Trying to come up with an interesting idea for a yearbook feature story? Sometimes it can be difficult coming up with a unique angle, but the fact that you’re trying means you’re on the right track! “A yearbook shouldn’t be full of topics,” according to Brady Smekens, former adviser of the Deka yearbook staff at Huntington North High School, Huntington, Indiana. “Rather, it should tell the story of students. In the process, the topics get covered.” The list of story ideas on this page will help editors start brainstorming for coverage unique to their school and the current year.
Below is list of common excuses you might hear from yearbook reporters, after they’ve had a bad interview and they return with bad information. Fortunately, good interviewing skills can be taught to help counter each of these excuses and help every student on yearbook staff – even the shy, quiet ones – become more confident interviewers.
Using correct interview techniques will lead to better information from sources and therefore, better stories.
Text is the most important aspect of the yearbook. While pictures will be admired first, it is the body copy and the cutlines that accomplish the book’s final goal by capturing the tone of the year. Time and time again, I have had to deal with poorly written copy, whether it is riddled with grammatical mistakes or lacks the interest that draws in the reader. Cleaning up the text is an easy process, with a few basic tips.
Interviewing is a skill gained by following practical procedures. Good reporters, from local newspapers to national magazines, follow these procedures to get great stories. For yearbook writers looking for stories and details to capture the year, the same techniques will work for you.
There are as many ways to teach interviewing as there are advisers. Here are two advisers and their methods for teaching interviewing and reporting skills to beginning reporters.
WHEN I WAS SITTING IN UNDERGRADUATE CLASSES, ONE OF THE KEY POINTERS THAT PROFESSORS GAVE US FUTURE TEACHERS WAS TO APPRECIATE AND RECOGNIZE THE SUPPORT STAFF IN THE SCHOOLS IN WHICH WE WOULD BE WORKING. AS A TEACHER, I HAVE FOUND THIS TO BE GREAT ADVICE, BUT AS A YEARBOOK ADVISER, IT OFFERS EVEN MORE.
Sami A. Slaquer
8:30 a.m., somewhere on the West Coast – Sami is assigned the hottest story of the year – an investigative piece on the new speed bumps that are causing damage to cars in the school’s parking lot.