A lesson from 2021 - yearbook can be pretty boring, just making pages in a book. Why not give your staff added purpose with their work, tasks that actually make a difference at your school. Watch this lesson for some background and ideas, then use the student activity to get YOUR group thinking on what they can do to up their yearbooking game AND help out your school at the same time. Give it PURPOSE, what kids really crave.
A lesson from 2021, watch for some advice on good yearbook staff promotion. Simple rule: never be a secret at school. Watch for some ideas and a student activity to get your kids thinking and planning.
In a lesson from 2021, let's start compiling story ideas for next year's effort. Break out of the usual stuff covered every year. Remember that the yearbook is a STORYbook - how to find and tell those stories??
Watch the interview below with Ava Butzu, then follow with this lesson with a review, some new ideas and a student activity to get your group thinking about improvements and changes for next year.
Watch this video clip to get some ideas on forming a theme, motivating your staff, organization and improving your effort.
Does your yearbook staff have student editors? If so, are they effective? If not, it's time to start organizing. Watch the interview clip with Jostens Ambassador Margaret Sorrows first, then follow with this lesson with more insights and ideas and a student activity to get your group thinking.
Get ideas and advice from Jostens Ambassador Margaret Sorrows on the importance of student editors, different roles and related questions
It's never too soon to start planning for next year's yearbook effort. First, watch the interview segment with Jostens Education Specialist Kristen Scott with ideas and insights, then follow with this lesson with a review, more ideas and a student activity to get your group working on THEIR plan!
Get ideas and insights on planning for next year's yearbook effort from Jostens Education Specialist Kristen Scott
And the key word is EVENT - after a year's hard work, unveiling your brand new yearbook should be a celebration marked every year. Watch the Jostens J-class first, then follow with this lesson with more ideas and an activity to get your group thinking on your own BIG event. Any level, elementary to college.
Here's another review from the fall, but our Jostens softproofers keep finding copyright violations. Watch the Jostens J-class on Legal Issues and Ethics, then follow with this lesson to see if you're following the rules.
Here's another review from the fall, but things have happened since then, right? Watch the Jostens J-class on Covering News and Events, then follow with this lesson to get your students thinking and planning.
There are plenty of topics that students are talking about these days. And if people are talking about it, that means it's yearbook worthy. Watch the Jostens J-class on Covering Sensitive Topics, then follow with this lesson to get your students thinking and planning.
Get great new kids for your staff - but keep those current great kids you already have. Watch the Jostens J-class on Recruiting and Retention first, then follow with this lesson, some ideas to consider and a student activity to get your group working on this important task.
Watch the video clip with Jostens Creative Accounts Manager Liz Walsh., then follow with this lesson on attracting new staffers for next year's effort. Use the student activity to begin your planning.
Get some good advice on recruiting new staffers for next year from Jostens Creative Accounts Manager Liz Walsh.
Watch the video clip on the Power of Yearbook featuring Mike Smith, then follow with this lesson with more reasons why yearbook is so important to your school AND to those students involved with creating it. What can those kids learn? A great lesson for any time of the school year!
Hosted by Mike Smith, hear the views of yearbook students on the importance of yearbook and why this project is so vital not only to your school but also to those students.
In the second part of this series, we've done the basics - now more about finding those STORIES to tell in your book. More activities for your group, more steps, some ideas to consider. But when the video is complete, NOW you have your basic plan to tell far more STORIES in the yearbook this year. Then the real fun begins..
First of a two part series, a step by step look at turning your yearbook from a bare minimum picture book into a great storybook covering more people than ever before. Or your staff just needs to reorganize your effort? And it's easy to do. Take part in several activity breaks to get you and your group planning on how to get things started. We cover the WHY, WHAT and HOW of the storybook plan.
In the second part of this lesson series on promotions (watch Part 1 first,) not everything has to be electronic. Sometimes old school still works very well - and is a lot of FUN. Take notes on many inschool ideas that you could start using TODAY - and then go use as many as you can. Our student activity will get your staffers planning on which they'll start with first - and then watch out...
A good 50% of your yearbooking efforts should be on promotion - reaching out regularly, promoting your book and ad sales, never being a secret. In this first part of a two part lesson series, get details on how to get started if your group has been doing nothing with promotion, or a refresh if you have been doing some kind of promotion, with two student activities to get kids thinking. Step One: involve your audience.
Does your staff have a written policy on the decisions you make with the yearbook? If not it's time to get one. Watch the Jostens J-class on Editorial Policies to get many specifics and examples, then follow with this lesson with more on creating a policy and a student activity to get your group working.
Do you have a student editorial team? Or does the adviser make all the decisions? This is a student enterprise - students should make the calls. Watch the Jostens J-class on Editorial Leadership, then follow with this lesson with more insights on creating an editorial team and a student activity to get you started or review your current plan.
How to handle? Watch the video interview below, then follow with this lesson with more insights and a student activity to get your group thinking about this important subject.
Many yearbook staffs never prepare on how to handle a tragic death in the book...until it happens. Watch this interview with Jostens CAM Tina Cleavelin with valuable advice for any staff.
Are your staffers organized for taking photos on location? Ready for anything? Watch the Jostens J-class first with great ideas and advice, then follow with this lesson with more insights and a student activity to check your plans.
Yearbook+ is your yearbook's digital companion, a way for your staff to tell more stories, link unused images to pages of the book, and give everyone in school the chance to tell their own story with their own pictures and all tied to your book. Watch this lesson, take notes on how your staff can utilize Plus, and start planning on how you can use this cool interactive tool. Never too late to start!
Do you know your yearbook has a brand, like companies have? And it's different every year? IT's time to use your unique brand to promote your efforts and your sales. Watch the Jostens J-class on Building Your Brand, then follow with this lesson with key ideas and a student activity to get the kids thinking and planning.
The best marketing and promotion is done in-house, and it's a FUN and educational opportunity for students. DIY - Do It Yourself. Watch the Jostens J-class on DIY Marketing first, then follow with this lesson with more ideas and a student activity to get your kids thinking on what THEY can do.
Selling your books and ads is a full half of the entire yearbooking equation, yet many staffs pay little attention to it. Let's change that - and marketing can be a FUN and educational effort. Watch the Jostens J-class on Marketing 101, then follow with this lesson with additional ideas and a student activity to get you started.
All your images looking the same? Then let's change things up with this lesson and activity. Watch the Jostens J-class on YBA on Visual Variety, then follow with this lesson and get your kids thinking about their next picture taking assignment and how to take a variety of images.
How are your photos looking on your pages? Need some fixing or cropping? Watch the Jostens J-class on YBA on Photo Editing, then follow with this lesson and an activity to get your students examining what they've done so far.
An engaged social media presence telling stories all the time is actually gathering you a lot of great material to use in your book this year. And it's easy to do. Watch the Jostens J-class video on Social Posts to Yearbook Mods, then follow with this lesson to get your kids thinking on how "here and now" material works in your yearbook later.
It's never too late to add more stories to your yearbook pages, and there are so many interesting ways to do it. Watch the Jostens J-class video on Adapting Page Content, then follow with this lesson to show your group how easy and FUN this is, with a student activity.
Everyone has a mobile device, including your staffers - let's use them much more for your yearbooking work. Watch the Jostens J-class on Cell Phone Photography for some nuts and bolts information, then follow with this lesson with even more info and a student activity on gaining more images from your audience.
Students always have opinions and feelings - why not report those in your yearbook by doing surveys during the school year? It's easy to do, makes your book more readable and remembers valuable information. Watch the Jostens J-class on Incorporating Survey Data first, then follow with this lesson and a student activity to identify possible survey questions.
Make your yearbook a lot more readable by using quick reads, simple creative ways to share information like survey results and quotes. Watch the Jostens J-class on Quick Reads, then follow with this lesson and a student activity to see where you can add some quick reads to your existing pages.
NOT titles or labels (Football, Homecoming, etc.) headlines are important parts of good pages, drawing our readers attention with a chance to be creative. Watch the Jostens J-class on Headline Writing, then follow with this lesson and a student activity to identify where to use well written REAL headlines.
Writing is a key ingredient of any good yearbook, and longer form feature writing can be a part of that. AND it's not hard to do. Watch the Jostens J-class on Feature Writing first, then follow with this lesson with more ideas and a student activity to start or expand your own story list this year.
As page deadlines loom, how is your editing process? Well organized or winging it? Watch the Jostens J-class on Editing Process first, then follow with this lesson with ideas and tips, and a student activity to build or boost your own process.
Don't know what to do with fonts on your pages? Have every font activated on YBA? Then you really need this lesson. Watch the Jostens J-class on Typography, then follow with this lesson and a student activity to check your font usage.
Have you examined how you're using color on your pages? Here's a lesson to get you started. Watch the Jostens J-class on Color, then follow with this lesson and a student activity to get your kids proofing their pages.
There are rules to follow on what you can and cannot do in a yearbook - do you know them? And what SHOULD you do in certain situations. Watch the Jostens J-class on YBA on Legal Issues and Ethics, then follow with this lesson and student activity.
Why not cover topics that students are talking about today? Even controversial ones. Your audience wants to remember how people felt about important topics for years to come. How to do it? Watch the Jostens J-class on Covering Sensitive Topics on YBA, then follow with this lesson and student activity.
How's your page designing? Want to know what's hot this year? Then this lesson is a MUST SEE for great ideas. NOTE: be sure to first watch the Jostens J-Class video "2023 Design Trends" in the YBA Digital Classroom, click J-Classes and watch that video. Then follow with this lesson.
You're making a yearbook - any idea how a book is actually made? Know the terminology? Let's learn the basics with a student activity to check your plans. NOTE: be sure to first watch the Jostens J-Class video "Tour of a Yearbook" in the YBA Digital Classroom, click J-Classes and watch that video. Then follow with this lesson.
Take your caption writing up a notch and tell stories with every caption you write. And it's EASY, here are the basics. NOTE: be sure to first watch the Jostens J-Class video "Advanced Captions" in the YBA Digital Classroom, click J-Classes and watch that video. Then follow with this lesson.
Writing captions is an easy way to add great description to your book. NOTE: be sure to first watch the Jostens J-Class video "Basic Captions" in the YBA Digital Classroom, click J-Classes and watch that video. Then follow with this lesson.
Let's make your page designing job easier and better by using ready-made templates. NOTE: be sure to first watch the Jostens J-Class video "Designing with Templates" in the YBA Digital Classroom, click J-Classes and watch that video. Then follow with this lesson.
He's BAAACK - it's the Yearbook Mad Scientist with a fun idea that's totally MAD, telling student stories all year long using what you already have. Why make everyone wait until your book comes out? Watch this and do this yourself as part of a student activity.
We go a little deeper on how to use social media for yearbook. NOTE: be sure to first watch the Jostens J-Class video "Social Media 101" in the YBA Digital Classroom, click J-Classes and watch that video. Then follow with this lesson.
Not using social media for yearbook? Let's get started - or do even more. NOTE: be sure to first watch the Jostens J-Class video "Social Media 101" in the YBA Digital Classroom, click J-Classes and watch that video. Then follow with this lesson.
Let's get students to better work their interviewing, a true life skill. NOTE: be sure to first watch the Jostens J-Class video "Art of Asking Questions" in the YBA Digital Classroom, click J-Classes and watch that video. Then follow with this lesson.
No need for kids to be intimidated by interviewing, and we show you here with a great student activity. NOTE: be sure to first watch the Jostens J-Class video "Interviewing 101" in the YBA Digital Classroom, click J-Classes and watch that video. Then follow with this lesson.
A great yearbook is all about the stories, about as many people as possible. Why and how? NOTE: be sure to first watch the Jostens J-Class video "Covering People and Personalities" in the YBA Digital Classroom, click J-Classes and watch that video. Then follow with this lesson.
A great yearbook is all about the stories, about as many people as possible. Why and how? NOTE: be sure to first watch the Jostens J-Class video "Covering People and Personalities" in the YBA Digital Classroom, click J-Classes and watch that video. Then follow with this lesson.
Trying a chronological book plan has advantages, let's go over them with a student activity to get them thinking. NOTE: be sure to first watch the Jostens J-Class video "Chronological Book Organization" in the YBA Digital Classroom, click J-Classes and watch that video. Then follow with this lesson.
What organization will you use with your page ladder this year? NOTE: be sure to first watch the Jostens J-Class video "Ladder 101" in the YBA Digital Classroom, click J-Classes and watch that video. Then follow with this lesson.
Once you've started working your theme, let's really dive deep and WORK it. This lesson will show you how. NOTE: be sure to first watch the Jostens J-Class video "Theme Development" in the YBA Digital Classroom, click J-Classes and watch that video. Then follow with this lesson.
Two simple words can help your staff really work a yearbook theme this year and have fun doing it. NOTE: be sure to first watch the Jostens J-Class video "Theme Introduction" in the YBA Digital Classroom, click J-Classes and watch that video. Then follow with this lesson.
Let's add more simple composition techniques for every better images. NOTE: be sure to first watch the Jostens J-Class video "Photo 102" in the YBA Digital Classroom, click J-Classes and watch that video. Then follow with this lesson.
Just three simple techniques can have students taking better pictures, with a fun activity to get them started. NOTE: be sure to first watch the Jostens J-Class video "Photo 102" in the YBA Digital Classroom, click J-Classes and watch that video. Then follow with this lesson.
The cardinal rule of Yearbook should be to have FUN, otherwise let's start over. Watch this lesson with a student activity included. NOTE: be sure to first watch the Jostens J-Class video "Yearbook is Fun!" in the YBA Digital Classroom, click J-Classes and watch this video. Then follow with this lesson.
A great lesson to start with, let's talk about why we do this yearbook project in the first place, and why it is an important part of school life. Watch this lesson with a student activity to get your kids thinking.
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.