Adviser and Staff Spring 2004 - Jostens

aspringthing
Staff manuals foster
autonomous leadership
Good help doesn’t
have to be hard to find
Launch ad sales drive
in the spring, summer
Launch next year’s Public
Display of Affection [PDA] ad
campaign.
Send a mailing to parents of
2005 seniors. Check the PDA Ad
Guide in the Sell It! Kit in the
Jostens Yearbook Kit. Also, get
a jump on business ad sales.
Contact local businesses early,
before the yearbook staffs from
other schools get to them.
As they say, “The early bird
gets the worm!” Or, in this case,
the dollar.
Spring cleaning keeps
yearbook organized
It’s time for a clean sweep.
Discard unneeded materials
and outdated yearbook kits. Your
new kit, chock-full of fresh ideas
and tools, arrives in your
yearbook room before school
starts next year.
Dust off those unused photos
piled up from past yearbooks. Sell
them or give them away.
Organize your files, rearrange
the yearbook room, clean out
your desk drawers and freshen
up. But, hang on to all yearbook
financial records until your
adviser or administration gives
the go-ahead nod to toss them.
After your 2004 yearbook
proofs are completed and
finalized, arrange for computer
upgrades and maintenance.
Retain all files of completed
pages for the 2004 yearbook until
the book is delivered to your
school.
Manual or automatic? A staff manual puts your students in the
driver’s seat by providing a helpful tool to guide students through the
ins and outs of producing a yearbook.
John Mattingly,yearbook adviser at Middleton High
School, Middleton, MD, strongly recommends that advisers and staffs
make use of this valuable resource.“In the chaotic world of yearbook,
a staff manual saves time and effort.”
When Mattingly started advising, the yearbook staff didn’t use a
staff manual, but at a leadership conference, he learned how useful
such a booklet could be to both the adviser and the yearbook staff.
He brought a sample manual home from the conference and adapted
it to meet his staff ’s specific needs. He’s been a proponent of staff
manuals ever since.
“It has proven to be an invaluable resource at all times, from
inception to completion of almost any task,” Mattingly says.
To be most beneficial, a staff manual supplies answers to any and
all questions a student might potentially ask. Be sure it covers the
basics and offers how-tos for writing, photography and design.
Include calendars for completing tasks, staff job descriptions, deadline
reminders, editorial policies, information on legal issues and
publication procedures together with a journalistic style guide. Some
manuals also include a letter from the adviser, one from the editors
and the yearbook program’s mission statement.
To keep his staff manual current, Mattingly updates it in the
spring after the completion of the final set of yearbook proofs.
Mattingly includes recent changes in national judging criteria,
journalistic and design trends, and tips on better or easier ways of
completing important tasks.While he sees revising the manual as part
of his responsibilities as an adviser, he’s open to staff members’
suggestions when they think a handout, worksheet, policy or
anything else needs to be amended, updated or added.
One of the less obvious benefits of a staff manual is the
autonomy it affords students.
“I firmly believe in yearbook as a student-run publication,”
Mattingly explains.“Staff members should be as self-reliant as
possible. A staff manual gives students the opportunity to take the
initiative to find the answers they’re looking for. It gives them more
confidence and helps them work more independently.”
It’s almost automatic, with a manual.
Experts create staff
manual template
Looking to create a
staff manual and
don’t want to
start from
scratch? Jostens
has fill-in-theblanks
staff
manual template
waiting to be customized by
advisers and editors.
Words to Live By was created
by four nationally-recognized
yearbook experts and former
advisers — John Cutsinger, Mark
Herron, Marci Pieper and
Shannon Williams.
The manual is created in
PageMaker to allow for easy
editing. And best of all, it’s free!
To download your copy of
Words to Live By, visit
www.jostens.com.
Celebrate successful
year with a staff party
Three cheers for a job well
done.
Celebrate your yearbook
success at an all-staff event.
Some staffs go all out and attend
formal awards banquets at fancy
restaurants. Others prefer the
low-key route and enjoy a
cookout.
If your staff doesn’t already
have a year-end tradition, start
one. Staff members appreciate
it. Honor their contributions.
Present fun awards and serious
ones. Announce the new editors.
Invite family members.
Most of all, have fun. And
celebrate!
Thank advisers in a
meaningful way
Staff members don’t need to
spend a lot of money to shower
their adviser with appreciation —
just time and a little ingenuity.
Compile a scrapbook of
yearbook memories, highlighting
all the fun and challenging times
of the yearbook production
process. Include zany photos and
personalized text to make the
scrapbook even more memorable.
Or instead of a scrapbook, put
together a memory book of
handwritten notes in which staff
members
pen a special memory of their
interaction with the adviser over
the course of the school year.
Present your heart-felt gift
to your adviser at a yearbook
distribution party, a school awards
assembly or a staff banquet.
Dedicated and talented yearbook staff members make a real
difference to every adviser.
Accept applications for next year’s yearbook staff in the spring.
Interview applicants. Check references. Select new members.
Good help is hard to find, unless you do your homework upfront.
Logan Aimone, yearbook adviser at Wenatchee High
School,Wenatchee,WA, recruits yearbook staff members from the
pool of students enrolled in his beginning journalism class.
“I look at it as a semester-long tryout where I can teach the
basics of interviewing, reporting, photojournalism, captions,
headlines and design without the pressure of actually producing a
publication,” he says.
Aimone also selects students from his other English classes and
relies on recommendations from his colleagues and students when
seeking staff members with specialized skills such as photography,
graphic design and business management.
When Aimone notices a student with the skillset he’s looking
for, he asks the student to work on the publication.Aimone says he’s
quick to offer the opportunity to less skilled students as well, if he
sees potential.
“I’ll always support a student who works hard. I try to find a job
for everyone who wants to work hard and be on the team,” he says.
Aimone looks for students who are responsible, trustworthy,
hard-working and able to work independently and learn new skills
quickly.
Diversity is also important.“I want the staff to reflect the
student body,” he says.
Aimone informs new yearbook staff members of their job
duties and responsibilities. He says it is critical for new staff members
to know exactly what the adviser and the editors expect.
Aimone employs a specific set of performance and productbased
grading standards that are flexible enough to evaluate the
entire experience range of staff members — from first-year team
members to third-year editors and business staff.
“Being a member of the yearbook staff is an important
responsibility,” he says.“Staff members have an obligation to fulfill
the trust their peers have placed in them to produce a yearbook
worth buying.”
Make plans for a
special delivery
With yearbook distribution right
around the corner, plan now to
make this year’s event extraspecial.
Whether you throw a party, host
an autographing picnic or sponsor
a seniors-only breakfast, students
will appreciate your efforts.
To learn what other schools
have done to make distribution
a special occasion, visit
www.jostens.com/yearbooks.
18 spring2004 adviser & staff
spring2004 adviser & staff 19