Treering yearbook?)

Teacher Appreciation Card

We’ve made it easy to write a letter thanking teachers for all their hard work and dedication. Fill in the blanks of the card below. Thank you cards can be compiled into a scrapbook or displayed in the classroom. Download it here.

We hope these printables help to create a fun and festive atmosphere in the classroom. Teacher Appreciation Week is a way for students and parents to express gratitude towards the teachers who have had a positive impact.

We see you, teachers; your hard work and dedication are recognized and valued.

Design hierarchy of a yearbook spread refers to the arrangement of elements on a page in order of importance, with the most important element drawing immediate attention and receiving support from secondary and tertiary elements. When you apply these design principles, you are taking your readers on a journey across each yearbook spread by telling them where to begin and where to exit each spread through visual cues. Sound complicated? No worries, we'll break it down below. 

Dominant Elements

Think, "We're #1!" The dominant elements in yearbook hierarchy are headlines, the dominant photo package, and a subheadline. The dominant elements are just that: they dominate the most real estate on the spread. It's from them the rest of the content builds.

Headline

The headline is the most important element on a page and serves as a brief content summary. It should be attention-grabbing and provide an overview of the page's content.

https://blog.treering.com/how-to-improve-yearbook-headlines/

Dominant Photo

This is self-explanatory: the largest photo on the spread is the dominant one. It draws the eye. It connects to the headline. It sets the tone for the entire spread. The best dominant photos are storytelling or action shots.

Subhead

The subhead is a secondary headline that provides more detail and context to the main headline. It can also be used to break up yearbook spreads into smaller sections, or modules.

Secondary Elements

Your secondary elements build from your dominant ones. Think of them as a great ensemble cast.

Photos

For most, photographs are the most important part of a yearbook. The individual images and their positioning on the spread can help further illustrate the page topic and make the page more visually appealing.

Quick tips:

• Eyes should look toward the center of the spread, not off the page
• Similar photos should be in proximity to one another

Tertiary Design Elements 

If your headline and photographs did their job, readers will swoop in to enjoy your captions, copy, and extras.

Captions

These beauties provide context and information about the photos on a page, therefore they should be near their respective photograph. While they should be concise and well-written, it's easy to get cliche: "Tomás Bernal (7) enjoys his lunch." Start with the 5 Ws and then up your caption game by adding expanded captions.

https://blog.treering.com/awesome-yearbook-pictures-5-steps-writing-fabulous-captions/

Body Copy or Yearbook Stories

This is the main text on a page and provides the details and information about the subject being covered. It should be well-written, easy to read, and relevant to the headline and dominant topic of the spread. Often, when a dominant photo is of the storytelling variety, it will complement it and further explain its significance.

Sometimes, an "ident caption" will suffice. This is a list of names of students pictured, including their grade. In the middle school book below, the yearbook team used ident captions to outline the event program from the annual fundraiser.

Pull Quotes

Pull quotes are quotes from the body copy that are set off visually and used to highlight important or interesting information or one-off quotes from a student. They have both visual and verbal significance because they highlight the spread's topic with a unique POV. They can also add to the overall theme by bringing in theme elements.

Graphics and Design Elements

Like everything in yearbook design hierarchy, graphics and design elements, such as borders, backgrounds, and page numbers should be intentional. It's easy to get out of hand with Treering's graphics library, so that's why our design team cultivated 300-ish fully editable themes and color palettes for you. The purpose is to make the page more visually appealing and easier to navigate while telling the story of your year.

The hierarchy of a yearbook spread can vary depending on the page's content, and following this basic structure can help ensure that the page is well-organized and easy to read. If you're teaching yearbook or leading a club, use it

• As a checklist for students who are beginning to design
• For a scavenger hunt to see who can identify elements on a spread in a magazine or another school's yearbook
• To build your program by strengthening yearbook hierarchy in each design

Not only is it a part of the dominant element of your spread’s hierarchy, but headlines also help organize the yearbook by providing a visual cue and structure for the content. An effective headline can help a reader quickly understand the content of a page and decide if they want to read more. (They should!) When writing headlines for your yearbook, follow these five guidelines. 

1. Set the Tone

The tone of your headlines should match the tone of the yearbook, whether it is lighthearted, serious, or something in between.

Many advisers begin the theme development process with an idiom dictionary nearby to create a lexicon for the year. By incorporating keywords and phrases from the yearbook theme into the headlines, designers create a consistent and cohesive story, which ultimately strengthens your theme. 

Take a look at this example: with the Treering Theme Stay Gold in mind, the editorial staff looked at all the phrases using gold and built out a list. They then assigned potentials to spreads. Notice how gold is frequently used, as are synonyms such as shine and glitter.

Considerations for Theme Copy in Yearbook Headlines 

• Resist the urge to make every headline the same. In a book titled “Then & Now,” you can only have so many headlines with an ampersand. (Trust me, it was a first-year yearbook fail.)
• Use spin-offs to highlight the main concepts of the theme. Your headlines and subheadlines exist to bring the yearbook theme to life and make it an integral part of each story and spread.

2. Maximize Your Space

Focus your yearbook headlines and limit them to no more than a few words which accurately reflect the content of the story they introduce.

Advisers, here are some exercises that can help students produce stronger headlines:

Headline Critique

Have students work in groups to critique headlines written by their peers. Collaboratively, students learn to identify strong and weak yearbook headlines and develop a critical eye for headline writing.

News Scavenger Hunt

Collect headlines from various sources (some ideas are below in section five) and analyze them for clarity, conciseness, and relevance to the content. This exercise can help students understand the importance of writing headlines that accurately reflect the content and grab the reader's attention.

Headline Revision

To help students learn to refine their headline-writing skills and make their headlines more effective, have students write several headlines for a given story or event and then revise them to make them more concise, clear, and attention-grabbing. 

3. Follow AP Style guidelines:

When it comes to all things style, the Associated Press Stylebook sets the rules for copy, abbreviations, and formatting.

• Capitalization: Capitalize the first word and all subsequent important words in the headline, including prepositions and conjunctions of four letters or more.
• Active voice: Use active voice in your headlines, as it makes them more dynamic and engaging.
• Punctuation: Limit the use of punctuation in headlines, typically using only a single exclamation point or a question mark, if necessary. (Personal anecdote: My undergrad journalism professor told me I get three exclamation points in my career, and to use them wisely.) 
• Conciseness: Keep headlines concise and to the point, typically no more than a few words.
• Spelling and grammar: Make sure to check the spelling and grammar of each headline to ensure that it is error-free and professional-looking.

4. Wordplay Works

Make your English department swoon with literary techniques such as puns or alliteration if appropriate.

While "Football" is a straightforward and accurate way to describe the subject matter, using it as a headline for a story about the football team in a yearbook may not be the most engaging option. To make the headline stand out and capture the reader's attention, it's often better to use wordplay or a more descriptive phrase that goes beyond just the basic name of the subject.

For example, instead of simply using "Football" as the headline, you could use an alliteration that showcases your mascot such as “Lions on the Line” or "Touchdown Titans." 

https://blog.treering.com/28-clever-headlines-to-use-in-your-winter-sports-spread/

You could even use something from the story copy to tie the spread together: below this cheer spread's feature story is about the relationship between cheer flyers and bases.

5. Keep Headlines Timely

Consider the current events and trends that are relevant to the yearbook and include them in your headlines. From Homecoming (Game of Thrones) to personality profiles of faculty (How I Met Your Teacher), you can get creative in the Heartland (any location on campus, such as the quad, where the whole school gathers). See what we did there?

Find inspiration by looking at

• News websites and magazines
• Social media platforms
• Advertisements
• Books and novels
• Popular songs, TV shows, and movie titles
• Quotes and (appropriate) jokes
• Previous yearbooks

Following these tips and finding your headline groove will strengthen your yearbook theme and tell the story of your year. For additional writing tips, check out these blogs:

• Treering's Free Curriculum
• Why You Need Evergreen Content for Yearbook
• 244 Title Ideas for Your Yearbook (and Tips for Writing Your Own)