Yearbook curriculum

Building a yearbook program relies on building traditions with your staff and school community. When we build school traditions, we create a culture and expectations while transmitting values. That doesn’t equate with inflexibility, rather it provides a guide within which we ebb and flow. While the greatest tradition is the yearbook itself (more on that in a second), here are six others to build a lasting program. 

An American institution since George K. Warren took photos of graduates in the late 19th century and sold them as prints to share, yearbooks are the definitive school tradition. What started off as a college-only record book now extends to elementary schools. 

This adviser has watched students from world history classes grab yearbooks from the idea library and scour copies from other schools while awaiting the bell to ring. With no connection to the students, these school desk critics compared how our programs—such as ASB, athletics, and the arts—matched up with theirs. They evaluated the theme, mainly the visual components, and gave me a three-minute critique. [Pats self on back for not laughing.]

1. Staff Traditions

Yearbook Wedding

Trending with middle and high school staffs, yearbooks weddings are a pre-production celebration where students pledge themselves to the task. 

1. The yearbook staff writes vows. This can be as simple as providing a positive atmosphere and completing assignments on time, or as specific as SMART goals for coverage and sales.
2. The adviser invites parents and stakeholders (admin, student leadsherhip, coaches, parent org leaders) to attend
3. At the ceremony, students recite their vows and receive a ring
4. Everyone eats cake

#Yerdsgiving

First of all, yerd means yearbook nerd and it’s polarizing: people loathe or love it. (For those of you playing along at home, I'm the former.) Regardless, #yerdsgiving is the annual gathering of journalism students over food before Thanksgiving break. Some students lead crafts or games, some practice the art of gluttony. Most take the time to craft thank you cards to school staff and students as well as vendors and parents who helped the yearbook team gain momentum at the start of the year. This yearbook tradition is also an avenue to invite alumni to inspire your current staff or even families to celebrate.

Holiday gift exchange 

While it seems like you have a gift exchange for every group with which you’re involved, keep it simple:

• Hold a re-gift exchange where students bring in something they received and don’t want. 
• Exchange variations on a theme such as socks or snacks
• Put dollar store stockings up with 3x5 cards so classmates can write notes of encouragement

Yearbook Banquet 

Being on yearbook staff has to have perks, and one is a fancy-pants dinner before distribution. (Please note fancy is a relative term: we’ve done everything from a chain Italian restaurant to a steakhouse to a revolving sushi bar.) Think of your typical sports banquet: the coach (adviser) stands and speaks a few remarks on the team then hands out the awards. Traditionally, the yearbook staff unwraps their yearbook and shares it with their family. It’s special because they have the first copies and it’s individualized time for parents to see all the work their child accomplished. 

2. Thematic Marketing

Theme surveys are a fun way to raise awareness that yearbook sales began as well as get buy-in from your school on the theme. While yearbook purists believe a theme should apply to one year only, you may find several coveted visual aesthetics from Treering Yearbooks’ theme gallery. 

The big reveal can happen once you receive your printed proof and you can make videos and social media teasers with your staff. Some schools make it one of their back to school traditions to reveal the yearbook theme at the start of the school year and use it throughout to market the book and generate content by

• Making T-shirts and wearing them when they are photographing events (remember that QR code to buy!)
• Creating thank you cards, Google slide presentations, and posters via theme graphics
• Asking related questions via social media; for example, with a theme “Give + Take,” ask for multiple takes on the fun run or invite athletes give their top five songs for warm up
• Keeping everything yearbook-related in your theme colors

3. 3x Yearbook Coverage

Maximizing coverage should be a tradition for every yearbook staff. If we are truly telling the story of the year, it involves everyone on campus. From a yearbook marketing perspective, if students know they are in the book, they will want the book. If they want the book, parents will buy the book.

We love thinking of yearbooks as memory books—they are—they are also a component of the historical record.

4. Staff Recruitment and Announcement

Your yearbook team is a big deal. Say it with me, "We are a big deal!" Create yearbook staff traditions around recruitment and the announcement of who made the cut each spring. Some ideas include

• Host a party and pass out applications
• Crown your staff publicly (feather boas, sashes, and capes work well too)
• Publicize who is on your yearbook team in newsletters, on social media, and in the front office so parents, coaches, and prospective volunteers can get in touch with you

After all, your yearbook team is a big deal.

5. Freeze time

You don’t have to be Doc and Marty McFly to time travel. Year after year, yearbooks create a personal history; the yearbook might be a few hours of reading during summer, and when you fast forward five or ten years, it will be so much more. Moms, let’s face it, our yearbooks give our kids license to laugh at our hair, clothes, and priorities.

The value of a yearbook does not end at graduation.

6. Dedication

Does your school have a tradition of dedicating the yearbook to a member of your staff or community? If not, skip to the next section. This gets political.

A yearbook dedication could

• Thank a teacher for being a yearbook champion
• Recognize an administrator who is retiring
• Honor a member of the faculty who impacted the school community
• Be a blanket statement to a group on campus, such as the robotics team who went to the national championship for the first time
• Congratulate the promoting/graduating class

7. Yearbook Distribution Party Traditions

Many schools have a special, extended lunch or tie distribution to an all-school event to celebrate the end of the year. A word of advice: if this is a new tradition for you, connect with school leadership early to plan your distribution day.

The good

A simple party with pens, tunes, and tables is all you need. Always invite non-buyers to include them in the signing. More than likely, they'll be the first to buy a book next year. (And if you're using Treering Yearbooks to publish, parents can still buy a book!)

Pizza, a DJ, and pens that correspond to class colors take it to the next level.

The extra

One K-12 school I know used to have students line up outside a bounce house. After they climbed up and slid down, they'd receive their yearbook.

Another elementary school invites the middle school cheerleaders to the signing party. They perform and pump up the 5th graders for fall.

Whichever yearbook traditions you employ, make sure they match your community. If you're just getting started, select one and own it. Once it's routine, add another.

QR Code is a registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED.

Celebrating the students on campus—all of them—is what we love most about inclusive yearbooks. This year, the theme for Scholastic Journalism Week is “Amplifying Voices.” If you’re participating, or here for inspiration, here are some ways to integrate Scholastic Journalism Week into your school and get more students heard.

Monday: Participate in #MakingConnections

From PTA/PTO councils to journalism teachers, there are people willing to share best practices. It’s one of the reasons we love to share about Yearbook Heroes. Identify:

• Who is doing what I want to do?
• What can I learn from them?
• Who can inspire my students?
• What similar stories do we have on campus?
• Who is disconnected? How do we amplify their voice?

You may be the one to teach others—share your story! 

Tuesday: #teachmeTuesday

Because this is a celebration of scholastic journalism, take some time to teach journalism. Start with a writing lesson or practice interviewing. Collectively, you could tackle intorduce media literacy or a difficult reporting assignment such as covering the recent wildfires or tornadoes. 

Wednesday: be about the business of #SharingStories

Take advantage of our pre-planned social media calendar to jumpstart your shares. Make sure your posts feature diverse grades, activities, and subjects. This way, you show students the value individuals make to the whole of your school community.

In your yearbook, you may want to include quote packages or fill-ins to amplify voices and give students the means to share their stories.

Thursday: always fit in a #throwback

Throwback Thursdays are fun because you can do nearly anything:

1. Feature stories from alumni (don’t forget to use their yearbook photo!)
2. Collaborate with a social science teacher on campus to integrate journalism's impact on history 
3. Print and display favorite yearbook spreads or covers from the previous years

Friday: #DemocracyInAction

JEA encourages schools to use the last day of Scholastic Journalism Week to share how their schools and communities value the freedom of the press. Here are some ideas on how to participate:

Elementary Schools

• Memorize the First Amendment
• Start student-led media projects

Middle and High Schools

• Have a conversation with school administration over the Principal’s Guide for Scholastic Journalism
• Learn to evaluate sources
• Memorize the First Amendment

Your participation in Scholastic Journalism Week 2022, be it one day or all five, will show your journalism students their voices matter as well as the responsibility they have as campus advocates to be the voice of others.

With most of the school year in the proverbial book, we are counting down until summer vacation. End-of-the-year celebrations aren't complete without a yearbook. If you're the one wearing the yearbook coordinator crown, it's time to circle the wagons and quickly create your elementary school yearbook without sacrificing style. We have live webinars on Wednesdays to help jumpstart your second semester.

Step 1: Upload Your Student Roster

Your first step is a quick visit to the front office (remember to bring some lattes) to get a community and student roster. This seems tedious. It will save you hours if you do this first. You will easily be able to

• Tag to ensure inclusivity or to create an index
• Start marketing and selling your book
• Receive your yearbooks sorted by your choice of grade, teacher, or last name which will save you tons of time once they arrive

(We promise, you'll thank us later.)

Step 2: Get the Word Out

With an updated student roster, you can now effectively communicate with your community and launch marketing campaigns that support yearbook building and orders. Examples of communication that will help you build a better book include emails asking for photos, how to purchase books, and special features like creating personalized pages and showing your students/parents how to create e-signatures.

If you really want to ramp up sales and raise awareness of your yearbook project and photo needs, use this month of Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter content. There's also a full marketing module in our free yearbook curriculum.

Step 3: Collaborate with your Community

Following strong communication, you are set up to collaborate on the yearbook with ease. Crowdsource photos from school staff, other parents, coaches, and students.

When possible, assign class pages to others. No yearbook coordinator is an island (or something like that). By building a team, you'll capture more, include more, and stress out less!

Step 4: Upload Your Students' Portraits

Whether your elementary school was able to take professional portraits, or you are sourcing portraits from parents, upload these to your yearbook next. Your yearbook provider should have a solution for adding these to your book. You can even use these yearbook spreads to add more content.

Step 5: Build your Book

Now that you’ve connected with your community and begun sourcing ideas and visuals for your yearbook, you’re ready to select and set up your book themes and styles. In addition to designing your own themes, Treering offers a free library of professionally designed themes. Each theme package includes layouts, font pairings, and graphics to tie your look together. You can also 100% customize your own.

Set spreads aside for

• School events such as fun runs and book fairs
• Sports (If your school doesn't have teams, crowdsource photos of students on their outside sports team)
• Holidays
• Trends
• Clubs
• Class favorites

Build a beautiful yearbook with features like auto-page layouts that magically lay your photos out beautifully on a spread or pre-designed pages that cover the Best of the Year and Year in Review plus student-generated content through fill-ins for a quick elementary school layout.

Step 6: Set Your Yearbook to Print Ready!

Drop the yearbook and walk away. In all seriousness, hit “print-ready” to send your files to the printers and, if you're using Treering, you'll quickly have your books in hand in three weeks or less! If for any reason you want a little more time, it’s easy to adjust print-ready deadlines too. As the yearbook coordinator, you're in charge!

Step 7: Distribute the Yearbook and Celebrate!

All this work is worth celebrating! Work with your parent group to host a yearbook signing party. It doesn't need to be fancy or cost you additional money; this could be something special like

• Playing music at lunch
• Offering a jeans day to yearbook buyers if you're a uniform school
• Allowing yearbook purchasers to bring a stuffed animal to school
• Setting up signing tables at a year-end school event

QR Code is a registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED.

It’s common for school leaders to underestimate the newsworthy aspects of their school’s yearbook. They may think, “Our school is too small, so why would anyone outside of our students’ immediate families care about what’s going on with our yearbook?” Throughout a school year, consider all of the work that’s put toward building the book, the stories gathered, the candid photos captured, the skills gained, etc. Local media care about what’s going on in the community, and if they never know about it, there’s no opportunity for them to share with their greater audience. It’s time to consider getting local media completely stoked about your yearbook program!

1. Identify newsworthy aspects of your program

Oftentimes, yearbook-focused stories are going to resonate the most with smaller, hyperlocal outlets within a school’s community. This could include newspapers (print and online), TV, radio and even community newsletters. What you may think is a “meaningless story” could in fact impact readers in your hometown. 

The following are high-level ideas to consider when thinking about working with local media:

• Position your yearbook adviser, or even the entire yearbook staff, as your school’s “hometown hero.” How are they positively impacting the school? What unique stories have they been able to capture for the yearbook that will pull at the heartstrings of the community? 
• Reporters don’t want to talk to companies, they want to talk to people. Is the yearbook editor, parent coordinator, or even principal, media-prepped and comfortable speaking with reporters about the program? 
• Local media tend to love stories with a multi-generational angle. How long has your yearbook program been in place? What unique, new aspects of the program can be shared? Do you have anyone on your yearbook team whose mother, grandmother, etc., was also involved in yearbook at the school years prior? 
• Yearbook cover contests are a great opportunity to share a photo of the winning cover with media. Is this a contest that’s been occurring for years? Is it new? Are local artists involved? Reporters appreciate being given stats (i.e., years doing XYZ) as it helps strengthen a story. 
• Share your successes. Has your yearbook earned recognition from your publisher?

2. Contact the right people

Depending on the size of the media outlet, some stations or publications have reporters that cover specific beats, while others that have a smaller staff have reporters that cover a wide variety of stories. If the outlet has a reporter that covers education, or more specifically K-12 education, this is someone to consider when your yearbook program has a story to share. Otherwise, reaching out to a general contact at an outlet, even if it’s for a general introduction if you’ve never worked with them before, is a great place to start.

It’s important to be professional, thorough, and to the point when reaching out to reporters and news outlets. Think about how yearbooks themselves convey stories through carefully selected phrases and high-res photos. Reporters are looking for the same: meaningful stories with images to support them. 

3. Write a press release

Writing press releases is a common practice for businesses that want to announce a new product or feature, an award win, contest results, a new hire, etc. As it relates to a yearbook program, a press release would be most appropriate when announcing a yearbook contest award win, for example. Or if your school has never had a yearbook program and they have plans to launch one in the new year, this would be an opportunity to share a press release with local media.

So what should you include in the press release? Here’s an example to reference and a free press release template.

• Strong headline and subhead 
• 3-5 body paragraphs (try to ensure that the press release is no longer than a page)
• A quote or two from leaders or subject matter experts to support the announcement
• Boilerplate at the bottom
• Contact person and their information (i.e. phone number, email address etc.)

Promote your yearbook program

In order for your yearbook program to flourish by increasing yearbook sales and growing your yearbook team, people need to know:

• What the yearbook program is all about and the importance of having a yearbook for students.
• How to get involved, and the specific steps to do so. Share the “how, what, why, and when” details if you really want your outreach efforts to make an impact. Consider creating a Facebook group for parents if you’re needing to recruit staff.

Treering's In the News page has plenty of examples of newsworthy yearbook programs.

One of the top questions we see in yearbook adviser and yearbook coordinator Facebook groups involves yearbook gear such as cameras and organizational supplies. Using a combination of funds from budget money, yearbook fundraiser proceeds, or a grant, you can build a media room that achieves your goals.

This list is not meant to be comprehensive, rather a smattering of options. Tailor your shopping list to match your program’s goals as well as your population. Do you really want your elementary yearbook club students passing around a $2000 camera? Conversely, should your competitive high school team aim for a Pacemaker with just point and shoot cameras?

Cameras

Camera Bodies

The camera body, or box, is where half the magic happens: the shutter release, mirror, viewfinder, and controls live on the box on a digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera; see mirrorless camera below if your head is going to explode. Your yearbook photographers will control the settings here.

Purchasing a camera kit from a big box store or online may seem like a great deal. The lenses that accompany those kits usually aren’t “fast” enough to take photographs in the gym or an auditorium when the light tends to be tricky.

A used camera kit from a resale website is always an option for schools looking to buy yearbook equipment with limited funds. Save the money for a fabulous lens that will help you get the sharp images you want. Most bodies built in the last 5-10 years will have the ISO, autofocus, and shutter speed capabilities you need, even for those frustrating low-light gym photographs.

Some great beginning boxes are:

• Canon Rebel
• Nikon D3500

Mirrorless Cameras

Being lighter, and a potentially less expensive investment, mirrorless cameras are slowly replacing some DSLRs in yearbook classrooms. Mirrorless cameras will help emerging photographers because there isn’t as much gear to tote and they can look less intimidating.

Highly recommended mirrorless cameras:

• Canon R6
• Nikon Z6

Lenses

In many cases, investing in a lens aka glass will be more critical than a body. If all your school’s sports are outside, then the lenses that come in your kit will be perfect. If you photograph volleyball and basketball in a gym or musicals in a dark auditorium, then you are going to want a lens that can use the full ISO, aperture, and shutter speed range of your box. When buying any lens, make sure it marries your box. There are some off-brand lens brands such as Sigma and Tokina that are less expensive than their Canon and Nikon counterparts.

Two lenses to have

• 35-70mm f/2.8
• 50mm f/1.8 (more on the nifty fifty below)

Nifty Fifty

If you add anything to your cart this year, make it a 50mm lens. The depth of field and low-light capabilities you have are what the young people deem clutch.

Lens Cleaning Essentials

Each camera bag in your yearbook program should contain a camel hair cleaning brush 

Pro tip: A pencil eraser is a great tool to keep in each camera bag to clean the battery connectors.

Photography essentials

Lens Filter

These aren’t the photo-destroying filters your social apps provide, but screw-on glass filters for camera lenses. Use this circular filter for cutting glare and reducing light specifically with outdoor photos. Before setting out on a yearbook assignment with a polarized filter, take some time to play with it. Because it increases color saturation and cuts bright spots, it takes some time to learn.

Reflector

Reflectors, next to the nifty fifty, are one of the best, inexpensive photography items your yearbook program can use. They help you control light for outside portraits (think of fun ways you can take those pull quote pics up a notch) and also maximize limited lighting when doing studio shoots. A fun, and less traditional way to use a reflector is as a background.

Ring light

With mini ring lights being a cell phone staple in the early stages of influencers, pros have used the big ones for years. Ring lights surround your subject and eliminate most shadows over which three-point lighting enthusiasts geek out. (If you play around with your ring light and reflector, you can simulate the three-point look!) They make eyes pop. 

The best ring lights are at least 18”, and they come with both warm and cool light settings as well as a dimmer. Some tripods also have cell phone and tablet holders in addition to the traditional quick-release plate.

Studio Kit

Studio kits look impressive, but are they essential yearbook gear? Here’s how we’ve seen Treering advisers use studio kits:

1. Class favorites, superlatives, or standouts
2. Photo illustrations
3. Pull quote portraits
4. Retakes when your pro photographer won’t come back for a third (or fourth) shoot
5. Setting up a photo booth at dances and school-wide events for a fundraiser

Many of the kits you can buy pre-packaged online will suffice for your yearbook program. Soft boxes vs. flashes are something to consider when looking at the rest of your gear.

Memory Cards and Card Readers

Memory cards are temporary storage. They are temporary storage. Memory cards are not permanent storage. Phew! PSA over.

WiFi SD cards are game changers for busy yearbook staffs: they transfer files from your camera to the predetermined storage space without cables and card readers. Some cards even have an app so you can review photos on the spot. These make for effective teaching moments.

If you don’t have the budget or tech capacity, for something like wifi cards, it is nevertheless imperative to buy at least two memory cards per camera bag. Make sure you have a card reader in each bag as well as a card reader on each computer in the yearbook or media room.

Additional Yearbook Gear

• Rain Sleeves: keep your camera dry during outdoor events, such as soccer matches, in inclement weather
• Cell Phone Lenses: clip-on lenses run less than $30 and can add wide-angle, omnidirectional (aka 360), or fish eye capability to most smartphones. We love these for fun runs, homecoming rallies, and school carnivals.

Yearbook/Media Room

Yearbook gear is not limited to photography equipment. In fact, providing environmental tools is as essential as camera gear.

Cubbies and Mailboxes

Magazine holders from the dollar store or cast-offs from the front office make great boxes for your students. Use them to send out important communications, such as emails from teachers regarding upcoming classroom events or new SD cards. Students can also use them for gift exchanges, camera check out, and peer edits.

Notepads

Doodling, brainstorming, and note-taking on paper are healthy parts of the creative process. In the early planning days, practice both digital and paper-based workflows so your team can decide which works best for them.

Mini Fridge and Snack Subscription

An exclusive yearbook fridge in the corner of your classroom becomes a perk of the position. Waters, juices, and the occasional box of popsicles serve dual purposes: appreciation and fuel. Involve parents in keeping it stocked: at back-to-school night, start a signup sheet for yearbook parents to supply your students with snacks each month. Parents may even opt to share the cost of a snack subscription service.

Coffee Maker

This is as much for you, Yearbook Adviser, as it is for your team. (And if you’re getting exasperated with us for suggesting you give children coffee, remember, cocoa pods and tea pods exist as well.) The point is to create a warm, hospitable environment for the hardest working people on campus.

Bulletin Boards

This is where you brag on your students by sharing a photo of the week and any awards they may have earned. Pin thank you cards and any positive emails you receive regarding the yearbook for all to see.

You planned your year and recruited your team. Roles are set. Parents and teachers are submitting photos. And then, an unreliable volunteer sets back your yearbook exponentially. Take heart: you’re not the first yearbook adviser to experience this!

Volunteer Unreliability Factor 3/10 - Deer in the headlights

Ready, set… nothing. Whether fear of failure or a general spirit of uncertainty are acting as hindrances, it’s time to step in as a coach. Let’s face it, many of our parent volunteers are publishing and journalism amateurs. Take some time with the new recruits to show not tell: design a layout together, photograph an event together, get students' quotes together. Build confidence! Consistent communication, including genuine appreciation, inspires unity and helps volunteer yearbook staffers push on towards your goal.

Volunteer Unreliability Factor 7/10 - Oops… (s)he did it again

Early detection, while uncomfortable, can eliminate problems later on. The first time someone is a no-show, address it (kindly). 

When you do get that face-to-face moment, maintain your professionalism:

• Communicate with specifics: instead of “You’re always unreliable,” try “You volunteered to take Fun Run photos and did not have a backup in place when you were a no-show. What is your plan to get pictures?”
• Keep it focused: the conversation should center around yearbook responsibilities and not on personal issues. You’re not meeting to be a relationship counselor, life coach, or even a friend. You’re a project manager looking to complete a job.
• Be proactive: document what will happen next. If your yearbook co-chair wants to remain in the role, write out what it will look like with clear expectations and deadlines. Also include an “out” clause if your volunteer continues to be unreliable.

A word of caution: it’s easy to fire off a text or email, and like we tell our children, easy isn’t always best. As we know, much of communication is non-verbal, so a face-to-face session allows you (and your volunteer) to assess body language and tone.

Volunteer Unreliability Factor 10/10 - the Worst-Case Scenario

What do you do when a volunteer up and quits in the middle of your yearbook and is unreachable, unresponsive, and, frankly, unrepentant?

1. Plan for human error and phone a friend
   Within your yearbook staff, build in a group of utility players; this may be a working mom who cannot help at every event or a school secretary that does too much already. Have a few friends you can call to help with one-off tasks. The leader of your parent org may have a list of volunteers to plug in.
2. Promote from within
   Your next yearbook co-chair may just be on your staff already. Once you’ve communicated the need—again using specific, job-focused language—the team may have a solution! (You recruited the best for a reason!)
3. Flip your lid
   Not really. It was just fun to write.
4. Remember your purpose
   As cliche as it is, remember the kids. It’s the students who will open the yearbook you helped create, pour over its pages, and never once reminisce on the unreliable volunteer who temporarily thwarted progress. Why? Because you're a project manager who completed the job.

It's no secret to seasoned advisers that yearbook class is one of the most accurate career-preparation courses available to students. The yearbook-building process meets all of the national Career-Ready Practices. We’ll go through each below with practical application ideas for yearbook classes.

1. Act as a responsible and contributing citizen and employee.

How to do it: Teach project management skills by having students pre-plan their weeks. 

Weekly goal-setting and check-ins maintain a culture of accountability while building executive functioning skills. First, project your ladder and page assignments. Then, reverse engineer some major milestones. From there, students can set a goal, calendar important dates, and pre-plan how they will meet their deadlines. Do this corporately so each student can see his/her contribution.

2. Apply appropriate academic and technical skills.

How to do it: Equip your students with tools and training for their age, ability, and your yearbook mission. 

Keep in mind, a first-year yearbie/yerd/yearbook student should have a different skill set than a third-year one! Returning staffers are excellent resources to teach skills, especially those on your editorial board.

3. Attend to personal health and financial well-being.

How to do it: Schedule in the fun!

Because you corporately planned the year, you already know when the pinch points are going to be. Plan a few fun days before and after to help students relieve stress, and show them the importance of balance.

Also, be transparent about finances. Your yearbook students should know how much it costs to produce their yearbook. Likewise, they should know financial goals (book and ad sales) and celebrate their achievement.

4. Communicate clearly, effectively, and with reason.

How to do it: Begin the year with a plan.

All the work you do from a syllabus to the page ladder and assignment provides the overarching structure. Bi-weekly editorial meetings and all staff meetings should include check-ins, deadline assessment, and teaching moments to provide accountability and hone these skills:

• Model how to email teachers and coaches by providing templates or examples of wording.
• Practice interviewing.
• Show, rather than tell, how to enter a class to pull a student for a quote or photo opportunity.
• Set expectations and boundaries for yourself and your team.

5. Consider the environmental, social, and economic impacts of decisions.

How to do it: Create worthwhile partnerships.

These are Treering’s core values. From sustainably sourced printing materials to partnering with charities, the environmental and socio-economic impact of a yearbook transforms lives. Additionally, ethical reporting and creating an inclusive yearbook are hallmarks of positive social impact.

6. Demonstrate creativity and innovation.

How to do it: Make a yearbook.

(We’re just going to leave this one here.)

7. Employ valid and reliable research strategies.

How to do it: Make before, during, and after your journalistic mantra.

What we see in many yearbooks are photographs of the actual events, and we miss ASB creating poster after poster for spirit week, Mr. Watts cleaning up until 2 AM, the baseball team volunteering to haul hay bales, etc.

Ask your team:

• What preparation goes into [the event]? 
• Who is involved?
• What is the impact of [the event]?
• How can we capture this?

At the interview, ask:

• What don’t people know about [the event]? 
• How do you prepare for [the event]?
• How much time do you invest?
• What happened after [the event]?

Also, coverage doesn’t have to follow the traditional photo/caption format. Create infographics and polls, show game statistics and team scoreboards, and use quotes from differing perspectives to tell the story of your year.

8. Model integrity, ethical leadership and effective management.

How to do it: The old adage It starts at the top applies here. 

Module 2 of Treering’s free curriculum will help you unify your team and build trust.

9. Plan education and career path aligned to personal goals.

How to do it: Toot your team’s proverbial horn.

Using the yearbook job descriptions in Treering’s curriculum guide, work with your team to create resumes, detailing their job experience in yearbook class. While many think, “I put pictures on paper,” they don’t see things like: 

• Scheduled photographers for event coverage
• Experienced in copy editing, reporting, and layout design
• Promoted publication on social media, in print advertising, and at community events
• Worked within deadlines to maintain $20,000 budget

It’s our job, advisers, to show them their impact! Then show their parents. Then show your administration.

10. Use technology to enhance productivity.

How to do it: Post and track your goals.

Your yearbook software plus a digital planning tool such as a Gantt Chart in Google Sheets or a Trello board will keep you on track. 

11. Utilize critical thinking to make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

How to do it: Make a yearbook, part 2.

What do you do when a photographer does not show up for a game? How do you handle an event being canceled or rescheduled? What do you do when someone accidentally reformats a card prior to photos being uploaded? The yearbook creation process is all about pivoting. Build in contingencies by creating evergreen content or interactive pages that compliment your theme. (Here is a list to get you started!)

12. Work productively in teams while using cultural/global competence.

How to do it: Facilitate a collaborative working environment.  

In-class collaboration:

• Peer review (here are some editing tools)
• Students teach other students a skill
• Plan your distribution event

Out-of-class collaboration:

• Connect with your school photographer to receive portraits on time
• Schedule club and team photos with leaders
• Crowdsource event photos from classmates
• Interview students
• Schedule in-class photo ops of academic coverage

We also have an alignment matrix, outlining how the Treering curriculum meets both CTE standards for eight pathways and these Career Readiness Practices and makes your yearbook class the ultimate career preparation course.

Because we want our students to have the best equipment and experiences, sometimes we have to bring in extra cash. Heads up advisers: if you are looking for yearbook fundraisers to afford your book, stop reading this right now, and jump over to this article and learn how to have a debt-free yearbook program.

Fundraise by Selling Photos

First, the easiest way to raise money for your program is to use what you have: a captive audience, kids with cameras, and some pre-planned epic events.

1. Sell Photos That Are Not in the Book

How many times have you been asked for a copy of a photo your students captured at an event or game? Upload unpublished photos to a photo site and sell digital images or prints to parents and students.

2. Sell Photos to Local Media

Smaller newspapers and local online news outlets will purchase athletics photos, especially in more rural areas. When you make your pitch, make sure you have a portfolio of student work.

3. Sell Photo Shoots

Another way to help your students build a comprehensive body of work is to offer photo sessions by your top photographers. Newer photographers on staff can assist: hold reflectors, take payment, upload, and retouch photos.

• Senior portrait mini shoots in a park
• Photo booth at Homecoming game
• Family photos at a winter all-school event

Fundraising with Coverage

Second, you can add mini-ads throughout your book. These paid partnerships with parents, alumni, and business leaders don’t detract from your content and have the potential to add additional voices to your copy.

4. Page sponsors

In the folio, include a line that says “This page is sponsored by Williamstown Transportation” or “Congrats, Talia and the class of 2022! Love, The Cruz Family.” If you do traditional coverage, page sponsors can include club or athletic boosters whereas chronological coverage can be more event-focused: “QuizBowl Forever! Class of 1968 State Champs.”

5. Index letters

If you could get 26 more photos in the yearbook, would you? Break up the index with fun portraits of students holding a letter. Some schools auction the honors, others issue letters on a reservation basis. To get the most out of it, compare your coverage report to your buyer list and see which buyers are in the book the least amount of times, offer index letters to those parents first, then go after students who are in the yearbook several times and have yet to purchase one.

Yearbook Fundraiser 101: Personal and Business Ads

Advisers use ads to teach business skills: project management, budgeting, and goal-setting. They work with students on talking points and help guide them to the right potential partnerships. It's the quintessential yearbook fundraiser.

Schools with supportive communities tend to do well with business ads. If you’re just getting started, begin by analyzing your area:

• Do you serve a transient population? Partner with realtors.
• Are many parents business owners? Show them how to feature their children in their ad.
• Do you have a bevvy of athletic sponsors? Work with your athletic director to bundle a stadium ad with one with the team photos.
• Are small businesses the norm? Add a business card section.

Whatever you do, don’t try to sell yearbook ads just to pay your yearbook publisher.

Remember the Fun

Because fundraiser starts with fun (cliché, we know), your strategy should as well. Celebrate all your successes along the way. For some of your yearbook team, this could be scheduling a meeting with a potential sponsor and doing the presentation. For another, it could be selling 20 photos to your district PR agent and landing an internship. Everyone who buys in should reap some reward, even you!

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. Nearly 30 years later, National School Yearbook Week remains a time to reminisce and a time to look forward.

Monday: Celebrate the Heroes

For two weeks, we at Treering have been collecting stories of advisers, grandparents, parents, students, and school staff who make their yearbook successful. From collaborative efforts on original cover designs to timely communication on ever-changing school events, the positive contributions of many are making yearbooks happen.

Treering will announce the winners of the #YearbookHero contest. Schools can celebrate their own heroes by:

• Making banners to post on teacher’s doors to say thank you
• Sharing on social media photos yearbook heroes have shared with your team or a photo of a yearbook hero with a description of why he or she saved the day
• Hosting a pizza luncheon for your yearbook team, because pizza and yearbook are a clutch combo (Was that too cheesy?)
• Decorating your yearbook students’ lockers

Tuesday: Celebrate the Product

Just like VH-1’s Behind the Music series, you can do a Behind the Yearbook and showcase the story behind previous years’ themes or a yearbook staff member’s journey. Other fun ways to show off the importance of yearbook on social media include:

• School staff show off their old yearbooks photos
• Highlight important events such as State Championships or famous alumni in previous yearbooks
• Record a teacher or student reading encouraging messages from his/her yearbook

If you haven’t yet branded your book, National School Yearbook Week is the ideal time to do a theme reveal! Some schools make a video to share, others reveal just a theme element or two to tease buyers.

Wednesday: Celebrate Growth

Mid-National School Yearbook Week, yearbook lovers will unite. For the first time (in forever) Treering is inviting yearbook coordinators and advisers to gather for an epic evening at Treering Live! In addition to breakout sessions for Elementary and middle/high schools, attendees will glean practical ideas on how to

• Sell more yearbooks
• Create an epic yearbook theme
• Overcome common objections
• Take newsworthy photos... on a cellphone

Follow #TRL2021 for Tweetable takeaways your fellow yearbook advisers shared, and work with your team to apply a few this year. We always say, try one or two new things (Treering loves yearbook advisers too much to let you try and do it all!)

Thursday: Build on the Momentum

Now that a few days were filled with celebration, take some time to use National School Yearbook Week to propel your team. Collectively, identify what is going well and why. Check your progress towards your goals for the year and ask:

• What is working?
• What needs improvement? How can our strengths help in this area?
• Do we need to refine any goals?
• How will we celebrate reaching our goals?

Schools that see success with goal-setting and achievement monitor progress and also make their goals attainable. Instead of sell more books, try something like if we increase our yearbook sales by the end of December, we will have an ice cream party when we return to school in January.

Fri-yay: #feelgoodFriday

You celebrated. You learned. You strategized. As you prep for some #weekendvibes, take one more opportunity to build unity among your team. Whether your YB teamis made up of students in an after school club or for class credit, or your shepherd a super squad of parents, create a feel-good moment to close out National School Yearbook Week.

With students, a chain of strength is a way for students to self-assess their team contribution. After a brief period of individual work, the group discussion is where the magic happens: students encourage and build up one another. (Pro tip: get paper in your yearbook theme colors to make your team’s chain.)

Parents too need edification. A quick trip to Dollar Tree for some fun thank yous will go a long way: incense for the wise moms, a skein of yarn for the dad who holds it all together, or a trivia book for the parent who is a lifelong learner. Focusing on the strengths of each team member, and celebrating their individual contributions, created a culture of support. This is key for collaboration.

Starting and finishing strong isn't just for marathons (although advising yearbook sure feels like one at times). The fall months are ideal for beginning the momentum for your yearbook program. From building your team to selecting a yearbook theme, the fall is an ideal time to begin working alongside your school community. Fall in love with these tips to crowdsource more yearbook photos during September, October, and November.

Fall Celebration Photos to Crowdsource

Use the fun “National Holidays” to create dress up days, activities, or even sidebar coverage for your yearbook. Libraries and DEAR Time can be the focus on September 6, Read a Book Day. Photographs of students with their stuffed friends on September 9’s National Teddy Bear Day make for a cuddly sidebar that pairs well within a classroom PJ Day. And let’s face it, nothing says volunteer and teacher appreciation like National Coffee Day on September 19!

Some other fall holidays to use when sourcing photos include:

• World Smile Day on the first Friday in October
• National Coaches’ Day on October 6
• National Reptile Awareness Day on October 21
• National Sandwich Day on November 3
• National STEAM Day on November 8
• National Education Week during the week before Thanksgiving

Source POV Photos

Social media continues to be a steady stream of photographs and posts from the perspectives of parents, staff, and students on your campus. Commenting, “May we use this in the yearbook?” is a way to build excitement for the book and encourage a student whose photo is truly worth sharing beyond their social feed. Some Treering schools promote a hashtag that equates reprinting permission and also makes it easy to search for images.

Using photographs sourced from parents, staff, and students adds a layer of authenticity to your yearbook because it involves new perspectives. Consider crowdsourcing photos from

• Fans at athletic events
• The cast and crew of the musical
• Art students and their in-progress works
• Two students snapping the same event, from different angles
• A period of time, such as the prep hours before the Homecoming dance

As always, a call to contribute to the yearbook is also a call to purchase a yearbook. Use these fall events as opportunities to sell yearbooks as well.

Partner with Classroom Teachers to Source Yearbook Photos

There are those record-keeping, awareness-raising, champions of academia on campus who photograph student activities. Those are the teachers with whom to connect. (For every teacher-storyteller on your campus, there will be one overwhelmed with the idea of one more thing to do. Know your audience.)

https://blog.treering.com/classroom-photo-tips/

Classroom photos don't always have to be posed group shots of students. Classroom photographs can also include workspace photographs. Flat lays of student and teacher desks or open backpacks offer insight into personality, workstyle patterns, and any quirks. This is also a way to feature those camera-shy campus personalities.

Some teachers choose to incorporate photography in their lessons. You may use the results as a way to showcase student art and cover classroom happenings.

Double, double, toil and trouble, are your fall yearbook sales in the rubble? Well, you’ve come to the right yearbook promotion page. Say it with us: pumpkin spice and everything nice, pumpkin spice and everything nice. Just kidding. A fun fall chant isn’t going to help, but we have a few easy yearbook promotion ideas highlighted below to increase your yearbook sales during the fall holidays

The fall holidays, in particular, are a great time frame to sell your yearbooks because parents and students have that feel-good feeling about yearbooks, especially since portrait day takes place around this time. (Or retake day—who can be perfect on the first try, right?)

Promotional Idea 1: Early-Ghoul Special

One way to market your yearbook and increase sales can be to offer a special discount. Those of us who are moms, know we love when good products go for great deals! Before Halloween, offer a fun-themed discount to the parents who buy the yearbook before Halloween before the prices get spooky. Or even after Halloween, once the costumes have been worn and the candy passed out, yearbook sales could become your next favorite holiday—like the day after Valentine’s Day. You know what we’re talking about: discounted chocolate!  

If you’re down for a special, but don’t have the time to create your own yearbook flyers, don’t witch out! We want to help by giving you a professionally designed flyer template and even sales flyers, all customizable. 

Promotional Idea 2: Halloween Party Promotion 

Most classrooms, even virtual ones, will celebrate the spooky, fun holiday of Halloween. Classrooms will have candy and lots of chatter and you can sell a scary amount of yearbooks. During the party is a great time to take pictures of everyone dressed up and promote that those pictures will be in the yearbook. Parents want to buy yearbooks if they know their kid is in the yearbook. Have your yearbook moms take photos at each holiday party and talk up the book!

Promotional Idea 3: Turkey Bowl Giveaway 

Everyone loves free stuff! Moms, kids—we mean everyone. A fun way you can sell more yearbooks is throwing a fall holiday raffle or a giveaway. First, you can offer a giveaway for everyone that has bought a yearbook before a certain day leading up to Thanksgiving. Everyone entered can win a gift or treat, like a gift card or a recognition ad.

Second, you could have a giveaway going on at the school that doesn’t require any parents to buy yearbooks, but to promote! For this giveaway, mouth-to-mouth marketing is going to sell your yearbooks because everyone is getting excited. Offer a free yearbook for the most photo submissions, or to a random follower of your school’s page who “likes” a social media post promoting the giveaway. You can turn the Turkey Bowl giveaway into a month-long social media contest to increase your school’s social channels engagement and build momentum with each post. Check out this social media calendar with ideas on how to run your contest!

Whatever direction you choose for marketing your yearbook this fall, Treering is here to help! While reaching sales goals immediately can be witch-ful thinking, it can definitely happen over time with some creative guidance.

Parents, school staff, and students all have opinions on what the yearbook should look like, cost, and include. That's fair, to a degree: the buyers and subjects of the yearbook are the key stakeholders in the yearbook creation process. Here are four tips for drawing (and keeping) them in close collaboration.

Yearbook Collaboration Tip #1: Create Consistent Ways to Contribute

Schools doing a Photo Dump Friday via social media or their weekly newsletter receive regular submissions. Using tools your school already utilizes is the best way to collaborate on photo collection from non-yearbook personnel, and a specific call-to-action yields the results you want: 

• Share your first day snaps below! You may see them in the yearbook. #photodumpFriday
• We’re looking for sport photos for the yearbook! Share here! #photodumpFriday
• Get your child and fur baby in the yearbook: post your pet photo below. #photodumpFriday

Another way to partner with students and staff is to create timely contests:

1. Cover design contests or, similarly, a title page contest that encompasses theme elements and expresses them in original student artwork reaches a diverse group of students. Some schools create a spread with all the runners up!
2. Increase your submissions for club photos while encouraging creativity with a team or group photo contest.
3. During an all school event, such as Red Ribbon Week or Book Fair Week, create a scavenger hunt. 

Many yearbook committees assign “beats” like professional journalists. There could be a reporter per grade, subject area, or event charged with making contact with event organizers and gathering photos. Set a measurable weekly goal, such as ten photos, per beat to ensure coverage. With a steady stream of photos coming in, editors and page designers will be able to assess which students and grades are missing.

Yearbook Collaboration Tip #2: Go Pro

Identify working parents who want to help, and have one-off jobs ready. You may consider trading ad space in your yearbook and some social media shout-outs for their services.

• Work with a professional photographer to be a guest teacher in your yearbook class or run a photo booth at Father-Daughter Dances, Spirit Week, or Teacher Appreciation or even take buddy pics and fashion shoots. 
• Join forces with an event planner to create the party of the year for yearbook distribution. 
• Petition a local caterer or restaurateur to hold a teacher appreciation/yearbook hustling breakfast during a morning staff meeting, do a Taco’bout Awesome luncheon for students who bought a yearbook, or hold a fundraiser dinner to purchase books for students in need.
• Local journalists, newspapers, or news media may offer tours of their workspace for your journalism students. 
• Ask a graphic designer or marketing pro to help create a social strategy for increasing yearbook buzz or to brainstorm ideas for conveying the theme visually.

Yearbook Collaboration Tip #3: Play Nice in the Sandbox

We all know that mom/teacher/dad/coach who controls every aspect of their program, and is a nightmare to work with. Don’t be that guy!

Collaboration Includes Delegation

For your own sanity, and that of your loved ones, be like Elsa and “Let it go!” Some of us have a hard time saying no because we want to please others, or because we want to ensure a quality end result. If this is truly a struggle area, select a few small tasks to share with others. Maybe coordinating picture day is not your favorite. Maybe it’s creating the index. Who can you recruit to help with these tasks? Build your dream team!

Also—if your goal is truly big picture—you’ll want to build a lasting program, and continual collaboration with your school community is going to build a tradition that will extend beyond your tenure. It’s important to share responsibilities and knowledge for the future of the yearbook team. 

Have Jobs Ready and Set Clear Expectations

Again, just because a person is involved with the yearbook doesn’t mean it has to be all-consuming—that goes for leadership too! Draft your volunteer roles with specific expectations. And remember to include ideas for working parents.

Some jobs with which parents can help are:

• Parent organization newsletters: get yearbook info in front of parents monthly
• Booster club liaisons: connect weekly with the biggest sports fanatics on campus to gather photos, stats, and scores, especially when sending a yearbook reporter isn’t always possible
• Class/grade reps: these people check in with classroom teachers weekly to coordinate in-class photos of projects, celebrations, and field trips
• Proofreaders and photo editors: clutch teammates who help ensure accuracy monthly
• Page designers: with Treering, you can assign a spread to a certain person or group
• Volunteer appreciation: find a fun parent who builds up others to coordinate social events, such as birthday parties, and an end-of-the-year volunteer celebration. If your school does an awards ceremony, you should ensure your yearbook volunteers are honored.

Campus staff can help with the above and:

• Getting an official roster from the front office to ensure names are correct and all students are in the book
• Sharing yearbook information on school social media and in parent communications
• Keeping the yearbook team abreast with events
• Contributing photos to shared folders
• Identifying students who need financial assistance purchasing a book

Follow Up

When someone offers to help, because you have your plan in place, you seamlessly can plug him or her in! Not only is it disrespectful to ignore an offer, it also reflects poorly on your yearbook program. People talk. Let’s have them be your hype persons, gathering even more talent and book sales.

Yearbook Collaboration Tip #4: When in Doubt, Feed People

Hosting a round table dessert for student leaders or teachers will elicit information from many “smart cookies” about what key stakeholders would like to see in the yearbook. You may get new ideas for coverage as well as insights on yearbook buying practices.

Yearbook is a team sport. A “thanks a latte” or breakfast bowl letting volunteers know they are “berry helpful” will go a long way to let your teammates know you “donut know success” without each of them.

Bottom line: the best way to collaborate with stakeholders is to get to truly know people and their gifts, and show them deep appreciation for their contribution.