Creative Ways to Celebrate Grads in the Yearbook By Nicole Hammond, Professional Development Trainer April 7, 2020 Graduation day is arguably the most important moment of a senior’s entire school journey. We know just how big of a disappointment that is for the students, their families, and the staff who put their hard work and time into planning for everything to come together. That includes the yearbook team. But, there is a silver lining – those empty pages reserved for graduation don’t need to be taken out or left empty! Here are some creative ways you can still celebrate your grads and fi ..read more

How to ‘Teach’ Yearbook Online By Nicole Hammond, Professional Development Trainer April 2, 2020 So many things have been thrown into upheaval this spring, and everyone is finding themselves doing jobs and wearing hats that they don’t feel confident about. Teachers and advisers who are used to face-to-face interactions with students are suddenly having to rewrite curriculum and adapt lessons to digital platforms and online meetings.   Creator Studio is supporting you as you switch to online teaching with our digital curriculum, as well as a list of other online resources that your st ..read more

3 Free Resources to Help Fill Your Yearbooks By Nicole Hammond, Professional Development Trainer March 25, 2020 How did your school cope with the virus? What was distance learning like? How did the students react? What creative ideas did your community come up with? In our previous blogs, we shared some ways our current advisers are covering the COVID-19 pandemic in their yearbooks. We also explored a couple of story approaches to document the topic and keep your community informed. There may be several pages or sections in your yearbook that you would have reserved for spring activities and e ..read more

Tools to Promote Your Yearbook to Families By Nicole Hammond, Professional Development Trainer [Updated on April 19, 2020] With in-school marketing temporarily out of the picture, we’ve been exploring some alternative ways to remind families at your school to purchase or personalize their yearbooks. So we can’t use physical posters, flyers, postcards or lawn signs. What can we use?  With everyone at home, families are on their laptops and smartphones. It’s the perfect opportunity to send them a quick email, or a shout out on social media or your school’s private LMS. Here are some tools a ..read more

Ideas for a Non-Spring Distribution By Nicole Hammond, Professional Development Trainer [Updated April 6, 2020] On the first day of graduation rehearsal, the seniors line up to get their yearbooks and have a signing party. It’s the last day of 6th grade and there’s an elementary picnic for the whole school to get their books and then they all wait in line for favorite teachers to sign. When the students come into co-op in the morning, the books are on their seats, like a gift. That’s the way distribution has always been done! That’s what everyone looks forward to!  But, this is not like a ..read more

How 2 Advisers Are Handling COVID-19 Closures and Coverage By Nicole Hammond, Professional Development TrainerMarch 23, 2020 Unprecedented. Pandemic. Shelter-in-place. Social distancing. Coronavirus. The world is a scary place this spring, and not only do we as adults need to allay our students’ fears (as well as our own), but we need to provide a sense of normalcy in what is decidedly NOT normal times. So, while schools are closed and everyone is staying at home, completing your yearbook using Creator Studio will help keep campus momentum going, as well as help you and your team stay in ..read more

3 Story Ideas to Stay Connected During COVID-19 By Nicole Hammond, Professional Development TrainerMarch 20, 2020 The yearbook will live on as the official record of the school for this year. When school returns to normal, how will the past few months be documented and remembered? The suggestions we have heard range from “going to ignore it” to “we have to include it but not sure how.” If the COVID-19 outbreak impacted your school in a significant way, it should be included in the yearbook. We suggest focusing on how your school is handling the disruption through creativity, innovation and pos ..read more

Delivery Options for Advisers By Nicole Hammond, Professional Development Trainer[Updated March 25, 2020] Times are tough with many school closures in effect, but the yearbook must go on, and we’re here to help you work through the delivery process this season. As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to evolve, we want to share the delivery options available to you, ensuring that you and your school community can still receive their yearbooks one way or another.  1 – Shipping to Adviser If we are unable to ship your books to your school, we can ship your books to your (the adviser’s) home ..read more

Back to Basics – Student Press Legal Rights & Responsibilities By Nicole Hammond, Professional Development TrainerFebruary 28, 2020 The 1st Amendment of the US Constitution guarantees freedom of the press, and student publications such as yearbooks have enjoyed the benefits of some of those freedoms. The 1969 Supreme Court ruling in Tinker V Des Moines upheld a student’s right to free expression at school, after a group of students who wore black arm bands to school in protest of the Vietnam War.  This ruling was the standard for all student expression until 1988 when The Supreme Cour ..read more

Back to Basics – Headline Treatment & Copywriting for Your Yearbook By Nicole Hammond, Professional Development TrainerNovember 25, 2019 The photos are looking great! We have pages to show all of the special events that happened this year. But, 10 years from now… Will we remember everyone’s name? Will we remember what we were doing and why? We’ve captured the memories and now we need to EXPLAIN them! But how do we do that? The yearbook staff writes the story of the year and they need to share it through attention-grabbing headlines, carefully written articles and informative captions. Th ..read more