discoveries vol17 iss01

YEAR

BOOK

WHAT’S INSIDE

06 MAKING CHRONOLOGICAL COVERAGE WORKIt’s a logical book order that many staffs are liking and using; learn how changing work flow and staff roles can simplify life.

08 WHY GETTING A CRITIQUE MAKES SENSESometimes changes suggested by an informed, neutral observer make it easier to set staff goals and raise the bar.

10 THE POWER OF FULLY CONCEPTUALIZINGWhen every decision about the book is made with intention — in advance — the attention to detail is obvious to all.

12 MOM’S ADVICE WORKS IN YEARBOOK, TOOIf you don’t have a policy for covering the deaths of students and teachers, now is the time to consider creating one.

14 ADVANTAGES OF OFF-CAMPUS LEARNING There’s much to learn in yearbook, and there’s more to a yearbook education than terminology and computer skills.

16 USING COLOR FOR MAXIMUM IMPACTUnderstanding the power of color and knowing strategies for its use improves communication with your readers.

02FEATURE

WELL-REPRESENTEDOnce again, books printed by Herff Jones were recognized for journalistic excellence. See the volumes honored in Crown and Pacemaker competitions.

20FEATURE

MAKING STAFF MEMORIESIn addition to the work of creating the yearbook, you also need to play. Make it a priority to plan activities that build staff relationships and memories.

18 MORE ABOUT NUANCE THAN NEWThree simple principles separate the most amazing books from the masses; see how little details make a big difference.

DISCOVER MOREDOWNLOAD THE FREE MOBILE APP FOR YOUR SMARTPHONE AND ENJOY EXTRA CONTENT WHEREVER YOU SEE THIS TAG! >>

GO TO HTTP://GETTAG.MOBI

VOLUME SEVENTEEN ISSUE ONE

22 LOOKING FOR MORE RESPONSIBILITY?Younger staffers who dream of being editor some day can start working in that direction now; pass this on!

24 YBK, ETC.A former editor remembers her adviser, and all she learned from her years working on publications.

LEADING No matter the measure, scholastic press association awards show books printed by Herff Jones on top.

When the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and the National Scholastic Press Association/Associated Collegiate Press named finalists in their Crown and Pacemaker competitions earlier this year, books printed in 2011 by Herff Jones appeared more often than those printed by any other yearbook company. At spring conventions, when final results were announced, the same was true. A look at those books that appeared on both lists yields the same result — as does the tally of books making either list. Even more amazing? Herff Jones doesn’t just have more than the others... in some cases, it’s more than the others combined!

When it comes to award-winners, Herff Jones schools rock.

From left to right:Eagle Eye View, Sierra MS, Parker, CO Bugle, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VANugget, Cupertino (CA) HS

THE WAYagain

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IH

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ncinitas, C

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Warren E. H

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irman School • L

os Angeles, C

A

06 YEARBOOKDISCOVERIES.COM VOLUME SEVENTEEN ISSUE ONE

Staffs everywhere strive to produce yearbooks that are new and different each year. One of the possibilities for change is book structure… and that’s led staffs to consider books with more sections, with fewer sections and in an array of other formats.

by Mark Novom

CHRONOLOGICAL? Why go

Simply put: It’s the way life happens. So, to us, it makes sense; why organize any other way? We came up with a plan to do our book chronologically and have some advice for others considering the plan.

My staff divided a recent book by month and the spreads in each division were by week. Some weeks

had as many as four spreads dedicated to them while others had just one, depending on the calendar.

SIT DOWN WITH YOUR OLD BOOKGo through every page, and write down every event or organization you covered. This is so that when you are in deep in yearbook craziness, you don’t forget to cover something. It’s not as simple as when traditional topics receive a full (or shared) spread of coverage. You’ll

07VOLUME SEVENTEEN ISSUE ONE YEARBOOKDISCOVERIES.COM

DOWNLOAD SAMPLE SPREAD SHEETS AND START WORKING CHRONOLOGICALLY. http://bit.ly/PYO4KUOR SCAN THIS ENABLED TAGWITH YOUR SMARTPHONE.

need to track photos and copy to make sure that the book is inclusive and the story is complete.

MAKE SPREADSHEETS We had a different spreadsheet for student life and academics and for each sports season or organization. Check out the examples at yearbookdiscoveries.com and you will see that each column represents a week, and in that column, we filled in whether or not that event/group would be either a mod or a dominant package on that spread. There’s lots going on at our school, so we set some limits; once an event/group has a dominant and two mods, it can no longer be covered.

THE THREE-WEEK ROTATION Divide your staff into three clusters which will simply rotate weekly. Each week, you’ll have a different team in each phase of planning/production.

Pre-week is for planning coverage. The cluster meets with the EIC and adviser. Look at the school calendar and reference your spreadsheets to see what needs to be covered and what can’t be covered anymore. Fill out the “spread worksheet” (also at yearbookdiscoveries.com) so the designers and the EIC can move ahead.

On-week is covering the events of the week: taking pictures, interviewing people and writing the copy.

Post-week is spent placing the photos and copy on the spread.

THE LADDERAs you can imagine, the ladder is going to be more complex than usual. Our ladder had eight columns: page number, deadline, week, cluster in charge, dominant, mod #1, mod #2 and mod #3.

THERE WILL BE SOME CHALLENGESSome issues you may encounter along the way: Nothing is happening this week. A staff member might ask, “What if nothing is happening that week?” My response to that is, “Something is always going on.” True, Homecoming only happens once. But when you come across a week when there are no major events, that’s the week that you cover fashion, entertainment, current events or academics. Most kids don’t remember high school because of major events, but because of the everyday routine between classmates and friends.

Plan for the unexpected. We had a lock-down at our school one Friday. We had to cover it as students were locked in rooms for more than two hours! You need to be flexible. We sat down, shuffled things around, and were able to squeeze it into a spread.

Clockwise from top left: Blue Devil, Warren Township HS, Gurnee, IL | Aerie, Brentwood School, Los Angeles, CA | Wingspan, James C. Enochs HS, Modesto, CA | Summit, Smoky Hill HS, Aurora, CO Chronological coverage does not prescribe a certain book plan. Some yearbooks use monthly or seasonal dividers followed by spreads covering the events of each week while others follow with spreads of traditional coverage. Whatever sectional time-based plan you devise, it should be easy for readers to understand.

YEARBOOKDISCOVERIES.COM VOLUME SEVENTEEN ISSUE ONE 08

CRITIQUEDAt the end of each school year, my staff submits their book for critique to both NSPA and CSPA. The critiques generally arrive by the end of summer, often before our editors’ retreat and other camps we attend. As the adviser, I always review the critique before sharing it with the editors so I can prepare myself for student reactions to the critique and anticipate objections they may have. I also highlight the positive feedback to help students recognize all they have done right.

I use the critique to shape discussion with students not only about the book they’ve completed, but more importantly, to shape the discussion about the book they are planning. It is an excellent opportunity to talk about what worked and what didn’t from a variety of perspectives. It is this discussion that serves as a springboard for setting goals for our publication and often inspires my staff to continue the legacy of excellence that has come to be expected of

Advisers and students are so invested in their publications that they often overlook something a neutral observer might see (and a judge might point out as an area for improvement). It’s this kind of critique that trains students to have a critical eye and should inspire in them the desire to do better.

One of the best ways we can

by Tamra McCarthy

get themimprove our publications is to

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VOLUME SEVENTEEN ISSUE ONE YEARBOOKDISCOVERIES.COM 09

HERE'S WHAT HE SAIDAdviser Tamra McCarthy shares the NSPA critique of her staff’s 2012 yearbook with team members attending a summer workshop. The group discussed observations and suggestions as they prepared to set staff goals for the 2013 book.

our publication among new and returning staff members as well as among the school population in general.

Sometimes the best feedback staff members get is the same feedback the adviser has been giving them all semester long. A critique can seem more valid coming from an outside person, even when it might echo the same message communicated by the adviser. The outside objective voice provides a level of feedback and expertise that students respond to because judges aren’t embedded in the process like an adviser is.

Critiques can also improve instruction. My program has grown tremendously because of the effect critiques have had in motivating my staff. They are a great tool for establishing standards for your journalism program and can serve as a tool for measuring and becoming proficient in the skills related to creating a publication people want to buy.

Don’t wait until you think your publication is “good enough” before submitting it for a critique. Get the feedback now regardless of your experience level and then use the critique to shape your agenda.

There is no perfect formula for creating a great book; amazing yearbooks come in all shapes and sizes. But just as we teach our staff members to read, discuss and revise their work over and over again, the same must be true for our work as a whole. Critiques are a great resource for such improvement. So, use it to your advantage. Improve your publication. Build your program. Create a book that your school loves. Create a book that students love.

We all need a little

encouragement and feedback

to be better.

DOWNLOAD INFORMTAION ABOUT CSPA AND NSPA CRITIQUES (AND MEMBERSHIPS)http://bit.ly/PYO4KUOR SCAN THIS ENABLED TAGWITH YOUR SMARTPHONE.

YEARBOOK DISCOVERIES.COM VOLUME SEVENTEEN ISSUE ONE 10

FULLYEverything works together.

CONCEPTUALIZED

when a book has

been

by Brenda Gorsuch

The effort is obvious Even the tiniest details have been considered.

“Everything in Between,” the unifier for the 2012 Clan yearbook, provided a fun and creative way for the staff to tell the story of the year at McLean (VA) HS. Their catchphrase is also a perfect way to describe the difference between the typical yearbook theme and the concept-driven approach seen in many of today’s award-winning books.

In planning their yearbook, the staff made all the decisions impacting “everything in between” the book’s front cover and back cover with the theme in mind. Those decisions included the book’s organization, design, graphic elements, typography, photography and coverage. The simple, but clever cover design starts the theme copy with specific details about the year. The vertical type package appears between patterns of horizontal rule lines. The theme logo in the middle of the copy block is set in an all-caps serif font that features small breaks between the strokes of the letters.

The staff appropriately chose to tell the story of the year in chronological order with spreads representing each of the weeks between summer and the graduation of the Class of 2012. The weeks are divided into sections based on events that provide natural breaks in the year. One of the most creative touches is the way the staff embedded the table of contents into the block of theme copy on the front endsheet. On theme spreads the copy is brief, but it is supplemented with detailed story captions that appear between two rule lines running across the spreads. Layers of coverage include what happens between specific intervals of time and relationships between students, faculty and the community. The staff of the Clan left nothing to chance. Their carefully planned and skillfully executed concept resulted in a fresh and unique yearbook — a book that demonstrates the impact of a fully conceptualized theme.

VOLUME SEVENTEEN ISSUE ONE YEARBOOK DISCOVERIES.COM 11

OTHER IDEAS TO NOTE:

CONCEPTUALIZED

The pattern of type and rule lines on the cover is repeated to provide the required information on the spine and the endsheet. Similar copy blocks appear on the two theme spreads at the beginning of each section.

The folios in the 2012 Clan provide a valuable aid for the reader. The design of the folios subtly reinforces the “Everything in Between” theme with numbers placed between horizontal rule lines. On the bottom left side of the spread, a vertical rule line appears between the page number and the dates of the week covered on the spread; on the right page, a vertical rule line appears between the page number and a list of the topics covered.

The theme copy on the cover promises to tell what happens “between breaks, between classes, between us.” Layers of coverage include mods about what happens between specific intervals of time (6) and relationships between students, faculty and the community. A mod in the freshman section shares the stories of students who live between the two houses of their divorced parents. (7)

The content spreads appear between divider pages that highlight important events during breaks in the school year, including summer, Columbus Day, end of the first quarter, Thanksgiving, winter break, the end of the second quarter and President’s Day.

1

3

6 7 8

4 5

2

1,2,3 4,5 6,7 8


CAMPUS DEATHS

by Meghan Percival

CoveringIt’s the plan you hope you’ll never have to use.

Odyssey, Chantilly (VA) HS Following their policy which says that editoral coverage will be used following a student death, this mod appeared on the speech and debate spread the following year.


This is some really good advice my mom gave me years ago and, while it applies to all areas of life, it’s especially relevant for yearbook advisers and staffs. When a student or faculty member dies, it impacts the entire school community, including yearbook staffers and advisers. While the greater community will have time to grieve, yearbook staffs on deadline may not have much time to make some very important decisions. This is why your staff should create an obituary policy now.

To get started, look at sample obituary policies from other yearbook staffs. As you evaluate and tweak these policies to create something that works for your school, here are a few things you will want to think about and discuss:

Would we be comfortable implementing this policy regardless of how the person passed away?

“ Never make important decisions when you are upset.”

Does the policy take into consideration printing deadlines? What will you do if someone dies after your final proofs have been submitted? What if someone dies after the book comes out? Would you be able to use your policy, even if several people passed away during the same year? As documentarians of the year, your staff will likely want to cover how the tragedy has impacted your school. If hundreds of people show up for a vigil or a group of students paint a mural in memoriam, your reporters should be there to cover the event. How will you cover these events that are certainly newsworthy but at the same time remain sensitive to the intense emotions your school and yearbook staff are likely experiencing? An obituary policy is a lot like insurance; you hope you never have to use it, but when you need it, you’ll be glad it’s there. A carefully crafted policy can make a difficult time a little bit easier for you and your staff and may evenprovide some comfort to a grieving family and community.

CAMPUS DEATHS

DOWNLOAD SAMPLE OBITUARY POLICIES AND MEMORIALS TO HELP YOU REVISIT OR ESTABLISH YOUR OWN POLICY.http://bit.ly/PYO4KUOR SCAN THIS ENABLED TAGWITH YOUR SMARTPHONE.



“…six, seven, uh, has anyone seen Jim? Oh good, eight. We’re all here. Let’s go to sessions!”

Although head counting plays a big part when you take students to a workshop or convention, the inspiration and educational benefits it brings to your staff are immeasurable.

When you take students to these conventions, you are building a team, you are motivating your staff, and you are teaching them about travel. In addition to local, state and regional meetings, JEA/NSPA and CSPA offer three multi-day national conventions each year filled with 50-minute sessions ranging from design to copy writing. Speakers are brought in from all across America enabling the convention to offer a wide-range of expertise to students. While the JEA/NSPA convention are held in different cities each year (San Antonio this fall and San Francisco this spring), CSPA is in New York City each March as thousands of student journalists invade the campus of Columbia University.

As a staff, we try to attend both the fall and spring conventions when possible. Though we’re hoping for different kinds of information and inspiration depending on the time of year, the trips operate in very much the same fashion.At the end of each convention day,

my staffers gather to go through their notes and talk about what they learned during the sessions. Ideas flow and the excitement is contagious. They make a whole new set of notes for what they want to implement in the current year’s publication during these discussions.

These dialogues create a connection among the staff and everyone is filled with a strong commitment for the project. They all get to feel like team players, and they cannot wait to share these new ideas with the others.

Not only does your staff leave the convention inspired and more unified, but each individual also learns about travel and the world around him because the conventions are in a different city every time. For instance, they learn about public transportation and experience the culture of each city. They grow as individuals during these trips away from the safety net of parents and a familiar setting. This is a life skill they will use forever. This is education at its greatest.

Although traveling with students has its challenges, the skills your students obtain during these conventions are perhaps some of the most important skills they will learn during their high school career. They go to learn about journalism, and they leave inspired, understanding a little more about themselves and the world around them.

Attending workshops and conventions motivates your staffers and allows them to grow as journalists, giving them a set of skills they can apply to just about any career.

Minneapolis, NYC, Orlando, Austin, Seattle, San Antonio, Chicago, San Francisco

TOP 4 REASONS for a student to attend

A JOURNALISM

*as told by current and former high school studentsCONVENTION*

FILE PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHRIST PRESBYTERIAN ACADEMY


EDUCATIONby Heather Nagel

A variety of

ALL IN IT TOGETHER When a staff goes to a convention, there is a closeness and bond that is formed. You enter into a whole new area of teaching, one where you can connect to the students as individuals. They get to know their adviser on a different level, as well, and a strong bond is

formed that will last throughout the year, making it a fun and productive year. While in Seattle, WA, as we visited the sights around the city, my students would jump into others’ photos, doing what they called a “photo bomb.” So, my other chaperone, my Herff Jones Representative, and I decided to jump into one of

theirs. This shows the personal connection you can make with your staff while away on these trips. Building that bond with one another really helps to make the yearbook that much better throughout the year because what you do goes beyond the classroom in journalism. It is like a mini business, and the

students, as well as you, need to be invested in the project in order to make it the best it can be. A way to be invested is to develop a relationship, a team that will not let each other down. You can develop this relationship while on the convention trip without the distractions of a daily school routine.



Benjamin Franklin had it right when he advised “Moderation in all things...” Although he may not have known how appropriate his comment was to color use in publications, his words ring true for yearbook staffs and everyone involved in print communications.

Putting color on every inch of a spread or filling every page with a color background might be tempting, but designers would do well to follow Franklin’s advice and avoid color that overwhelms the content. If the spread begins to look like a bag of Skittles was just poured over it, the color use has probably been over done.

COLORby Linda Puntney role ofThe

is to enhance the story and the design(not to become the story).

GREEN

PINK

ORANGE

RED

BLUE

Life, well being

and nature

Love and beauty

Healing, endurance

and knowledge

Action, confidence,

vitality and courage

Truth and

peace


is to enhance the story and the design(not to become the story).

Sjköld, Corning Painted Post West HS, Painted Post, NY The Sjköld staff did an excellent job of echoing two colors from the dominant photo. These colors were also used as theme colors in the book. Note the strong photo, white background and tasteful use of a touch of color and not a complete wash of the page.

The Legend, Atlee HS, Mechanicsville, VA

The Legend staff used a soft-focus, full-bleed photo to create a

background for this story on archery. The gold tones of the photo give a

warm feel and help unite the spread. The contrast of the cool tones of

the blue shirt are effective and the vertical arrows in the foreground give

strength and power to the spread. Using the brown background for the copy provides the order and

structure the reader wants.

Professional publications like ESPN the Magazine, New Beauty, National Geographic, Gun and Garden, Real Simple, Spirit and Esquire let the photos do the talking by placing them on a clean, white background. The focus is on the content of the photo(s) and the readability of the design rather than the number of colors that can be used as backgrounds. The use of color or a full-bleed photo as a background is limited to special pages, and — even then — the focus is on the content of the spread rather than the background.

Colors can be warm or cool. Spreads that layer warm and cool colors can be very effective when the cool color (blue, for instance) contrasts with a warm color like red. Professional publications and yearbook staffs use color in a variety of ways to help their readers understand the concept of their work:As reader entry pointsTo reinforce the color in the lead photoTo unify sectionsTo create balanceTo create a moodTo add emphasis on particular portions of the design

Franklin would agree color should be used like most people use Tabasco sauce — sparingly and with purpose. Just a little will brighten the taste and add flavor and excitement to the main dish or to the story.

REDBROWN

BLACK

GOLD

YELLOW

WHITE

Order, convention,

earth

Somber,

serious subjects

Wealth and

wisdom

Wisdom, joy

and happiness

Purity

COLORS DENOTE EMOTIONS AND SHOULD BE CHOSEN TO REFLECT THE MOOD OF THE SPREAD.

••••••


Each year when I study newly released yearbooks, I make some of the same observations.

If I had to describe the books I see as the freshest, most amazing each year in five words or less, I’d say they are

There are certain popular ideas that are easy to spot; clearly staffs from coast to coast study many of the same publications. So when bright colors/rounded corners/small photos came into vogue, they flooded books large and small, east and west and everywhere in between. This year, we saw distinctive color palettes, lots of full-bleed photos with content layered on top and a continued used of sans serif fonts.

Though there are hundreds of great books in the room, there are always some that stand out. They distinguish themselves in ways so subtle that new staffers might not even notice.

They follow guidelines that lead to effective visual communication and bend the rules in ways that ensure both a fresh approach and a message that’s clear to the readers. This year, there were three traits common to the books I found most intriguing:

NOT PREDICTABLEWe saw lots of great design, but even some of the beautiful books felt repetitious or templated after a while. The stand-outs both varied the kinds of supporting stories told and the formats used to share the details. Many also interjected with spreads that broke the flow and consistency of the section to announce the appearance of a related feature or profile. EASY EYE FLOW When it comes to fresh photo packages, there’s a definite flow that leads the readers across or around the spread. To me, this creates current packages with more impact than the customary pinwheels around a dominant that have been in great books for decades. STUDIED TYPE PACKAGING This is an area that really separates the best of the best books. Whether a staff chooses to use a single font that has a range of weights and widths or several fonts with distinct purposes, they have the option to vary size, capitalization pattern, color, alignment and other attributes. When you study magazines with beautifully designed type, you’ll notice that they generally incorporate three different attributes into the main type package.

by Paul EnderNUANCEthan new

more about


EASY EYE FLOW There is an actual path from the dominant photo to the other images in the cluster. Rather than the almost static pinwheel of supporting photos in varying sizes off the dominant, this arrangement of images literally leads the readers’ eyes across the spread. In recent years, designers on several yearbook staffs have mastered this flow in vertical and diagonal variations as well, avoiding the threat of visial redundancy. Notice that the content of the dominant both commands attention as the head size of the subject is larger than in any other shot and leads the reader onto (rather than off of) the spread.Wingspan, Enochs HS, Modesto CA

NOT PREDICTABLE Remember that the beauty of having so many different options for coverage is that the design team has the opportunity to use whichever format best tells the story on each spread. Don’t create a book that feels the same spread after spread by settling on a favorite mod and using it repeatedly. And work to incorporate typefaces and color palettes that feel different than those used in last year’s book. The Hawk, Pleasant Grove HS, Texarkana, TX

STUDIED TYPE PACKAGING While both parts of the attention-grabbing main head are the same size and color, the weight and capitalization patterns vary. The secondary heading is reversed from the gray bar, introducing white type, which appears in a different size and weight than other display type. Each supporting package of type displays the same attention to detail. Rampages, Casa Roble HS, Orangevale, CA


TLCA strong staff requires a close-knit group willing to support one another. Throughout the year we try to incorporate fun into the process of getting the book completed. At the beginning of the year, my editors often give out survival bags that include reporters notebooks, yearbook T-shirts, free snack cabinet certificates and toys. We also recognize everyone’s birthday and take a day to celebrate most holidays. For Halloween we’ve had costume contests, games and pumpkin decorating. For Thanksgiving and Christmas we usually do some sort of gift exchange like a white elephant or secret “snowflake.” But, our annual Valentines Day celebration is one everyone looks forward to. Just like in grade school, each student decorates a lunch bag and brings in Valentines for the others. The real fun is in our cake-decorating contest. Teams plan their cakes and they spend the day decorating.

I bring in some other teachers to judge the winners.

Another annual event began years ago when we received some heart-shaped stress balls. The TV, newspaper and yearbook staff members started playing “heart attack” which, as you can imagine involved people lurking in corners for surprise attacks and others trying to avoid being hit. This game evolved into what is now named SHFT (super happy fun time). In short, each of the three teams makes T-shirts and we spend a few hours one Saturday playing a variety of competitive games (limited athletic ability required). We even have a traveling trophy and awards. All of these activities break up the stress of deadlines and, even though we often feel like we don’t have time to take a day off, they have become a necessary part of our success though the years.

Let’s face it; producing a yearbook can be challenging and sometimes staff members don’t perform exactly as I wish. However, I often remind myself that my students don’t have to take yearbook. It’s an elective and one that offers them more challenges and demands than many other courses. While I’m sometimes frustrated, I try to keep things in perspective and create an atmosphere where kids thrive and want to come back year after year.

each day to help the staff be happy and productive.

by Margie DiCesare

Being on yearbook is tough work, but we try to incorporate

a little

FILE P

HOTO

S COU

RTES

Y OF C

ORON

A DE

L SOL

HS

SUPER HAPPY FUN TIME Teams, dressed in T-shirts designed especially for the event, participate in an egg toss during one of the SHFT competitions. Held in January 2012, the newspaper staff took home the championship trophy during the fourth annual event.

GAME WRAP-UP Armed with two rolls of toilet paper, teams wrap the willing participant to get the best looking mummy in as little time as possible during the Halloween festivities.

FINAL TOUCHES OF PERFECTION During the annual Valentines Day cake-decorating contest, Lindsay Wilson and Amy Backus concentrate on frosting their creation. Students filled the Valentines bags with candy and cards before “owners” took them off the classroom wall.

CAKES CAN HAVE THEMES TOO Carefully adding a cascade of frosting, Anna Kreisheimer and Frankie DiCesare create a waterfall for their jungle-themed cake. Teams of four to five students work together to design cakes for the annual Valentines Day competition.

1

2

3

4


1

2 3 4


UP,

Acting with intention can make you the one that everyone sees as the staffer who really knows what’s up while making your editor look great. Next thing you know, you’ll be in the driver’s seat.

“Managing up” is not something I made up. Google it; there are lots of great resources out there. It’s standard training for middle managers as well as new employees in large organizations — and it’s really nothing new in the business world. Let’s look at how it can work in our yearbook and newspaper organizations too.

Basically, the idea is that, even when you don’t hold the power in an organization as a leader, you can still bring about positive change and results by thinking and acting beyond whatever your assigned role is. This can be helpful all the way around if you have editors and/or an adviser who are extremely overworked.

Before we run through some tips for successfully earning additional responsibility on staff, it’s important to note that I’m not talking about kissing up; kissing up is FAKE. This is real, because the point of it is to benefit to you and your entire staff. Read on for ideas.

Make your staff more efficient and allow newbies to shine by understanding

and utilizing the concept of

SIDEWAYS&DOWN

managing

I had several jobs before I became a teacher. I worked as a reporter/editor, then in college communications, marketing and advertising. In every work or work-like situation I have ever known, I have encountered people who made things harder than they really needed to be — more complicated than necessary — and, often, they were the boss-type people. While they might do this to make themselves seem more important or to be in control, I have learned some things along the way that everyone can do — whether you are low on the totem pole or kind of in the middle, to make your own lives better and to allow the whole organization to work more efficiently.

by Betsy Brittingham


CONSIDER THESE POSSIBILITIES:

Not sure what you could

do to make a difference on staff ? UNDERSTAND EVERYONE’S REALM OF RESPONSIBILITY.Think of all the things your editor and adviser juggle:

Design: creativity, production, fine tuningWriting: angles and ideas, contacts, spelling, grammarBusiness: budgets, strategy, promotion

Is there something you can take responsibility for?

DO YOUR THING AND DO IT WELL.Make sure you are awesome at what you do. Try new roles; learn from others. Gain specialized knowledge by learning and practicing new skills. Warning: Do not step on any toes!

It’s great to stretch and try new things, but OFFER help and volunteer when the opportunity presents itself. Be open about your interests, not sneaky. For example, the design editor would probably NOT be too happy if you snuck onto one of her pages and tried your hand at redesigning it… But the photo editor might be happy to teach you how to do a cutout or how to plug photos into a mod. People have a tendency to be very territorial — and sensitive to even the most constructive suggestions, so be careful.

KNOW WHAT MAKES YOUR EDITORS TICKThink about both personal and “professional” agendas. How can you help the leadership team meet goals? Happy editors/advisers = happy staff. Plus, you’ll be seen as an agent of goodness.

CONSIDER YOUR STRENGTHSConsider doing some kind of a personality type assessment as a staff. It can be fun and it’s helpful to think about your own tendencies/traits and to discuss ways to work together effectively.

USE YOUR POWERS FOR GOODBe a cheerleader for others’ work. It’s contagious. Choose the right time to suggest changes/improvements and be mindful of your tone. Be there. Arrive early, stay late and don’t complain about it. If you do need to vent, don’t do it on Facebook!

TO CONSIDER Tips1

2

3

4

5

BE A CALENDAR AND SCHEDULING MAVEN

ORGANIZE & CLEAN

Volunteer to keep track of sports, club meetings, performances. Jot down notes during the announcements (there are often deadlines and dates mentioned). You could bridge the gap between the editors and the photo team.

BE THE COPY

RUN THE INDEX

Editor in Chief

BE TH

EFUN

THINK ABOUT

FUNNY1 Bring laughter into the staffroom when appropriate; make being in yearbook more fun.

You’ll look like you are on top of things.

Book SalesThere might be less demand for positions on the business team because not everyone understands that this team is the one who makes the yearbook of the staff’s dream possible!

Beginning with the first deadline, run the index to make lists of those students who have already been covered enough and those who staffers should make efforts to include.

If you have a natural eye for typos, offer your services. Study the AP Style Guide and your staff’s own version (or offer to create one). Check out Grammar Girl for great tips (www.GrammarGirl.com)

YEARBOOKDISCOVERIES.COM VOLUME SEVENTEEN ISSUE ONE 24

I met Coz in 1995. He was big and loud, and I was determined not to be scared by his booming voice. The first thing he told me was I’d never make it in journalism because my penmanship was too good. He and I laughed about that as I held his hand in the hospice.

John David Cosgrove — or “Coz,” as almost everyone called him — taught beginning journalism at Tucson’s Salpointe Catholic High School and was the adviser for the school’s newspaper, yearbook and literary magazine.

In his spare time, Coz ran the school bookstore, put out the school football program and alumni magazine, and for many years sat on the board of the Arizona Interscholastic Press Association. The AIPA news- and feature-writing boot camp that Coz co-directed was the predecessor to last weekend’s workshop at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Coz’s story really is the story of the importance of journalism in schools, the story of a strong mentor in a young person’s life and the story of students who stayed committed to a teacher for more than 40 years.

We all met him at the perfect points in our lives. We needed what journalism could provide us: learning to question authority in positive, productive and creative ways. And we needed what Coz could provide us: an honest teacher, a caring adult and the second home we found in Room 425.

I flew in on a Tuesday to see my old friend. Disease was taking his body and painkillers were slurring his speech, but Coz immediately said my name when I walked into the room.

Sitting at his bedside, I told Coz about all the former students who’d reached out to send their love and others who’d been able to visit. He perked up with every name.

We had talked two days earlier on the phone, but I hadn’t been able to make out any words. Just before that, Coz told me he had the discussion

ETC.YBK

,

“Coz’s story really is the story of

the importance of journalism in schools,

the story of a strong mentor

in a young person’s life

and the story of students who

stayed committed to a teacher

Few high school publications staffers get the chance that Jen Levario Cieslak recently had. The former EIC from Salpointe Catholic HS in Tucson, AZ went on to work as a senior page designer at the Arizona Republic before starting JL Cieslak Creative in 2011.

Her tribute to her high school adviser, Dave Cosgrove, appeared in the Republic in July, following his death. Headlined “Journalism teacher was strong mentor for 40 years,” the piece shares her thoughts about the value of working on publications and the impact advisers have on their students.

This complete version of her piece was an eloquent goodbye: Remembering

COZwith his doctors to move to hospice. They wanted to make him comfortable. He wanted to go home to take care of his cats.

A steady stream of students — four decades’ worth of students — were at Coz’s bedside in the days before he died on June 14, brought gifts to his funeral and are caring for his two cats until they find homes.

He was our family.

I accepted my first big-paper internship on Coz’s advice: “Kid, that’s kind of a big deal.” I landed my first newspaper job when the editor said, “Anyone who worked for Coz can work for me.”

The big guy was right about a lot of things, but he was wrong about one thing. I did end up “making it” — thanks to Coz.

for more than 40 years.”

discoveries vol17 iss01

Documents

herff jones doesnt

amazing books

herff jones schools

tally of books

yearbook education

yearbook company

staff roles

staff relationships