9 Tips For Creating An Awesome School Yearbook

With your class spending so much time apart already this year due to the corona virus outbreak, giving each student an extra special yearbook to mark the end of their school year is more important than ever.

Image Credit: Pinterest

 

If you’re the one tasked with the job this year we’re going to help make the whole process a lot more fun. If you get ahead now, while in lockdown, you can create a really personalised and fun yearbook and take away any last minute stress.

 

Image Credit: Pinterest

 

So in no particular order, here are 9 tips for making sure this year’s yearbook is the best yearbook ever!

1] Begin with the right intentions

Teachers face so much admin in their lives and as I write this in April 2020, they are also tasked with virtual learning and marking and keeping their students going during UK lockdown.  But it’s important not to tackle the yearbook like any other piece of admin. 

Yearbooks are treasured forever.

 

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They tell your school’s unique story and every page is special to all your students. Make it funny, memorable and celebratory.

“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory”

Dr Seuss

2] See it as historical proof that you did actually teach the future Bieber

In years to come, how will you prove that you taught  the future Prime Minister or the latest Justin Bieber? This is where the yearbook becomes vitally important!

 


3] Pick a cool template and let the pages flow

Don’t be put off by the fact that you may not be the world’s best designer. Jump onto our online Yearbook Editor and start by choosing a template out of more than 300 and off you go. Pick one of the covers, designed by our art editors, or personalise it even further with a school photo or perhaps all your students’ names. Choose from 850 fonts and make use of a bank of emojis and icons.

Some of the awesome Yearbook Covers designed by our Art Editors!

 

4] Make it a Team Effort

It needn’t be just you organising the yearbook and chasing images and quotes. Put a team together with everyone that can help. You can all log in to the online editor at the same time and add images, text, emojis and icons. You have full control over which pages each team member can edit so there’ll be no embarrassment at the end when you realise a student has changed a friend’s photo caption!

Image Credit: Pinterest

5] Ask awesome interview questions

To give your yearbook it’s own special uniqueness, you need to steer the ship. By asking the right questions, you will bring out hilarious anecdotes and cultural relevance which you just won’t get with ‘what’s your favourite colour?’ answers. Make it fun for the kids to answer their interview questions. You want them to look back and laugh hysterically as they hold their dusty yearbook in their hands (they’re old at this point). Get creative. Head to Pinterest if you need some ideas. 


Here are some of our favourites…

1] What’s the most embarrassing thing that happened to you in school this year?

2] If you and your friends could get together right now and do one activity, what would it be?

3] What TV show/ blog/video game is most talked about at school?

4] What was your favourite school dinner this year? Or your favourite packed lunch?

5] If there is someone in your class who’ll end up on TV, who would it be and what would they be doing?

6] Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

7] If you had to pick one piece of work that you did this year, where you enjoyed doing it and you thought it was great, what would it be?

8] One teacher has to go with you and your friends trampolining and then for milkshakes, who would you pick?

9] What did you love learning about the most this year?

10] What one song from this year will remind you of your friends and being at school?

6] Let the kids lead

Once you’ve allocated roles and individual logins to the online editor, it’s time to sit back and let the kids take the lead. It’s not just the final yearbook that will bring joy, it’s the process of putting it together and you want the kids to enjoy doing it and create yet another memory in the meantime.

Treat the yearbook production as if it were a business. Here are some suggested roles and job titles:

Your role – Staff Rep 

Your job involves selecting which students have access to edit the yearbook, giving final sign off and paying the production bill.

Editor

This job will be deciding what will be included in the book, sorting the copy and ensuring all deadlines are met.

Art Director

This job will involve overseeing designs, deciding the order of pages and coordinating who works on each page.

Photo Editor

This job will be to take photos at school events and encourage other students to supply their photos on time.

Financier

This job will involve collecting payments from students and sponsors, making sure to keep accurate records. 

Sales and Marketing

This job is to sell and advertise your yearbooks to students, using our promotional material to help you.

7] Write GREAT awards

Put some thought into your awards/surveys before sending them to your students to answer. Make use of online survey programs to send out the questions and easily collate the responses. Google Forms  is a nice simple one and it’s free.

Don’t write obvious awards such as ‘The best runner’ – Go a bit deeper to make them more interesting. ‘Who would be able to get away from a cheetah the fastest on foot?’

Others..

‘Most likely to end up in a band’

‘Most likely to end up running the country’

‘Most likely to end up on stage making people howl laughing’

8] Add an ‘A Year In Review’ page

Include a page with all the highlights of that particular year. Especially when that year consists of a UK lockdown due to a virus outbreak. Ask the kids to give you their stand out points in the year since they’ll be looking at life from a different angle.

9] Give prompts when asking students to write their own captions

Encourage your students to write some great captions and give them some ideas to work with. Writing your caption is like writing that first paragraph in your CV. It always makes people feel instantly uncomfortable. Show some really good examples. There are so many on Pinterest. The best ones are the funniest so encourage some uplifting spirit when tackling this one.

Think about using a virtual signing tool like Kudoboard. Great for hosting virtual yearbook signings, where students can say goodbye to each other and celebrate their achievements in a remote & supportive way.

If you want to get cracking on your yearbook right now, get in touch with our team and book in for a quick demo on the online editor. Then simply put together a team and off you go!

Header Image Photo Credit: Image by Bev from Pixabay