Writing

5 Tips for How to Write a Yearbook Story

• Short – they quickly summarize the content to come
• Specific – they tell readers exactly what to expect
• Standalone – they make a statement on their own
• Special – they are unique, powerful and interesting

• Deliver on the promise made in your headline
• Give readers the critical information they need
• Introduce action, conflict or emotion
• Prompt readers to continue to learn more

• Interview the swimming star on her big win.
• Ask a science student about his favorite experiment.
• Talk to a teacher about how her students changed over the year.

• Keep sentences and paragraphs short.
• Cut out unnecessary words.
• Add subheads to divide stories into sections.
• Break up text with call-out quotations or facts.
• Use bullet points to list short moments or stories.
• Keep fonts simple – select one font style for headlines and one for body copy.

We think that teachers should always be treated like the rockstars they are. But that’s a double-edged sword. Because of their school “celebrity” status, we can sometimes get a little tongue-tied when it comes time to snag some quotes.

So if you’ve got a mod that needs some teacher insight, a spread offering a look ‘behind the curtain’ about teachers, or if you’re writing an article on a specific teacher and are looking for some pizzazz, you’ll need to ask some great questions. And we’ve got just the list.

Set up a time for the interview, take a moment to brush up on your interview skills, and then take the bull by the horns with these quote-baiting questions for teachers.

About Life Outside of School

• What is one of your hidden talents?
• What would the students be surprised to find out about you?
• What’s a typical Saturday night like for you?
• How often do you accidentally start speaking Spanish at home? Lecturing about fractions? Correcting grammar? [personalize to their subject].
• What are some pets you’ve had or would like to own?
• What is your dream vacation?
• How do you spend your summer breaks?
• What are your “trapped on a desert island” books or movies?
• What would your last meal be?
• What can you cook to perfection? Are you willing to share the recipe?
• If you won the lottery and decided to give up teaching, what would you do instead?

About School Life

• What are some traditions or superstitions you have for the First Day of School?
• What makes a ‘good day’ at school?
• How do you show your school spirit?
• What accomplishment fills you with pride so far this year?
• What is your favorite dish from the cafeteria?
• What sort of morning routine do you have to get jazzed for class?
• How do you keep things fresh? [particularly good for seasoned teachers]
• What inspires you?
• How does technology make teaching more simple or difficult?
• Are there any embarrassing teaching moments you’re willing to share? What are they?
• What’s the best/worst thing about being a teacher?
• In which other teacher’s class would you like to enroll, even for a day? Why?

About the Students

• What current trends are baffling to you? Why?
• So many students admire you. How do you make those connections? [*note: question should only be asked if the teacher is universally known for making great student connections]
• What differences do you see in your morning students versus the afternoon classes?
• If you could pass on any wisdom to your students, what would you share?
• How do you remember all of your students’ names?
• What’s a school sport or activity you enjoy watching?
• If you could take the students on a field trip to anywhere in the world, where would you take them?
• Why do (or don’t) you friend former students on Facebook?

Along the Lines of a Specific Article or Theme

• What kind of driver were you when you first got your license?
• If you were to be given a superlative when you were in school, what would it have been?
• Our yearbook’s theme this year is [....], how do you work to bring that to life in everyday classes?
• What song should students listen to when doing work for your class?
• What is your first memory from school?
• When or why is (or isn’t) a picture worth a thousand words?
• How do you think students will remember you and your class?

About Nothing—Just for Kicks (or Mods)

• How long would you survive a zombie apocalypse? Why?
• In which Hogwarts house would you be sorted?
• If you could grow up in any decade, which would you choose?
• What are your thoughts on astrology? Do you know your sign?
• What are your must-have smartphone apps?
• Did you see the new Star Wars on opening night? What memories do you have from the first movie you ever saw in theatres?
• Is there a quote or saying that you live your life by?
• What would your perfect party look like?
• What is your spirit animal?
• What song do you know all the lyrics to?

And there you have it—48 yearbook questions that you can choose from to build an interview with a teacher. It’s important to remember that an interview is a conversation. Keep it natural, and use your time wisely. It’s better to get five quality responses instead of a dozen one-word answers. If you see a hook, run with it. Don’t be afraid to veer a bit off course when the opportunity presents itself. Wherever the conversation goes, these questions are a great start to an intriguing spread or mod, and can add some wonderful insight from your teachers to this year’s book.

What Types of Yearbook Interview Questions Really Work?

Yearbook Interview Questions: A Complete List

1. Do you drive to school? What was your most listened to driving song on your morning commute this year?
2. Which school tradition are you most proud of?
3. Would students be more productive if cell phones were banned during school hours?
4. What’s your favorite school lunch?
5. Should the school have (or keep) vending machines?
6. Do you think an open campus is a good idea?
7. What’s your most embarrassing in-school memory? What happened and did you learn anything from it?
8. Which event did you most look forward to this year? Did it live up to expectations?
9. You can bring any three of your classmates on a cross-country road trip in your family’s hatchback: who would you choose and why?
10. If you could get rid of the bells between classes, would you? Why?
11. How did you decorate your locker this year?
12. How do you avoid participating in gossip? What do you do if there’s gossip about you?

1. Which event at field day was the most fun?
2. What was the coolest art project you did this year?
3. If your school grew and maintained its own vegetable garden, what would you want to grow?
4. If you could plan a field trip anywhere for next year, where would you want to go?
5. How do you like to read? (physical books, Kindle, etc.)
6. What’s your favorite kind of juice?
7. If you and your friends could do any activity after school today, what would it be?
8. What’s the best game or sport that you play in gym class? Why is it so fun?
9. What’s your favorite school snack?
10. If you could choose any animal for a class pet, what would it be?

1. Which team’s games are the most fun to attend? Why?
2. If you could have the pep band play one song at games, what would it be?
3. Describe your crosstown rivalry in one (appropriate) word...
4. Which sport does the school need to add next year?
5. If anyone in your class would be on ESPN, who would it be?
6. What was the most memorable school sporting event of the year?
7. How does playing X impact your academic performance?
8. What life-lesson(s) did you learn playing X?
9. Will you try to play X in college?
10. Would you ever consider coaching?

1. Do you think participation in extracurricular activities should be required by the school?
2. If your club was given an unlimited budget to throw an event for the school, what would you plan?
3. Should video games be considered a sport? Which games? Would you join a school eSports team?
4. If you could create one new club for next year, what would it be?
5. Who’s the best club adviser?
6. Where does your club meet? Do you use any school resources other than space? How could the school provide more support for your club?
7. Which plays should the school produce next year? Would you audition if it was something you liked?

1. If you could choose any artistic medium and give it a dedicated course, what would it be?
2. The jobs you will have one day don’t even exist yet: what kinds of skills do you think you might need to succeed?
3. Least memorable United States President?
4. Are there enough foreign language options? If not, what would you like to see added? Should they be required?
5. What project or assignment challenged you the most as a student? Why?
6. Most useful math equation or theory you learned this year?
7. What was the longest paper you wrote this year? Who was it for? What was it about?
8. If you could conduct any science experiment in a class, what would it be? Do you have a hypothesis ready to go?
9. What was the most enjoyable book you had to read for school this year?
10. Which subject do you think prepares you most for life after high school? Why?

1. Which TV show is most talked about in the hallways?
2. What would you be SO embarrassed to be seen wearing (but secretly love)?
3. Which meme/gif did you use most frequently this year?
4. Which movie that came out this year would you be most embarrassed to watch with your family?
5. Which professional sports team were you most excited about this year?
6. Which presidential candidate would you vote for?
7. If you were in charge of planning a concert for the school, which three artists would you bring?

1. What’s your favorite Snapchat/Instagram filter?
2. Most social media savvy teacher?
3. How can teachers make social media part of their curricula?
4. If you could only use one emoji for the rest of high school, which would you choose? (Be sure to check these for appropriateness.) 
5. Do you have your own website? How did you make it? What do you use it for?
6. Which piece of technology has most contributed to your academic success?
7. What was the most “viral” event of the school year?
8. How would you recommend the school use its technology budget? What kinds of devices or software would you like to see available next year?
9. Would you be more likely to read or contribute to the school newspaper if it was digital?
10. What’s your favorite podcast? Is there any way teachers could incorporate it into their classrooms?

1. If you applied, when did you start your college applications?
2. What made you decide not to go to college next year?
3. Describe your senior year in three words.
4. If you could create one mandatory course for future seniors, what would it be?
5. “I will always remember…”
6. Should there be a community service components involved in graduation (X number of hours, a project, etc.)?
7. Who was your favorite teacher throughout all of high school?
8. If you could change one school rule, what would it be?
9. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

The easiest way to hook your reader is to use a yearbook writing technique that’s used by the pros: Put the most important stuff first.

You and your yearbook team have limited time to capture a reader’s attention—and, perhaps more importantly, limited space to tell your story—so you should be focused on hitting them with the big stuff right out of the gate.

In journalism, this writing technique is known as the inverted pyramid. In military and government briefs, it’s known as BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front).

Because the yearbook is journalistic in nature, we’ll be sticking with the term “inverted pyramid” throughout this post. But know this: Whatever you call it, the technique is an effective means of communication. And it’s one your team can use when looking to improve its yearbook writing.

Inside this post, we’ll walk you through what the inverted pyramid looks like and how you can break it down into manageable chunks.

What The Inverted Pyramid Looks Like

When it comes right down to it, the organization of your yearbook writing should look like this:

That’s an inverted pyramid.

It’s a three-tiered writing diagram that forces the most important stuff to the very top and the remainder of the story’s details into the two remaining tiers.

How to Use The Inverted Pyramid in Your Yearbook Writing

This approach to yearbook writing might sound obvious (or maybe even boring), but plenty of student journalists will try to tell a story in chronological order. Help them avoid that by showing them this diagram.

Put The Most Important Stuff First

Your opening lines, or the lead, as it’s often known, should immediately state what’s special about the article. What was different about the event this year as opposed to last year? What makes this story noteworthy?

The lead should cover most of the five Ws: Who, What, When, Where and Why. These elements provide the biggest, most important pieces of information, and should be introduced early in your article.

The more interesting the news, the more reader will want the details. You’re not writing a mystery novel, so don’t try to tease your audience with page-turning suspense. You’ve got a limited time to capture their attention, so hit them with the big stuff right out of the gate.

Put The Next-Most Important Stuff Second

Now that the reader is invested in the story, this is a great space to share more about the event or achievement, and the students that were involved.

After reading the headline and the lead, readers will get the basics of what happened. The middle section is your opportunity to tell more of a story. You can also expand a bit more on the how.

You can do this in a few ways, but some of the most proven tactics include:

• Relying on first-hand accounts. Relying on interviews with students and participants can help you paint a picture of what an event felt like to those who experienced it. Quotes, in particular, can help evoke emotion, which is a strong way to keep readers engaged.
• Including background details. If you can continue to build on your 5 Ws, all the better. Background details, like the time left on the clock when the basketball team scored the championship-winning basket or the number of hours it took the stagehands to build the set for the school play, helps propel a story along and give the reader a deeper understanding of what happened and why you’re writing about it.
• Using pull-quotes. Really great quotes can do more than just evoke emotion. They can also be used to break up text and add some design elements to your page or spread. Think of a pull-quote as another entry point for the reader.

Just as in the overall structure of the inverted pyramid, the middle section should begin with the most important details, and cascade down to the less essential stuff.  There aren’t clear breaks between beginning, middle, and end sections, so you don’t have to worry about where one section ends and the next begins.

Put The Least-Most Important Stuff Last

If you’ve really captured your reader’s attention, they’re going to be hungry for every little bit of information they can get. (You know the binge TV watcher who seeks out fan forums online? Or the Belieber who knows lyrics to the songs that didn’t make Justin Bieber’s album? That’s the type of reader who stays until the end.)

The more you can attract an audience with the big hits, the more you can interest them in the details.

Details that would otherwise be left out belong at the end. They might be interesting, but if you need to cut them for space, it’s no big deal. Of course, you’ll want to leave the readers satisfied, so if you can finish with any kind of pithy or clever line, that will make them more likely to read your next article from start to finish. A retrospective or forward-looking quote from a student is also a nice way to draw each piece to a close.

Chances are your pages won’t be filled with text, but you’ll want to share what you’ve got in a way that makes sense. If you follow this simple formula, you’ll not only be able to highlight the year’s most memorable moments, you’ll also develop a clear and valuable method of yearbook writing from top to bottom—and that’s the point.

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• “Headers & Footers”

Wrestling

This yearbook page shows several headlines that work well for a wrestling spread. A number of bold headlines make a statement while still bringing the main headline “Pin and Win: Every Move Matters” to the reader’s immediate focus.  The other titles maximize rhymes and take advantage of sports lingo: “Hustle and Tustle” and “Pin and Win” both rhyme and make references to wrestling jargon.

Here are some other fun slogans you can use for your school’s wrestling spread:

• “No Pain. No Gain”
• “Ready to Rumble”
• “Rock Solid”
• “Pin It to Win It”
• “Out on Top”
• “Toughest Six Minutes There Is”
• “Grapple Up”

Swimming

In this yearbook layout, “Staying Afloat Through Changing Times” is an engaging headline that both cleverly references swimming and makes the reader curious to know what changes have happened. The “Press Play” headline complements the film roll aesthetic of the photos next to it.

For more swimming spread-related slogans, check out some of our headline ideas:

• “Instant Athlete: Just Add Water”
• “[Your Team Name] Made Waves”
• “Sink Or Swim”
• “Life In The Fast Lane”
• “[Your Team Name] Made A Splash”
• “Dive Deeper”
• “Testing The Waters”

If you want to get your readers paying more attention to your main story, dig into your theme, your school’s culture, and sports terms to find ways to add a dose of clever to your winter sports spreads. It’ll help you steal a smile from your reader or unify your theme across multiple pages. In short, it’s worth the creative effort.

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