Yearbook curriculum
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National School Yearbook Week 2025: ideas to celebrate
With Proclamation 5703, former President Ronald Reagan made yearbooks even more celebration-worthy by setting apart the first week of October for “appropriate ceremonies and activities” to recognize the creators and the power of a yearbook program. Treering intends to do just that during National School Yearbook Week, October 6-10, 2025.
Yearbook Confidential: your briefing
Yearbook creators will have declassified access to live training, photo contests, and giveaways. (If you’re super in love with the vibe, check out the Top Secret theme that just dropped for your yearbook.)
Yearbook contests
There are six ways to win: one week-long yearbook Bingo game and five daily Facebook giveaways.
Monday, October 6
Bingo begins. Download your unique bingo card and play along. We’ll “call” words via Meta stories (see them on Facebook and Instagram). The first verified Bingo winner will receive a Canon EOS Rebel T7 DSLR camera with an 18-55mm lens. Get the full Bingo rules here.
Additionally, yearbook creators can share their favorite fall photo to our “Operation Autumn Aesthetic” Facebook photo contest. The strongest storytelling photo will win a $50 gift card.
Tuesday, October 7
Share your insider ideas for photo organization on our daily Facebook giveaway post. HQ (aka Treering’s marketing department) will reward one adviser at random with a $50 gift card.
Meta stories for our week-long Bingo game will continue.
Wednesday, October 8
Another $50 gift card is up for grabs. We want to see your yearbook squad. The most creative team photo wins the daily Facebook post challenge.
If a verified Bingo winner has not come forward, we will increase the calls.
Thursday, October 9
Share your yearbook space, class, or desk on our daily Facebook post for the chance to win. The type-A, TikTok-inspired, and completely unhinged–we want to see them all.
Friday, October 10
Close National School Yearbook Week 2025 with your best sales tips or ideas for a chance to score a $50 gift card on our Facebook post.
Live training
Treering Live (TRL) is Treering’s flagship event. During National School Yearbook Week, TRL will have all the design training, coveted prizes, and organization inspiration that yearbook advisers have come to expect.
What to expect at Treering Live: not-so-top-secret training
With your free registration, Treering Live: Yearbook Confidential features 19 sessions over two days. The programming spans from adviser basics to an interactive photography session. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to join HQ for intel, ideas, and a little undercover fun.
The schedule, like Treering, is fully customizable.
Tuesday Sessions
1:00 pm PT: Opening session
1:10 pm PT: Session 1 - choose one session to attend
- Top 10 questions new advisers ask
- Yearbook design trends
- Teaching yearbook: curriculum overview
1:50 pm PT: Session 2 - choose one breakout session to attend
- Live demo: portraits
- Adviser roundtable
2:30 pm PT: Session 3 - choose one breakout session to attend
- Photo tips
- Live demo: yearbook style guides
- Getting more students in the book
3:10 pm PT: Session 4 - choose one breakout session to attend
- Anatomy of a yearbook
- Teaching yearbook: theme
3:45 pm PT: Closing session
Wednesday Sessions
1:00 pm PT: Opening session
1:10 pm PT: Session 1 - choose one breakout session to attend
- Building your team: yearbook jobs and recruitment
- Treering design tools
- Photo journalism (interactive session)
1:50 pm PT: Session 2 - choose one breakout session to attend
- Yearbook mistakes to avoid
- Live demo: upgrading portrait pages
2:30 pm PT: Session 3 - choose one breakout session to attend
- Top 10 questions parents ask
- Live demo: from good to great
3:10 pm PT: Session 4 - choose one breakout session to attend
- Live demo: page templates
- Teaching yearbook: writing
3:45 pm PT: Closing session
All sessions will be available on the Yearbook Club Replay, so you can re-watch those a-ha moments and catch any sessions you missed through May 2026.
Mission parameters: Bingo rules and FAQs
The National School Yearbook Week 2025 Bingo winner must be 18 or older and a Primary Chief Editor or Chief Editor at a US Treering school for the 2025-2026 school year. No purchase is necessary to participate.
By participating, you approve Treering to use your name, write-up, and school name for any marketing purposes, including but not limited to treering.com, social media, and mass media.
1. How do I get my Bingo card?
On Monday, October 6, each player will receive an email to download a card. Each one is a unique card with a number. Save your card—you’ll need it to claim a win.
2. How will clues be called?
A third-party Bingo randomizer will randomly select words, which will be announced via Meta stories (Facebook and Instagram) and in the Zoom Events lobby during Treering Live.
3. How do I mark my card?
Print your card or track digitally. Mark off words as they are called.
4. What counts as a Bingo?
We are playing classic Bingo: a straight line of five words (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal).
5. How do I claim a win?
Email marketing@treering.com immediately with your name, Treering school, and card number. The first valid email received is the winner.
6. What happens after I email my win?
We’ll verify your card against our called words. The first valid email received is the winner.
7. Can more than one person win?
No, only the first verified winner counts.
8. What if I lose my card?
No problem, just download your card again. You may have missed some words; jump on our socials to get caught up.
9. How many rounds will we play?
There will be one round of Bingo from October 6-10, 2025.
10. What are the prizes?
The winner will receive a Canon EOS Rebel T7 DSLR camera with an 18-55mm lens. Treering will ship the camera directly to the school address associated with the winner’s Treering account.
11. Do I have to shout, “Bingo?”
We aren’t going to stand in your way if you want to do the Bingo Boogie. Just remember to be the first to send an email marketing@treering.com with your name, Treering school, and card number to claim the prize.
12. Can I play if I join late?
Yes! All of the words announced via Meta stories will remain for 24 hours. You’ll just start marking from the current clue onward.
13. I’m a content creator. How can I share what I’m doing for National School Yearbook Week on social media?
Tag Treering Yearbooks (@treering on Facebook, @treeringcorp on Instagram and TikTok) and use the hashtags #NationalSchoolYearbookWeek, #NationalYearbookWeek, #YearbookWeek, #YearbookBingo
Social Contest Rules
The National School Yearbook Week 2025 photo contest winners must be 18 or older and a member of a Treering school for the 2025-2026 school year. No purchase is necessary to participate.
Valid posts must include an original photo. No AI images allowed. By participating, you have verified the approval of others pictured, and you approve Treering to use your name, write-up, and school name for any marketing purposes, including but not limited to showcasing on www.treering.com, sharing on social media, and sharing with media.
The photo criteria will be based on its creativity, relevant emotional impact (humor is more than acceptable), and overall aesthetic appeal.
If you have any questions, contact us at marketing@treering.com.
Nearly 30 years later, National School Yearbook Week remains a time to reminisce and a time to look forward, hopefully with a few wins for you and your yearbook program.
Yearbook class: what to teach the first six weeks
You thought yearbook class was just putting pictures on pages. Then a roster arrived. Then the expectations to meet state and national standards for ELA, CTE, and 21st Century Learning. Cue migraine.
The yearbook heroes at Treering know the difficulties new advisers face (shameless plug: that’s why we’ve created a contract-free, flexible yearbook solution) and we’ve created six weeks-worth of material for your yearbook class.
If it’s your first year advising, select one or two areas on which to focus. As your program develops, deepen those areas and add a new growth target.
For example, year one, you may want to focus on theme development and photography. Year two, expand those areas and add storytelling captions. Year three, further develop your writers with feature stories. Repeat after me, “I won’t do it all! I won’t do it all!”
Week 1 goal: build a mission-centered yearbook staff
Teambuilding
Every day, do something to help your team grow in familiarity with one another. Start with something simple, such as Birthday Lineup followed by some cake. To reinforce all the new names, Hero-Shambo is a raucous way to inspire team spirit while putting names to the faces.
Spend some time understanding personalities as well. Free online tests can provide discussion start points. Debrief either by grouping students who scored similarly and have them discuss what resonated with them and potential misconceptions. Groups could even create a poster or mood board reflecting their strengths.
Theme development
As your year, and your book, should be focused on telling the story, theme development is top priority. Start with a SWOT analysis. Then list all the changes, new initiatives, and differences that make this school year stand out from the last five. Are you doing a building project? Did you add an international program? Is there new leadership? Did you merge with another school? Is this the first senior class that’s gone all the way through from kindergarten?
How can you convey this story this year?
Many times, our students come up with a catch phrase and want it to dictate the content. Your story—whether you have a visually strong, photographic book, or a journalistic yearbook full of features—should lead your look. Our Yearbook Theme Curriculum Module can help.
Photography
There are five beginning photo exercises in Treering's blog. Spend some time getting to know your team's cameras before jumping in. This may also be time to involve the editorial staff: assign an exercise for each to learn and facilitate.
Reporting
Start asking your yearbook students a question of the day. (If you have a large class, you may want to poll 3-5 students each period for time.) Before the next class, your yearbook students should ask that same question to three other students (no repeats). If you have 12 yearbook students, that’s 36 student quotes you can include in a sidebar each day, 180 each week! Use a Google form to input responses and track respondents. This not only increases coverage possibilities, but it warms up your student body to be pursued and peppered by your yearbook students!
Week 2 goal: set and slay yearbook goals
Photography and design
Begin the week with a photo scavenger hunt. Use the results to introduce your procedures for file naming conventions, uploading, and tagging. Model how to design a spread with their snaps.
Introduce yearbook vocabulary then grab some magazines to play a grown-up version of show and tell. Reward students who can find eyelines, ledes, and serif vs. san serifs fonts!
Further demonstrate the principles of design and get in your yearbook software to recreate some of the layouts you loved in the magazines. You should be in your design application 2/3 of the week so your staff gets comfortable.
Teambuilding
Since focus this week is on goal-setting, use communication games such as Blind Polygon or adapt Minefield for your classroom. In both scenarios, identify the goal and evaluate what worked and what didn’t when you are finished.
Revisit the personality profiles from week one—what effect did they have on students’ problem-solving and communication?
Theme development
It’s also time to revisit your SWOT and story-of-the-year brainstorm. Think of your senses: how does it feel, sound, smell, and look? (Don't worry, we're not going to encourage tasting your yearbook!)
Determine tangible ways to convey the story of your year. In the Design Module, we talk about color and fonts. Both are two key visuals to harness the essence of your theme.
For example, If your yearbook theme is Move Mountains, you are going to want to use colors and fonts that are bold, signifying strength.
Reporting
Continue your question of the week, and evaluate the process. Where are students struggling?
If fear is a hindrance, watch Jia Jiang: What I learned from 100 days of rejection. If it’s procrastination, watch Tim Urban: Inside the mind of a master procrastinator. In your debrief, develop concrete strategies such as a few scripted lines or a schedule.
Marketing
Make it a point to consistently market your book and your program. It's possible to plant proverbial seeds for next year's staff in September!
Week 3 goal: build your team’s toolbox
Teambuilding
Begin holding weekly staff meetings. In these meetings, discuss event and photo assignments for the week, when your next deadline is, and have every staff member give a 15-second update of their work. A simple, “Here’s what I’m doing, and here’s what I need to do” will keep it focused. You're building a culture of accountability.
Editors can also lead the meeting by using the first 15 minutes of class to develop a skill: photographing in classrooms with fluorescent lights, sharpening images in Photoshop, cropping images, etc.
Reporting
Evaluate the question of the day. Have students put last week's action plan into play? What percentage of the student body has been asked? Discuss with your staff where you will begin incorporating these quotes and what questions you can ask to tie-in with your yearbook theme.
Start a word graveyard: on a prominent bulletin board, list “dead” words and phrases. Have a reason why you’re dumping one: for example, many athletes will say their team is a “family” as will ASB, the dance company, the math department, etc. Teach interview skills to develop this: what drives your bond? Tell me a way a teammate was dependable. What traditions do you have that make you like a family? Get the story.
Design
Develop your style guide and decide which elements (e.g. bleed, color overlays) will enhance the story you are telling this year. Your editorial staff should begin building templates in your design software. By the end of the third week, your entire team should be comfortable doing basic tasks in your design platform.
Week 4 goal: progress!
Teambuilding
Using comics or stock photos, create Comic Creations. Then, with a partner, students should list three questions they could have asked to get the quote. Use your word graveyard and our Five Common Topics as needed to build stronger questions.
Teach the expanded caption using the Comic Creations quotes. You may want to first show NSPA’s Terrible Leads as a non-example before modeling your own yearbook gold.
Theme development and design
Evaluate your style guide and templates using NSPA’s design checklist; adjust as necessary. This is a good time to pause and remember our mantra: “I won’t do it all! I won’t do it all!”
Use an idiom dictionary to create spin-offs for your theme. Let’s return to our Move Mountains theme. For recurring modules, you could use:
Photography
By now, your students should be photographing class activities, school events, and sports practices and competitions regularly. Have your editorial team select some photos of the month to show on a projector. Discuss, as a group, what made the photographs standout in their composition and storytelling. Elicit advice from the photographer. Share top photos on social media with a call to action: “Want to see more? Buy a Yearbook!
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Social media serves a double purpose: market your program and your yearbook!
Marketing
Create a social media calendar and assign posts to students. Each post should be approved, in writing, by an editor and another student before going live. You may want to utilize a group messaging system or a shared document to track approval and content.
Week 5 goal: momentum
Teambuilding
Before this week’s staff meeting, ask an editor and a staff member to each select a Yearbook Hero to celebrate. Share the love on social.
Introduce peer evaluation by partnering two students, equipping them with a rubric, and asking them to evaluate a strong example of design. Because it’s “easy” to critique something weak, this forces students to understand why a layout works.
Allow students to sign up for one-on-one sessions with you, and possibly your editor in chief, during class where they can have undivided coaching.
Theme
During your next editorial meeting, ask the team to brainstorm theme-related
Photography, design, and reporting
After your weekly staff meetings, you should have a good idea of the the page statuses for the yearbook. Your team will continuously be in a cycle of photographing-reporting-designing. Monitor progress by continuing to set and track goals. Break up the monotony by adding in relevant skill-building lessons and—dare I say it—nothing. Sometimes, a study hall so your students can catch up is a great way to show you value their time and commitment to all things yearbook.
Week 6 goal: establish routine
Rest assured you created consistency and accountability with a weekly team meeting. Because of this, students know their weekly assignments such as social media posts and photo shoots. All of your yearbook team is trained on your software, and with peer editing, a safe dialogue and pre-disclosed standards will refine areas of growth. Is it perfect? No. Will it ever be? No. And that’s OK!
Remember your role: advise. Here's a checklist to help.
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Teaching yearbook: 11 resources to bookmark
We created a master list for practical, tested strategies that work in a real yearbook classroom. If you didn’t volunteer to take on yearbook class (we are few, but mighty), you either showed up late to the meeting, or you’re a new teacher. Then what? Traditional teacher prep programs trained us for classroom management and subject-specific pedagogy. Teaching yearbook is a hybrid of design, photography, marketing, and event planning. It’s a prep that requires skills from multiple careers, and most of us learn them as we go, under deadline pressure, and with a room full of students watching. Major aura points loading.
Professional development resources
A stronger you means a stronger program. Here are some resources to help you take a recess from yearbook stress.
Webinars
Tuesday “Lunch and Learn” sessions are twenty minutes of focus to equip you and your team throughout the year. Just pick your time zone, log in, and leave with something you can use today.
Thursday sessions are one-hour overviews to help you plan, design, and publish with purpose. These synchronous training series start with the same line, “Hi, we’re Cassie and Erika, and we are here to join your yearbook team.”
They mean it.
Dealing with complaints
Two customer care experts, Treering’s Abby Oxendine and Chris Frost, a former Disney guest services agent, shared their proactive approach to working with teachers, parents, and students with yearbook complaints.
- Listen to the complaint
- Ask for specific details
- Offer a solution
- Follow up, follow up, follow up
Adviser burnout
We’d rather you have this one and not need it.
Some preventative burnout measures include workflow adjustments, such as
- Reusing layouts from previous years as templates
- Creating repeatable workflows, such as setting up photo and text styles
- Taking advantage of built-in design automations, such as portrait autoflow
If you’re already there and need a yearbook mindshift, build gratitude and celebration into your program… then call your publisher!
Planning resources for yearbook
Start the year with a clear plan so you run the yearbook, not the other way around.
Job descriptions
Clear expectations help guide student and volunteer yearbook teams. When the proverbial ball gets dropped, it’s easy to point the finger; being proactive with your yearbook team early in the school year will improve your workflow. It will develop ownership. It will reveal leaders.
Staff manual template
Another way to develop proactive communication is through a staff manual. A yearbook staff manual outlines policies and procedures for class time and crisis time. It includes how you will handle:
- Confidentiality
- Photos
- Superlatives and senior quotes
- Journalistic integrity
- Grading
- Style guide
- Content approval
- Equipment
- Complaints and refunds
Agenda slides for yearbook class
Agenda slides provide accountability for your yearbook team. They can be project-based or have a time-management focus. Either way, you should include these five things on your agenda slide:
- Date and class information
- Learning objectives or goals for the day's lesson
- Class agenda
- Deliverables
- Announcements and reminders
Grading checklists
Use checklists to help students prep for submission and grading.
Younger students and emerging designers use checklists to have a structured framework, to help them remember the essential elements of a spread. Returning yearbook students use checklists as a tool for quality control and peer review.
The checklist becomes an educational resource in itself. As students engage with it, they absorb design principles and develop a keen eye for what works in terms of design and theme development.
Instructional resources to build out your curriculum
Give students the tools, skills, and confidence to create their best work without you having to reinvent the wheel.
Free yearbook curriculum
When you have classroom teachers create the curriculum and classroom teachers vet the curriculum, it’s A+ material. The eight modules each include five days of instruction:
- Daily learning target
- Bell ringer
- Interactive lesson with guided student practice
- Exit ticket
Clubs with limited instructional time can scale using the first day’s lesson from each module. These standalone lessons are designed to give yearbook club sponsors the foundation for teambuilding, theme, design, writing, photography, marketing, and proofing.
5 Photo mini lessons
Mini means focused. (No pun intended.) Each of the five lessons works on one area of photojournalism to help students capture action and reaction. These lessons include ideas to strengthen students’ understanding of
- Rule of thirds
- Photo angles
- Cell phone photography
- Depth of field
The final lesson is a cumulative assessment in the form of photography bingo.
Bell ringers
Start each meeting or class period with the yearbook top of mind by using one of the 60 curated bell ringers. Focusing on design, photography, theme, and yearbook critiques, these five-minute warm-ups provide a launch point for instruction, work sessions, or discussion.
Proofing tools
Last on the list, but not last priority, proofing your yearbook should be accomplished weekly and monthly plus a cumulative review. Treering's proofing tools include 99 PDF proofs plus a complete copy of your printed book (workd in progress welcome).
When including proofing in your teaching routine, yearbook advisers may want to involve campus personnel outside of the yearbook team: the school secretary, PTO/PTA leaders, and maybe an English teacher.
While teaching yearbook may not have come with a roadmap, you don’t have to figure it out alone. Using professional development resources, planning tools, and instructional, you can create a structure that makes the work manageable and meaningful for you and your students. Choose one of the above to put into practice this week, and use it as the starting point for building a program that grows stronger each school year.
A yearbook curriculum you'll love teaching
New for the 2025-2026 school year, Treering’s free yearbook curriculum has expanded. From a new adviser handbook to 40 standalone lessons, you can take a recess from yearbook planning stress and put effort into yearbook production.
What’s new?
Teachers updated Treering’s previous curriculum. Another group of teachers tested it. We can confidently say it is teacher-authored and teacher-approved.
Each of the eight student-facing modules has a pacing guide and instructional slides. The pacing guides give you an overview of each module’s five grab-and-go lessons, including teaching resources, should you choose to expand instructional time. If it’s your first time teaching yearbook, the pacing guide also breaks down terminology used and shows connections between lessons.
Each lesson also includes Google Slides with
- Learning target
- Bell ringer
- Interactive lesson with guided student practice
- Exit ticket
You do enough. However, Treering knows no two schools/classes/clubs are alike, so we made our free curriculum 100% editable.
Curriculum FAQs
What’s free?
Everything. Charging extra for resources and support isn’t our thing.
How can I use the curriculum if I only have a club?
The first lesson in each module is a standalone one designed to give you the foundation for teambuilding, theme, design, writing, photography, marketing, and proofing. We recommend club groups do these eight lessons throughout the year.
Is Treering’s curriculum only for new yearbook students?
No, it is for yearbook creators of all backgrounds.
If you have mixed abilities in your class, we suggest:
- Using leaders to teach the first lesson in each module
- Flipping instruction: ask students to go through the slides on their own and be prepared to do the practice session in class
- Use mentor pairs for hands-on activities
Do I have to use Treering to use your yearbook curriculum?
Some theme, design, marketing, and editing lessons involve Treering tools.
Get Treering’s free yearbook curriculum
Module 0: Adviser Handbook
This handbook also contains all your yearbook prep templates: a student application, syllabus, grading rubrics, and staff manuals. It’s formatted vertically for printing.
Access the Adviser Handbook
Module 1: Yearbook 101
Building a yearbook culture on campus starts with your club or class. Each lesson in Module 1 focuses on team building, establishing clear expectations, and how students can use their individual strengths to build a unified product. This module builds a foundation for the following seven.
Module 1 learning targets:
- Understand the yearbook advisor’s expectations and the class structure
- Locate key information in the syllabus related to grading, expectations, deadlines, and responsibilities.
- Reflect on their personal strengths and interests related to team roles
- Identify and define core yearbook design terms by analyzing real spreads.
- Write specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for the school year.
Access the Module 1 slides / Module 1 pacing guide
Module 2: Kicking off the Year(book)
Because yearbooks are part history book and part narrative, Module 2 helps students understand how and why the book they will create will stand the test of time. They will spend time creating a structure for their book and sharing their own stories through an “About Me” yearbook spread.
Module 2 learning targets
- Explain how yearbooks act as historical documents and cultural artifacts.
- Collaborate with peers to build a cohesive and well-organized ladder.
- Understand where and how to store content throughout the school year.
- Use yearbook vocabulary in context while giving and receiving peer feedback.
- Determine the central theme or message being communicated through advertisements.
Access the Module 2 slides / Module 2 pacing guide
Module 3: Theme
Theme is more than just a visual concept, and Module 3 will help you and your yearbook team create one that looks, sounds, and feels like the story of their year.
Module 3 learning targets
- Understand the purpose and components of a yearbook theme.
- Collaboratively brainstorm relevant and original theme ideas.
- Connect theme ideas to the student body and school year.
- Explore the tone, personality, and voice of themes in a creative way.
- Create a plan to apply the theme across content areas.
Access the Module 3 slides / Module 3 pacing guide
Module 4: Design
Building upon the theme developed in Module 3, Module 4 is all about bringing that theme to life and learning how to design yearbook pages that guide the reader on a visual journey. Intentional design is the core of this module.
Module 4 learning targets
- Identify the building blocks of design.
- Use Treering’s design tools to create a yearbook spread.
- Create a color palette to express the yearbook theme’s tone and personality.
- Explain the impact of font family, size, weight, and contrast in yearbook design.
- Create text styles to support the visual theme.
- Identify and apply principles of design hierarchy by organizing visual elements (text, images, and white space) on a yearbook spread to guide the reader’s attention effectively and create visual flow.
Access the Module 4 slides / Module 4 pacing guide
Module 5: Writing
Many times, students tell us they don’t want to add copy to the yearbook because “no one reads it.” Captions, stories, and pull quotes add to the visual story. These voices provide the context, insider information, and even names for your photos.
They are worthy of pursuit.
Module 5 learning targets:
- Identify the different forms of captions: ident, summary, and expanded.
- Examine photographs to identify key information to craft summary and expanded captions.
- Define the five common topics.
- Structure an interview.
- Synthesize and interview by writing body copy and captions.
Access the Module 5 slides / Module 5 pacing guide
Module 6: Photography
Transform an ordinary photo into an extraordinary visual story through hands-on activities and real-world applications. With your class, explore how angles and lighting and exposure settings can drastically alter a photo’s impact on a yearbook spread.
Module 6 learning targets:
- Identify the composition elements of a photo and evaluate.
- Photograph a subject using six angles.
- Compose an image using natural and artificial light sources.
- Recall the three parts of the exposure triangle and how they work together.
- Use Treering tools to present a photograph to its advantage in a layout.
Access the Module 6 slides / Module 6 pacing guide
Module 7: Marketing - in development
Learning targets:
- Identify the components of a marketing campaign.
- Identify, classify, and rank yearbook value props.
- Differentiate marketing messaging based on audience.
- Initiate community participation in yearbook creation.
- Plan milestone celebrations for reaching yearbook creation goals.
Module 8: Proofing - in development
Learning targets:
- Discuss and develop a consistent framework for all copy elements and community-submitted content.
- Review editing guidelines to help catch errors and maintain consistency by reviewing content early and often.
- Identify tools and methods to carefully proof both visual and written elements for accuracy and clarity.
- Use checklists and tools to ensure every page aligns with your yearbook’s design standards.
- Learn to use Treering’s editing tools to establish and maintain clean lines and a polished, professional look.
Teaching yearbook: 60 bell ringers
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?
- Teambuilding
- Bell Ringers to Teach Writing
- What’s Happening Here?
- Brainstorming Bell Ringers
- Use These Bell Ringers to Model a Yearbook Critique
- Writing Prompts for Reflection
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!)
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.
- “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.)
- “Time Capsule”: Describe five things you would put in a time capsule for yearbook students 10 years from now.
- “Do-Over”: What is one thing you wish you had done differently this year and why?
- “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!)
- “Self-Promotion”: What role does the yearbook play in fostering a sense of community and collective identity within the school? How are you contributing?
- “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?
- “Mind Shift”: Describe a class or subject that you initially didn’t enjoy but ended up loving and why your perspective changed.
- “Second Life”: What is something you are proud of accomplishing outside of academics this year?
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
- 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.
- 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.
- Choose a recent photo from your phone and write three possible ledes: one pun, one using your theme, and one three-word attention-grabber.
- Reflect on a nearly finished spread and revise at least one lede. Share how it improved the overall impact of your writing.
Feature stories
- 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.
- List potential angles, interview questions, and storytelling techniques you would employ for a personality profile for a student you do not know.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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.
- List the who, what, when, where, why, and how of this photo.
- List 10 or more verbs to describe the subject’s action or state of being in this photo.
- List 10 or more emotions to describe the subject’s action or state of being in this photo.
- Create a caption using only emojis.
- 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.
- 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.
- Design a unique “map” page showcasing the school campus and highlighting key locations, such as classrooms, the cafeteria, and outdoor spaces.
- Create a visual timeline of major school events throughout the year, using icons or symbols to represent each event.
- List 10 “hacks” that make school easier for you.
- Create a mini infographic showcasing interesting statistics or facts about an aspect of the school year.
- Design a series of icons or symbols to represent different academic subjects, extracurricular activities, clubs and organizations, and sports teams in the yearbook.
- Sketch a “Behind the Scenes” spread showcasing the yearbook team’s work so far.
- List teachers, labs, projects, field trips, and assignments that challenged you to think creatively or outside the box.
- [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.
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.
- [Display a spread] Sketch the layout and identify each component (e.g. gutter and caption).
- 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?
- [Display three spreads from your yearbook] Give five specific examples of how these spreads carry out our theme.
- Using an in-progress spread, give five examples of how your design connects to the remainder of the yearbook.
- [Display a spread] Sketch the layout. Identify the primary and secondary design elements and explain whether the hierarchy of information is clear.
- 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.”
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.
- If you could give one piece of advice to future students, what would it be and why?
- What is one thing you learned about yourself this year that you didn’t know before?
- Describe a moment when you felt proud of yourself and explain why it was significant to you.
- If you could choose one word to summarize your overall experience in this school, what would it be and why?
- Share a story about a time when you overcame a challenge or obstacle and what you learned from it.
- Describe a teacher or staff member with action words and explain how they influenced you.
- Share a funny or embarrassing moment that happened to you during the school year.
- Share a piece of advice you received from someone that changed your mind.
- If you could create a new school tradition, what would it be and why?
- Describe a time when you felt like you made a positive difference in someone else’s life.
- What is one thing you wish you had known as a freshman/sophomore/junior that you know now as a senior?
- Describe a moment when you felt like you truly belonged and were part of a community.
- If you could interview any historical figure, who would it be, and what five questions would you ask them?
- Share a piece of advice you would give to incoming freshmen and explain why you think it’s important.
- Reflect on a moment when you felt inspired or motivated by someone else’s actions or achievements.
- Share a quote or motto that has guided you throughout this school year and explain its significance to you.
- If you could go back and change one decision you made this year, what would it be and why?
- Describe a meaningful friendship.
- Reflect on a time when you had to step out of your comfort zone and how it contributed to your personal growth.
- What would you want to ask or know about your future self?
- 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.
Virtual PD: Camp Yearbook 2025
We always say we will get started on yearbook planning over the summer. Raise your hand if you follow through. (My hand is down too.) Camp Yearbook, Treering's two-day virtual yearbook planning course, is back. It's part large-group training, part small-group mentoring and idea sharing. And it's 100% live.
The goal: have the first six weeks of yearbooking planned.
What to Expect
Treering's Camp Yearbook is a cameras-on, all-in yearbook planning experience.
Event Structure
Both days are three hours of large-group training and smaller breakouts designed for you to get all your questions answered.
We'll provide the goal-setting worksheets, ladders, idea decks, and resources because we want you to finish Camp Yearbook with your first six weeks of yearbooking planned.
Based on your feedback, Camp Yearbook’s sessions are even more specialized:
- Getting Rooted: designed for yearbook creators with fewer than three years with Treering, this session is focused on time-saving tips, design basics, what to do in class, and all the must-know info to create and market your yearbook.
- Branching Out: for experienced advisers looking to level up their yearbook design or classroom pedagogy, this session is all about intermediate and advanced features such as creating styles, adding content to portrait pages, yearbook staff structure, and problem-solving.
Register via the Yearbook Club webinars page.
Treering Mentors
All attendees will be in a small group led by a Treering staff member who served—or currently serves—as a yearbook adviser. In groups specific to school style and yearbook team structure, you can ask questions about grading, crowdsourcing, club structure, page count, and whatever else you need answered. (Your camp counselors aren't Treering life coaches, but close.)
Grow Together
Breakout groups for parent volunteers, solo yearbook coordinators, educators, and club leaders mean you get meaningful support and specific-to-you resources.
Camp Yearbook 2025 FAQs
Your questions deserve answers!
How is Camp Yearbook different from Treering Live (TRL)?
TRL is Treering’s flagship event. During National Yearbook Week, TRL will have all the design training, coveted prizes, and organization inspiration yearbook advisers have come to expect. We look forward to it as much as you do!
Camp Yearbook is a summer PD program for yearbook coordinators and advisers who want to get more from their program through professional mentoring and collaborative idea-sharing. It’s a cameras-on, all-in yearbook planning experience.
How do I know which session to attend?
Camp Yearbook is structured differently this year: based on your feedback, we have the yearbook overview to support newer advisers and a second session to challenge the veterans.
BOTH have sneak peeks, specialized group training, and breakouts with Treering mentors.
What do I need to prepare for Camp Yearbook?
Make sure Zoom is up-to-date. This helps with breakout sessions and sound quality.
If possible, have previous copies of your yearbook and the 25-26 school calendar.
How much is it?
Free ninety free. Charging extra for support and training is not our thing.
Will I get CE/PD hours for attending?
Yes! Upon request, attendees will receive a certificate for six hours of yearbook production and classroom planning.
Can students attend?
Nope. Consider this a break… a working break.
Will Camp Yearbook be recorded?
Camp Yearbook is an interactive, experiential event. Recordings will not be made public.
The 5 game-changing blog posts you’ve (somehow) been missing
You might be missing these favorite yearbook ideas. If any part of your yearbook process feels stuck, scattered, or stale, one of these posts is probably the solution you didn’t know you needed. Read them. Share them. Build them into your curriculum or club routine and watch your yearbook program transform.
1. Easy +1: a guide to leveling up your yearbook
This comprehensive guide outlines five key ways to elevate your yearbook beyond collage pages. It provides practical steps to add something new to next year’s book: a focus on storytelling, expanded coverage, better photography, or modular design.
Use the five focus areas to create
- Rotating workshop stations early in the year to build foundational skills.
- A self-assessment rubric for your team.
- A “Level Up” day where each leader identifies one area to improve in their section.
2. How to choose a yearbook theme
This piece walks you through the theme process without relying on chaotic verbal brainstorms. (Some yearbook creators even find its anti-brainstorming angle a little divisive. And we liked it.) It provides teaching support to non-designers and new advisers with practical, flexible guidance.
It includes prompts, real-world examples, and tips for involving students at all grade levels.
3. 10 people to thank
Yearbook creation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. This gratitude-focused post highlights the unsung yearbook heroes, including the front office staff, IT teams, principals, coaches, and more. Yearbooks are a high-stress, deadline-driven project; injecting gratitude is a reminder that the yearbook extends beyond your class or club.
Make gratitude part of your yearbook culture:
- Include a recurring “Who Helped You This Week?” check-in during staff meetings.
- In the yearbook, you can include a “Behind the Book” thank-you spread.
4. Adviser advice: keep, change, stop
One of the few tools that seamlessly transferred from student teaching to the newsroom is “Keep, Change, Stop,” a structured reflection tool. It helps teams evaluate the yearbook process with three simple prompts: what to keep, what to change, and what to stop doing. (Clever name, eh?)
It’s an adaptable debrief for editors, staff, and advisers alike.
In this blog post, four yearbook advisers share their POV. Based on their real-life examples, we have a framework to drop what’s not working and preserve beneficial habits each school year.
Doing this exercise with middle and high school yearbook creators encourages student voice and leadership in shaping the next year’s book. “Keep, Change, Stop” promotes a healthy, intentional yearbook culture.
5. Yearbook debriefing: a summer reflection
This five-minute read outlines a strategic, low-stress way to reflect on the yearbook process over the summer. It offers questions and prompts to help advisers and returning staff capture what worked and what needs to shift before the next yearbook creation cycle begins.
This post helps you process what happened while it’s still fresh, and with a little distance.
To use it now, assign editors a summer reflection form based on the post’s questions and use their input to build your back-to-school agenda.
We all want our yearbooks to stand out, and sometimes the best yearbook ideas (wink, wink) are hiding in plain sight. We hope these five blog posts deliver the clarity, creativity, and strategy you and your staff need.
10 Ways to relieve adviser burnout
It’s second semester, and we’re exhausted. Book fairs, grading, packing lunches, classroom celebrations, and family obligations are fantastic. We love them. They also wear us out. Layer the laudable task of gathering storytelling photos and husting the greatest yearbook your campus has yet to see, and it could be too much. If you're a team of one or two (or forty-two), yearbook adviser burnout is an especially strong possibility.
Treering staff member and yearbook mom Tevis D. said, “It’s okay to be not okay.” We just hope you don’t remain that way.
Remember your why
It’s a privilege to be entrusted with this task! It’s the opportunity to capture meaningful moments. The impact this year’s book will have cannot be measured now. It's not just about the visual elements, but also about the sounds of laughter captured in photos, the feel of the pages as you flip through them, the scent of freshly printed paper, and the breath of satisfaction as you see the finished product.
1. Express appreciation
Recognize and appreciate the efforts of your volunteers and the people on campus who champion your yearbook program. We know gratitude changes attitudes. It’s a great way to rejuvenate.
2. Recognize yearbook milestones
Celebrate throughout the yearbook production process to boost morale and maintain momentum. Upload your roster and toast yourself with a latte. Create a ladder with the team, then go out for pizza. Other steps to consider:
- Every x spreads marked complete
- Selling 25-50-100 yearbooks
- Having all the sports team photos complete by a certain date
Sometimes, a celebration can be as simple as a hat day or a classroom dance party. (Even high schoolers like a throwback GoNoodle video.)
3. Practice mindfulness
Incorporate mindfulness exercises into your routine to reduce stress, increase focus, and maintain a sense of perspective and balance. Schedule regular breaks during yearbook production to rest, recharge, and prevent burnout.
Ask for help… and get It!
If you’re creating the yearbook solo (or just feel like it), help is available.
4. Use your publisher
Treering Customer Success Manager Liz T. tells advisers, “If it is stressing you out—and yearbook related—contact me.”
If you’re not a Treering editor, what are you waiting for? call your publisher and tell them you are at a standstill. They should have resources and training to help you move forward and create a workflow to simplify your process.
Newer to the yearbook game, you may not yet know what you don’t know, so it helps to follow a plan. Here are two popular ways to tackle a yearbook project:
5. Create a support network
Reach out to fellow advisers in your district, journalism mentors, or your publisher for guidance, advice, and support. Bring in experts as guest speakers to do some teaching for you: utilize your area journalists, alumni yearbook students, or even the Team Treering.
Strengthen your workflow
You can release stress from your mind by systematically addressing and resolving challenges in your yearbook project. It's about taking a methodical approach to problem-solving, allowing yourself to let go of stress, and approaching each task with renewed focus and energy. Remember: you don’t have to do it all at once!
6. Chunk your work
Breaking it down is more than a call to action on the dance floor: it’s a project management technique.
Here are some tips from the Treering staff:
Yearbook Specialist Karen B. said, “I like to stay on top of my pics and layouts: right after the event, I create the spread. This way, I'm never buried in spreads from October when it's January. And on slow event months, I catch up on other spreads.”
Yearbook Specialist Ali J. gives herself a cushion with her public deadline (yearbook purchases and custom pages). “As an elementary school advisor, I always set the deadline earlier than needed for parents to submit, then added a few days for the procrastinators (mostly for me),” she said.
The lone yearbooker
Identify and prioritize the most important tasks, focusing on those that contribute most significantly to the yearbook's quality. Typically, this encompasses your ladder, school portraits, and candid photos.
Some easy ways to simplify your workflow from Yearbook Specialist Kate H. include:
- Re-using layouts from previous years and changing out the headlines and captions
- Copy portrait settings from one class to the next
- Create photo and text styles
- Use pre-made page designs or templates
“One of the hardest things for editors to do is get content. Without it, you don’t have a book,” said Customer Success Manager Jason S. He helps advisers set up a system to collect photos from homeroom teachers.
Remember, saying no to additional responsibilities or requests that may overwhelm you is OK.
Managing a class or club
After you break down the yearbook project into smaller tasks, distribute them to your team. This way, there are no surprises on who is expected to cover what.
General tasks to delegate include:
- Photo management: uploading, crowdsourcing, tagging, selection
- Layout selection: templates, style guide
- Interviews: questions, scheduling
- Sections: people, athletics, student life, reference
- Copy editing and proofreading
7. Set clear expectations
We all need to clearly communicate roles, responsibilities, and expectations to volunteers, staff, and students from the beginning. The same goes for ourselves.
Think about the tasks you'll need to oversee, such as organizing photo assignments, designing layouts, and marketing the yearbook. (And remember, using Treering means we handle payment processing, yearbook sorting, and order tracking. Phew!)
8. Receive (and share) ongoing training
Find training sessions and shareable resources for inspiration or to fill in knowledge gaps. It may seem counterintuitive to add something when you’re feeling overwhelmed. Sometimes, an outside force (hello, inertia) is the change we need to pivot in a more positive direction. Our go-tos include:
If you are part of a class, club, or committee, use these opportunities to up your skillset as team building. Oreos also help.
9. Use automations
Embrace the ways tech can help increase efficiency. Treering’s software helps you create polished layout effortlessly by
- Auto-flowing portraits from any photographer
- Laying out your photos in a professionally design yearbook spread
We tossed the orange wax pencils and scaleograph for a reason!
10. Addition by subtraction
Sometimes, to move forward, we have to take a page from the Oregon Trail playbook: jettison what’s holding you back and keep moving forward.
These strategies can help you navigate the challenges of yearbook advising while staying motivated, resilient, and passionate about your role as a memory-maker and historical record preserver. Say no to adviser burnout and yes to another great year(book)!
Teaching yearbook: design inspiration from anywhere
Treering’s click, drag, drop, and done tools aren’t for every design team. In an age of visual search, Pinterest, and AI, we advisers are refining strategies for guiding students in visual theme development. For those who take a more hands-on approach, there are generally two blockers:
Where Do I Find Fresh Design Inspiration?
Look at the graphic design on visual media as a springboard for ideas, not as a rigid template to follow. These real-world examples can provide valuable insights into current trends, color palettes, typography, and overall composition.
Here’s how you do it with your yearbook class or club:
Two Real-World Examples and Applications
Look at the Mendocino Farms' website: its layout, color scheme, and font choices. In the video below, yearbook creator Liz Thompson shows how to recreate similar elements within the yearbook page in fewer than four minutes.
Through practical demonstration, Thompson translates real-world inspiration into tangible yearbook designs.
Our second example features a magazine layout. White space, typography, and image placement could easily be adapted for a yearbook page.
Notice how Thompson uses the design's overall flow and visual hierarchy to draw the viewer's eye to specific areas of the page.
Treering-Specific Tricks
Bringing outside inspiration into your yearbook doesn’t have to be a manual process. Treering engineers incorporated tools to simplify the DIY design process. Our top three include:
Using the Color Picker Eyedropper
Extract colors from an image and apply them to the yearbook design. This technique allows for a more cohesive and visually appealing color palette.
Create and Apply Text Styles
Adjust font sizes, line spacing, and text alignment, then save it as a headline, subheadline, accent—wherever you want to name it—a style you can apply with a click.
Add Editable Shapes
Incorporating various graphic elements—lines, boxes, and illustrations—can serve as an accent for emphasis or visual separation if you’re using modular design.
How to Use This at Your Next Yearbook Class or Club Meeting
As a group, watch the two instructional videos above. Follow Thompson's instructions to create a similar look.
Then, have students bring in an object with a design they enjoy. Discuss which principles of design are used. Pick one element you can re-create and add it to a yearbook spread. This can be a group or individual activity. The goal is to embrace a spirit of inspiration and collaboration as you breathe new life into your yearbook design.
This blog is adapted from Liz Thompson’s Design 201 session from TRL 24 POV: I’m on the Yearbook Team. Thompson, a former classroom teacher and yearbook adviser, serves on the Customer Success Team at Treering Yearbooks.
Teaching yearbook: 5 photography mini lessons
Improving yearbooking skill sets is an ongoing process, and we sometimes forgo instructional time as deadline season creeps in. Using these five mini-yearbook lessons, you'll be able to improve your photography skills with a DSLR, mirrorless, or cell phone camera while still having plenty of time for yearbook production.
Lesson 1: rule of thirds
Imagine your photo divided into a tic-tac-toe grid, with two horizontal and two vertical lines, creating nine parts. Instead of placing your subject dead center, try aligning them along these gridlines. The asymmetry adds interest to your composition.
Action should flow across your photo, not off it. The same goes for eyes: you want your subject looking in.
Try it!
Head out to the school courtyard and practice the rule of thirds with your classmates. Practice taking both vertical (portrait) and horizontal (landscape) portraits, ensuring your subjects are placed along the gridlines for a visually pleasing result.
Lesson 2: angles in composition
By experimenting with these angles, photographers convey different emotions, perspectives, and stories in their images.
While these photos have the same subject, the variety of angles tells a different moment in the story.
Practice each of these photo angles during your lessons.
- Eye level: This is most common because the photographer captures subjects at the same height as the camera.
- Worm’s eye view: This varies between dramatic and unflattering, so use with caution. By lowering the camera, the subject appears larger.
- Bird's eye view: A great view to use when students are collaborating on a project, this captures scenes from above.
- Close-up (Macro): Cameras and their phone counterparts usually have a setting to help focus on small details or subjects up close. This is great for art class or some science labs (not dissections) when you need to reveal intricate textures and patterns.
- Wide-angle: Oh, the 0.5 that is trending! A traditional wide-angle shot captures a broader view and exaggerates perspective.
- Over the shoulder: Sometimes, the story is in the work, not the student. (This also helps with camera-shy students.)
- Overhead angle: For flat lays (e.g., what’s in my backpack modules), shoot downward from an overhead position.
Try it!
Stage a student at work in the classroom. Taking turns, yearbook photographers should circle and move around the subject, snapping photos using the above angles. For more application, one student can “direct” the photoshoot, explaining which angle to practice and how to achieve it.
Lesson 3: cell phone photography
Cell phone cameras make yearbook photography more convenient for students–it’s a familiar and comfortable way to document the day. While DSLR and mirrorless cameras give more control over light, cell phones are lightweight and on your person nearly 24/7.
As with a traditional camera, you want to hold the phone steady with both hands, elbows in. This adds stability and reduces blur, especially in low-light situations.
Additionally, remember to zoom with your feet. My yearbook adviser gave me this photography lesson back in the 90s, and it still holds. This means photographers move to the subject and avoid a single, stationary vantage point. Ultimately, the composition and photo quality will be better.
By pinching and zooming, you reduce the pixels in the photo, thus destroying its quality. It’s better to zoom and crop once the photo is on your spread.
Try it!
Turn the grid on your phone cameras (Android, iPhone) and repeat the previous exercises on the rule of thirds and angles. Remember, the principles of photography are universal.
Yearbook PSA
With a camera in most teachers’ and parents’ pockets, you have an additional photography crew on campus. Creating shared photo folders and communicating how to get pics in them allows more stories and POVs to be told.
Lesson 4: depth of field (portrait mode)
Depth of field is a crucial aspect of photography, influenced by the aperture setting on a camera. The aperture is the physical opening in the lens that controls the amount of light entering the camera. The wider the aperture opens, the more light passes through.
Portrait mode on a cell phone mimics depth of field by using depth mapping, selective focus, and, sometimes, multiple lenses to create a shallow depth of field, similar to what is achieved with a wide aperture on a traditional camera. (Click here for the full technical read.)
Try it!
Using both a camera and a cell phone, take headshots of your yearbook staff. Try f/22, f/8, and f/1.4. Repeat, focusing on objects, such as a baseball or pointe shoes, in the hands of a student.
Lesson 5: assessment
Every unit needs a culminating activity. And since we love gamifying yearbook class, here is a photography Bingo card. You can use this in a few ways:
- Coverall: assign students the card to complete
- Traditional: make it a race to get five in a row
- Collaborative: as a group, work through the card; you may assign teams a row or column
- Minute-to-win-it: Give students a time limit (more than a minute) to achieve as many tasks as possible
What makes a great yearbook photo?
The short answer: storytelling photos.
A yearbook narrative of the entire school year. Candid moments, such as in-class discussions, reactions at a game or awards ceremony, or spontaneous interactions between friends, are emotive. While posed pictures have their place–the portrait section is full of them–action shots bring a sense of vitality and excitement to your yearbook.
By applying the composition tips above, your yearbook photography is already diversified. The variety of angles and depth of field alone will increase the visual appeal of each layout.
Taking multiple shots of your subject is a great way to ensure you get the best pose, reaction, and composite. Deleting unwanted images only takes seconds and not getting the most effective image in the first place is a missed opportunity that can’t be duplicated.
Additional photography resources for yearbook classes and clubs:
How to build a yearbook staff manual
If I could return to year one of advising, I’d draft a staff manual. Yearbooking (yes, it’s a verb) would have been much simpler. I’m not talking about contract negotiation so much as how to deal with sports editors who cannot get a ride to a game or reporters who only interview their friends. Or the “finished” spread with “Lorem ispum dolor” still filling the caption boxes. Or how to tell a senior parent you cannot legally publish a screenshot from a mall photographer’s online proof system. Phew.
Tenets of your program
A tenet is a doctrine you hold to be true. The first section of your staff manual should define your non-negotiables. These could be class culture and coverage goals. They could also include specific ways your yearbook program aligns with your school’s mission. Or, you could take a different approach and schedule workdays to create your book in chunks.
It’s your call. You determine what is valuable to your community. Here's what's in mine.
Coverage is a non-negotiable because our school claims to be a “People-first” learning community. If a student is excluded from the historical record of our campus, the yearbook team undermines the mission. That said, we’ve never had 3x coverage for 100% of the 423-person student body; on average, it’s 94-96%. And because Treering’s three-week turnaround allows us to add the students who transferred in through mid-April, hardly anyone is ever a zero.
Considerations for elementary schools
Middle and high schools use yearbook policies to govern student roles, responsibilities, procedures, and behavior; adult teams might need to establish guidelines for
If your group is parent-led, there may be turnover. These policies will help the next adviser.
Yearbook team policies
By taking time to craft some policies for your staff manual, you will also codify what your program looks like. For example, if you have a large class (or two) completing the yearbook, you will want to have procedures for group and editorial board communication, chain of command, and the like. A team of five will not.
For a smaller yearbook team, it helps to establish boundaries to prevent burnout. Use your policies to protect one another such as how you will prioritize coverage when you can’t be everywhere.
Parent groups, yearbook classes, and clubs of any size also need job descriptions (see the next section).
Organizing your staff manual
Try to keep this under five pages, including the rubrics and/or checklists. Admin needs to sign off on these. Physically. That signature will go a long way when a parent or student challenges you.
Here are ten policies to include in your yearbook staff manual:
1. Confidentiality
Use this section to outline what you keep quiet and what you share pre-distribution.
2. Photos
What guides the bulk of your content?
3. Obituary policy
This is the toughest policy to craft while grieving. I learned the hard way. A group text from the vice principal requested an emergency staff meeting before school. Two students died in an automobile accident. One was racing without a license. The other was walking home.
Momentarily putting aside the denial, anger, and bargaining, we had to decide how to honor two lives. Thus, the following became our policy:
If within press time, Warrior Yearbook will provide a ¼ page space with the following:
No additional information will be included. All student ads will feature a family-submitted photo and will have parent approval. Next of kin will provide the photo and approval for staff memorials.
Here are more examples of obituary policies.
4. Superlatives and senior quotes
These are two of the most controversial areas between your yearbook covers. Add relevant dates, submission guidelines, crowdsourcing avenues, etc., to your policies.
Part of your yearbook superlative policy should include:
Personal opinion: Instead of senior quotes that focus on one group on your campus, why don’t you improve your journalism by building expanded captions into your designs? This way, you have quotes on every page from every grade. Now that’s people first.
If senior quotes are a golden calf, craft a policy that outlines
- Character or word limits
- Requirements for originality
- Vetting process (yes, we will look up that timestamp)
5. Journalistic integrity
Use this section to define how you will legally license and attribute outside content, and the role of AI in your newsroom. (Chances are, your district already has a written policy you can cite.)
This is also a great spot to explain the characteristics of reporting: it’s free of editorializing, defamation, or discriminatory content. What safeguards will you include?
6. Grading
Yearbook is the hardest “easy A” my students ever earned. (Wait for it…) Because of that misconception, include spread checklists and grading rubrics in this section so there is no question come progress report time. This is also a great area to outline your workflow and deadline schedule.
7. Style guide
This section provides clear instructions on theme elements to ensure consistency across the yearbook. With these decisions made early on, your team can focus on what truly matters: content.
Many advisers stop there. I would push you to expand your yearbook style policy to include writing.
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8. Content approval process
Who approves layouts, photos, and written content, and what is the order of approval? If you have mini-deadlines for reviews and revision, include them here. Treering advisers, allow yourself time to order and review your printed proof.
There may be some overlap with your grading section, and that’s OK.
9. Camera/equipment checkout procedure
This section of your yearbook policy manual should clearly outline the rules and expectations for borrowing, using, and returning yearbook equipment. Here's what you might include:
Bottom line: this should complement your district policy on technology usage.
10. Complaint policy and refunds
Yearbook staff job descriptions
After a disastrous first year where everyone created their own editor title, an experienced adviser sat me down and said, “You need to spell it out.”
That nugget provided the missing piece to my yearbook classroom management.
If you’re a teacher, yearbook is another class. It requires scaffolding and instructional time. It’s also a business: you’re creating a project that requires financial resources. Use the job descriptions below to organize your team, create a chain of command, and align your grading expectations.
If you’re a parent volunteer working with other volunteers, use these job descriptions to provide role clarity for your team. (And if all else fails, we have a blog for that too.)
Use these as a framework to structure your team and responsibilities.
Admin approval
Close your staff manual with an acknowledgment page: your signature and your principal’s should appear on every printout. Students and their parents should also sign it. Keep an acknowledgment page for your records.
Using the "five common topics" for yearbook copy
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.)
Testimony: Add relevant quotes from participants or spectators to illustrate.
Relationship and Circumstance: Explain what factors led to the event and how it impacted the school community.
Testimony: End the story by adding additional quotes or data to add depth and credibility.
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.