yearbook theme lesson plans

Yearbook Class: What to Teach the First Six Weeks

You thought yearbook class was just putting pictures on pages. Then a roster arrived. Then the expectations to meet state and national standards for ELA, CTE, and 21st Century Learning . Cue migraine.

The yearbook heroes at Treering know the difficulties new advisers face ( shameless plug: that’s why we’ve created a contract-free, flexible yearbook solution ) and we’ve created six weeks worth of material for your yearbook class. Spoiler alert: bonus yearbook class management tools just-for-advisers are at the bottom.

If it’s your first year advising, select one or two areas on which to focus. As your program develops, deepen those areas and add a new growth target.

For example, year one, you may want to focus on theme development and photography. Year two, expand those areas and add storytelling captions. Year three, further develop your writers with feature stories. Repeat after me, “I won’t do it all! I won’t do it all!”

Week 1 Goal: Build a Mission-Centered Yearbook Staff

Teambuilding.

Every day, do something to help your team grow in familiarity with one another. Start with something simple, such as Birthday Lineup followed by some cake. To reinforce all the new names, Hero-Shambo is a raucous way to inspire team spirit while putting names to the faces.

Spend some time understanding personalities as well. Free online tests can provide discussion start points. Debrief either by grouping students who scored similarly and have them discuss what resonated with them and potential misconceptions. Groups could even create a poster or mood board reflecting their strengths.

Theme Development

As your year, and your book, should be focused on telling the story, theme development is top priority. Start with a SWOT analysis . Then list all the changes, new initiatives, and differences that make this school year stand out from the last five. Are you doing a building project? Did you add an international program? Is there new leadership? Did you merge with another school? Is this the first senior class that’s gone all the way through from kindergarten?

How can you convey this story this year ?

Many times, our students come up with a catch phrase and want it to dictate the content. Your story—whether you have a visually strong, photographic book, or a journalistic yearbook full of features— should lead your look . Our Yearbook Theme Curriculum Module can help.

Photography

There are three beginning photo exercises in Treering’s free yearbook curriculum. Spend some time getting to know your team’s cameras before jumping in. This may also be time to involve the editorial staff: assign an exercise for each to learn and facilitate.

Start asking your yearbook students a question of the day . (If you have a large class, you may want to poll 3-5 students each period for time.) Before the next class, your yearbook students should ask that same question to three other students (no repeats). If you have 12 yearbook students, that’s 36 student quotes you can include in a sidebar each day, 180 each week! Use a Google form to input responses and track respondents. This not only increases coverage possibilities, but it warms up your student body to be pursued and peppered by your yearbook students!

Week 2 Goal: Set and Slay Yearbook Goals

Photography and design.

Begin the week with a photo scavenger hunt . Use the results to introduce your procedures for file naming conventions, uploading, and tagging. Model how to design a spread with their snaps.

Introduce yearbook vocabulary then grab some magazines to play a grown-up version of show and tell. Reward students who can find eyelines, ledes, and serif vs. san serifs fonts!

Further demonstrate the principles of design and get in your yearbook software to recreate some of the layouts you loved in the magazines. You should be in your design application 2/3 of the week so you staff gets comfortable.

Since focus this week is on goal-setting, use communication games such as Blind Polygon or adapt Minefield for your classroom. In both scenarios, identify the goal and evaluate what worked and what didn’t when you are finished. 

Revisit the personality profiles from week one—what effect did they have on students’ problem-solving and communication?

It’s also time to revisit your SWOT and story-of-the-year brainstorm. Think of your senses: how does it feel, sound, smell, and look? (Don’t worry, we’re not going to encourage tasting your yearbook!)

Determine tangible ways to convey the story of your year. In the Design Module , starting on slide 20, we talk about color and fonts. Both are two key visuals to harness the essence of your theme.

For example, If your yearbook theme is Move Mountains , you are going to want to use colors and fonts that are bold, signifying strength.

Continue your question of the week, and evaluate the process. Where are students struggling?  If fear is a hindrance, watch Jia Jiang: What I learned from 100 days of rejection . If it’s procrastination, watch Tim Urban: Inside the mind of a master procrastinator . In your debrief, develop concrete strategies such as a few scripted lines or a schedule.

Make it a point to consistently market your book and your program. It’s possible to plant proverbial seeds for next year’s staff in September!

Teaching Yearbook: Making a Marketing Plan

Week 3 Goal: Build your Team’s Toolbox

Begin holding weekly staff meetings. In these meetings, discuss event and photo assignments for the week, when your next deadline is, and have every staff member give a 15-second update of their work. A simple, “Here’s what I’m doing, and here’s what I need to do” will keep it focused. You’re building a culture of a accountability.

Editors can also lead meeting by using the first 15 minutes of class to developing a skill: shooting in classrooms with fluorescent lights, sharpening images in Photoshop, cropping images, etc.

Evaluate the question of the day. Have students put last week’s action plan into play? What percentage of the student body has been asked? Discuss with your staff where you will begin incorporating these quotes and what questions you can ask to tie-in with your yearbook theme.

Start a word graveyard: on a prominent bulletin board, list “dead” words and phrases. Have a reason why you’re dumping one: for example, many athletes will say their team is a “family” as will ASB, the dance company, the math department, etc. Teach interview skills to develop this: what drives your bond? Tell me a way a teammate was dependable. What traditions do you have that make you like a family? Get the story .

Go to slide 46 of the Design Module in Treering’s free-to-all curriculum. Develop your style guide and decide which elements (e.g. bleed, color overlays) will enhance the story you are telling this year. Your editorial staff should begin building templates in your design software. By the end of the third week, your entire team should be comfortable doing basic tasks in your design platform.

Teaching Yearbook: Graphic Design

Week 4 Goal: Progress!

Using comics or stock photos, create Comic Creations . Then, with a partner, students should list three questions they could have asked to get the quote. Use your word graveyard and our Yearbook Storytelling Module as needed to build stronger questions.

Teach the expanded caption using the Comic Creations quotes. You may want to first show NSPA’s Terrible Leads as a non-example before modeling your own yearbook gold.

Theme Development and Design

Evaluate your style guide and templates using NSPA’s design checklist ; adjust as necessary. This is a good time to pause and remember our mantra: “I won’t do it all! I won’t do it all!”

Use an idiom dictionary to create spin offs for your theme. Let’s return to our Move Mountains theme. For recurring modules, you could use:

• On the Move (field trips, grade promotions, new students)
• Movers and Shakers (profiles of students active in the community, dance team)
• What’s Your Mountain? (fears, great achievements, feature stories of students and staff overcoming and obstacle)
• Bust a Move (how to throw a fastball, do a trending TikTok dance, roll your “rr” in Spanish)

By now, your students should be photographing class activities, school events, and sports practices and competitions regularly. Have your editorial team select some photos of the month to show on a projector. Discuss, as a group, what made the photographs standout in their composition and storytelling. Elicit advice from the photographer. Share top photos on social media with a call to action: “Want to see more? Buy a Yearbook!

Create a social media calendar and assign posts to students. Each post should be approved, in writing, by an editor and another student before going live. You may want to utilize a group messaging system or a shared document to track approval and content.

Week 5 Goal: Momentum

Before this week’s staff meeting, ask an editor and a staff member to each select a Yearbook Hero to celebrate. Share the love on social.

Introduce peer evaluation by partnering two students, equipping them with a rubric , and asking them to evaluate a strong example of design. Because it’s “easy” to critique something weak, this forces students to understand why a layout works. 

Allow students to sign up for one-on-one sessions with you, and possibly your editor in chief,  during class where they can have undivided coaching.

During your next editorial meeting, ask the team to brainstorm theme-related

• Photo shoots for your yearbook group photo
• Deadline parties
• Service opportunities

Photography, Design, and Reporting

After your weekly staff meetings, you should have a good idea of the the page statuses for the yearbook. Your team will continuously be in a cycle of photographing-reporting-designing. Monitor progress by continuing to set and track goals. Break up the monotony by adding in relevant skill-building lessons and—dare I say it—nothing. Sometimes, a study hall so your students can catch up is a great way to show you value their time and commitment to all things yearbook.

Week 6 Goal: Establish Routine

Rest assured you created consistency and accountability with a weekly team meeting. Because of this, students know their weekly assignments such as social media posts and photo shoots. All of your yearbook team is trained on your software, and with peer editing, a safe dialogue and pre-disclosed standards will refine areas of growth. Is it perfect? No. Will it ever be? No. And that’s OK!

Remember your role: advise

BONUS Resources for Yearbook Advisers

• Program mission and vision
• Key tenets of your program
• Code of conduct for staff members
• Grading sheet
• AP Style Cheat Sheet
• Staff contract and org chart
• Any account info
• How-to: check out equipment, conduct/schedule an interview, create a QR code, post (appropriately) on social media
• Day-to-day: file naming conventions, work flows, project management tips
• Current year style guide
• Special cases: retirements, obituaries  
• Structure your staff  
• Spell out your expectations on your syllabus  
• Create a year-long calendar and coverage planner  
• Get professional help; yearbook events such as JEA’s annual convention are a mainstay 
• Student Press Law Center  

QR Code is a registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED.

More Yearbook Curriculum

Yearbook Theme Ideas: How to Start a Yearbook Theme?

• Jessica Cook
• Categories : High school english lesson plans grades 9 12
• Tags : High school lesson plans & tips

What is a theme?

In a yearbook, the theme is the idea that will express the story of the school year. The theme is carried out through the text, photos, and layout designs on every page of the yearbook. Think of it as the thesis statement for the yearbook; every page created relates back to the thesis in some way.

A theme should be specific to one year at one school; even if the theme itself is somewhat generic, it should be used in a way that is unique. Once your staffers have chosen the theme, they will need to brainstorm ways to incorporate it throughout the book, both verbally and visually.

If you want a creative and catchy theme, but are unsure where to begin, try these ideas:

- Yearly Theme. If this is a special year in the history of your school, tie the theme into that history. The theme could be “Bicentennial Men and Women,” if it’s your school’s bicentennial. Or, if it’s the 4th year your school has been open, consider a theme like “Four Score!” or “Quarter Time.” In the year 2007, several yearbook staffs used a spy theme with the “007” connection to the year.

- Mascot Tie-In. The theme can revolve around the school’s mascot. If the mascot is some type of bird, consider a theme involving flight, such as “Taking Flight” or “Soaring Above.” If the mascot is a large cat, you might choose a theme like “On the Prowl.”

- School Colors. A color theme, such as “Red, White, and True Blue” or “The Golden Standard” can be chosen.

- Catch Phrases. Choose popular or catchy phrases for the theme, too. They don’t have to relate directly to your school on the surface; that part will come later when you develop your theme. Consider using catch phrases like, “One in a Million” or “Simply the Best.” Just remember, the theme should actually apply to the school; if you can’t think of anything within the school that applies, it’s time to pick a different theme.

- Visual Symbols. Sometimes themes are wordless. They might include a shape, like a circle or a square; they might be a series of colors or an “X” design. These types of themes are gaining popularity, but can be difficult to incorporate.

Whichever theme is chosen, remember, it should relate to this particular school year, be easily identified and understood by your readers, and incorporated verbally and visually throughout the book.

Verbal Theme Tie-Ins

Here are some ideas for verbally incorporating a theme throughout the yearbook. For an example, I’ll use the last yearbook theme my students used: In a Flash .

- The Yearbook Title. More often than not, your theme will be the title of the yearbook. Put the title on the front cover so readers will recognize the theme right away.

- The Headlines of the Book. Individual spread headlines can also incorporate the theme. We used our theme in our section titles; for example, “Flash of Enthusiasm” became the title of our Clubs & Organizations section. You can use a word from your theme in your verbal tie-ins, or a word that relates to your theme in some way.

- The Theme Copy. On a few pages of the yearbook, have actual copy (text) of theme-related information. Start with your opening spread. Explain the theme and story of the year. Incorporate the theme on the introductory pages for each section of the book. An experienced editor or copywriter should create the text for these pages. Our theme pages referred to how high school is over “in a flash,” and also about how each moment in your year is like a little memory “flash” that will be preserved in your memory and yearbook for the rest of your life.

Visual Tie-Ins

Also, tie the theme into your book visually. Try these ideas:

- The Cover Art. For the theme, “In a Flash,” we used a photography visual theme. We wanted our yearbook to look like a personal scrap book, so our cover was done in a style to make it look like brown leather. It had Polaroid-style photos on it and other mementos from the high school experience, such as a student ID card and a varsity letter.

- The Layout/Page Design. Inside the yearbook, we continued to use Polaroid-style photos on several pages, created to look as if they had been pasted onto the book, as if a student had created a scrapbook page. We added sections for student quotations, much like a student might write in another student’s yearbook or scrapbook.

- The Folio Design. The folio is the place on the page where the page numbers are. Our folio included a film strip graphic.

Teaching Theme

Theme is an abstract concept, so it can be difficult to teach. Use these ideas to teach high school students about yearbook themes:

- Demonstrate Using a Yearbook. Use a yearbook from a previous school year, or ask your publisher to provide extra copies of award-winning yearbooks to use. Show students how the theme was incorporated.

- Become Yearbook Critics. Ask your students to critique yearbooks from previous years or other schools. If you attend yearbook workshops in the summer, chances are you have a shelf full of yearbooks for this activity. Ask students to explore the theme designs in other yearbooks and brainstorm what they like and do not like about the way the themes were developed.

- Brainstorm Sessions. Have students work in small groups to list things that come to mind when they think of your school. The words they list can be developed into a theme. For example, if they think of a record of state championships, then you might use the word “champions” somewhere in your theme.

- Mini Yearbook. I had students in my Yearbook Prep (an introductory class) create “mini yearbook” projects. They thought of a theme and created a series of spreads (a half a dozen or so) on graph paper that incorporated the theme verbally and visually. I saved the best projects from these assignments for future inspiration in yearbook theme development.

When your students devise a theme, make sure the whole staff understands how to incorporate it into the book. Make sure it can tie in verbally and visually on every page of the publication, from introduction to index. It must be positive and memorable, and one your whole staff can buy into. If you have accomplished this, then you’ve gone a long way in creating your yearbook. Now, it is time to fill in the pages.

This post is part of the series: Teaching Yearbook

Find ideas and inspiration for teaching yearbook students. Explore yearbook skills, lesson plans, and creative ideas for managing a yearbook staff and producing a publication you’ll be proud to call your own.

• Teaching Yearbook Theme Development
• Teaching Yearbook: Staff Organization
• Yearbook Tips: Caption Writing Lesson Plan
• Managing a High School Yearbook Staff: Photographers

By Your Side

Category: yearbook lesson plans, our 5 best yearbook tips to get the year started.

Year-End Yearbook Ideas – The Final Five

Year End Yearbook Ideas–Planning Ahead

• Knowledge Base
• Adviser Resources

Yearbook Curriculum Guide

• Classroom Resources
• Template Design
• Yearbook Theme
• Created October 3, 2019
• Author Jackie Lacorte
• Category Curriculum , Template Design , Yearbook Theme

Give your yearbook class or club a jump start with our Entourage Yearbook Curriculum! Designed by past yearbook advisers, this curriculum will go over everything you need to make your yearbook project a success!

Download the full curriculum guide here, this guide is broken down into 5 weeks:, week 1: teamwork and publication fundamentals.

Teaching Presentation:

Week 2: Theme Development: Your Yearbook Look and Feel

Week 3: Photojournalism: Capturing Meaningful Images

Week 4: Writing and Reporting: Getting the Full Story

Week 5: Design: Communicate, Don’t Decorate

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