Lucid Press & School Newspaper

This is my third year as the Newspaper Sponsor. We have definitely grown a great deal over the years! When the staff has handed to me, they only posted short (1-3 sentence) stories with a photo to a Facebook page separate from the school's main Facebook page. Now they write 250+ word stories weekly with at least five photos and two quotes and publish an e-newsletter monthly. This is in addition to keeping the main school Facebook page, Instagram page, and website up to date. We are busy bees!

e-Newsletter VS Paper

I am constantly asked about our decision to produce an e-newsetter instead of a paper newsletter. While all schools have different needs, the e-newsletter is the perfect fit for our school! We use Lucid Press to publish our newsletter. This program allows students to hold different account, share documents, and work collaboratively. It also has a chat room and comment area. As the teacher, I can login to review work and leave comment or make changes as needed.  

Once the e-newsletter is complete, it can be published then shared via link or embedded into another site. We embed it onto the school homepage and send a link to parents and students.

Since we are a 1:1 school, students can access the e-newsletter from the MacBook Air. We are cutting down on the use of paper and trash in our school - while also reaching a larger audience. (In the middle school setting, very few flyers make it all the way home.) The use of the e-newsletter also keeps us from having any cost in newsletter production!

Check out our first e-newsletter from the 2015-2016 school year!

Do you run the newspaper staff at your school? I would love to collaborate! 

Middle School Yearbook - Organization

Middle school is a slippery time. In our school 7th and 8th grade is middle school, so we don't get to keep our students for very long. This makes the yearbook staff a challenge. I have one year to train them and one year to really use their knowledge and talents before they leave me. Thankfully there are a few things that have made my yearbook staff highly successful and efficient. I plan to share several yearbook blogs over the next few weeks.

• Organization of the Book (today)
• Staff Selection & Set-Up
• Team Building & Management
• Advertising (Ad Sales & Student Sales)
• Grading

I am passionate about yearbook, and I keep high standards for my class. I do hope you will check back for more updates on the other topics over the next couple of weeks!

Today's topic:

 OF THE BOOK!

Quick Background: My staff is made up of 12-15 7th and 8th grade students plus one 8th grade editor. I have a 50 minute class period for yearbook that is also shared with my newspaper staff (separate staffs - same class time). The application processes is rigorous. We typically have between 30-40 applications for yearbook. The 8th grade editor must be a student who was also on staff as a 7th grader.

For our staff, we have one unifying theme for our book each year. That theme is developed through:

• Cover Design
• Yearbook Title
• Section Titles
• Image/Photo Scheme on each Page

Part of the application for editor is to develop an entire theme - complete with color schemes, cover design, yearbook titles, and section titles. The editor applicants present there theme idea to the staff in May to be voted on. The winning theme and its developer become our new editor in August.

Since we keep our current year theme under lock and key (and threaten of staff removal), I can not currently discuss the super-awesome 2016 theme currently under development (check back in May 2016 - you will NOT regret it!).  Therefore - I'm going to use our 2015 to explain our organization process.

Anatomy of a Dolphin

Our 2015 theme was Anatomy of a Dolphin because we are the dolphins! We used a sectional organization method for this yearbook. Each dolphin section was labeled with a yearbook section, and each section page referenced back to that dolphin part.

1. Mouth - Student Life
1. Who's Who, Baby Pictures, Dances, Pep Rallies, ETC
2. Brain - Academics
1. Core Subjects and Electives
3. Spine - Clubs
1. Because clubs bring the school together and add support systems for those that need it
4. Eyes - Portraits
1. We love seeing photos!
5. Fin - Sports
1. Fear the Fin!
6. Tail - Community Support
1. Ads

This theme concept and design was completed by a 7th grade student in May 2013. She guided her staff through the 2014-2015 school year to develop and complete this theme through a 100+ page yearbook! I really can not speak of how proud I am of the hard work and dedication these 11-13 year olds put into their yearbook! (More on this in the next blog about yearbook staffs!)

Each of the six dolphin parts listed above reflected a section in our yearbook. The theme was carried through section titles and dolphin photos. We also hid a small dolphin silhouette on each page then challenged students to find them all!

There are two main ways to organize a yearbook:

1. Sections
2. Chronologically

The 2015 design called for a section organization, so that is what we did. Each page fits into one of the categories. A table of contents in the front of the book directs students to section page, and each section page is a mini table of contents for that section. 

Our 2016 theme calls for a chronological organization. This year we will follow all events, sports, and happenings as they unfold through the year. Since clubs are all year long, they will have a special section in the back right before ads. All other dances, sports, portraits, ETC will be placed in the book in the order they happen through the year. 

Our 2015 yearbooks completely 

How do you organize your yearbook?

Newspaper & Yearbook Field Trip

I have a newspaper staff of nine students and a yearbook staff of twelve students. These kids are ah-mazing! I really can not brag enough on these students. Both staffs are student center and student led. The all have wonderful attitudes and motivation. They work extremely hard and produce amazing work!

My newspaper staff writes weekly articles about the school and community. Their work is published in a blog on the school website and submitted to local newspapers and news stations. They are publicly published each month! Each month they put together an interactive e-newsletter of the articles they have written. My newspaper editor (eighth grade student) keeps track of each staff member's progress and edits articles before they get to me. 

My yearbook staff runs without me. The editor (eighth grade student) was on the staff last year. Last year (as a seventh grader) she designed the theme, cover, colors, and fonts for this year's yearbook. She also sat with our yearbook rep and ordered the yearbooks. The staff splits up the one hundred full color yearbook, so everyone is responsible for specific pages. They have been rocking out deadlines this year! Meeting them weeks before they are due! I am so proud!

To reward all of their hard work, we recently took a field trip! We toured a local news station. My students were able to speak with reporters, photographers, and producers. They were given a tour of the station with many behind the scene looks. It was a blast! It was a wonderful way to put into perspective how what they do in the classroom is relevant in the real world. 

We finished our trip with a lunch at Steak and Shake. Everyone was happy!

My newspaper staff has the idea of creating video articles with written articles. They hope to display photos, interviews, and footage from events. I can't wait to see how these turn out this semester!