Think about it. The average high school student spends 5.8 hours in class each school day. Another 35 minutes at lunch and 15 minutes for class changes round out the rest of the school day. So if 89% of the school day is spent in class, it makes sense that we capture those academic moments in the yearbook.
It’s what we’re here for anyway!
Pick up any yearbook and you’ll see spirited photos captured in pep-rallies, tales of heroes on the field and on the court and club members completing acts of services. These are all very important aspects of our year. But don’t forget the main reason we go to school…to learn. Make your coverage balanced by beefing up your academic spreads.
This spread from Leander High School’s “The Lair” covers a cosmetology class project, how debate class students prepare, and a foreign language class that played French Monopoly during a power outage.
Reading & ‘Riting & ‘Rithmetic
Go back to the basics when looking for coverage ideas. What are you doing in math class? In English? In history? How about science? Survey your classmates to find out what their most interesting classes are. You can create a Google Form and send it to teachers on a weekly basis to ask what interesting things they are cooking up in class that week. Have a person on the yearbook staff that is responsible for monitoring this form’s responses and assigning photographers to cover cool opportunities.
Don’t forget electives
Some of the most creative academic pages come from elective classes. Be sure to check in with foreign language classes, art classes, shop, PE…the list goes on.
Cistercian Preparatory School in Irving, Texas has an agricultural course where students had the chance to harvest honey on a field trip. How cool is that sidebar with pictures in the shape of a honeycomb?
Out of the box ideas
Academic coverage doesn’t have to stop at covering classes themselves. Look for what students use in class. How do they take notes? How does technology factor into a class? What about the ways teachers decorate their classrooms to facilitate learning?
Kelly Lane Middle School’s “The Shield” explored the pros and cons of paper vs Chromebooks
