ACS Yearbook: Must Dos
THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!
“You are the eyes and ears of your school! You are the collective memory; if you don’t remember, no one will!”
Ron Cueba
Last updated on December 7, 2005
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Check web site http://acsyearbook.tripod.com
regularly for new additions.
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Each student will be responsible for at
least 7 full spreads.
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Get ready to work after school and on
weekends:
After
school Hours: We start in November.
Minimum
number of hours per week: November:
3; December: 5; January => March: 6; April => June: 7
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If you do not mark the number of extra
hours on the log form, the hours will not count towards your community service
hours.
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Make sure all the events you are in
charge of are covered (you are graded on these).
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Weekly
graded assignment: You will take at least 5 candid photos for
HS, 5 candid photos for MS, and 5 candid photos for Staff per week. These
should be downloaded into your own folder (under yearbook06, candid photo
assignment folder) by Friday, along with descriptions for those photos (date
taken, place, who is in the picture, what were they doing?)
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Check the back of the door for new
things to do.
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Write down, on the computer problems
form (back of door), what kind of computer problems you are having.
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Bring your “Idea Book,” “Yearbook Fundamentals” and “Your
Curriculum” every time to class. You might be given, at any time, specific
on-the-spot-assignments for which you will need to use your own book.
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Take your yearbook folder out of the
filing cabinet at the beginning of class and return it before you leave.
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Log out the other class’s account and
log on yearbook class’s.
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Access the folder yearbook06 and place
it on your desktop.
To get “Yearbook06” Folder:
Make sure you are on Finder => Go => connect
to server => highlight afp://172.16.31.20
=> connect => highlight “yearbook06” => OK
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At the end of class, put everything you
worked on in the folder allotted to you under yearbook06.
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Log out before you leave and place your
chair back in its place: make sure nothing is left behind and everything is
back in place (this is part of your participation grade; i.e. if someone else
needs to log you off, to throw your papers, and to put your chair back in
place, there is no way for you to get 4/4 on your participation grade).
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At the end of every week, you will fill
out the “Yearbook Weekly Log” form.
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Advertisements:
Deadline for first contact: December 10
Deadline for Business Ads Contract: December
22
Deadline for Business Ads Collection: February
24
Before you start
working on a spread:
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Image => mode = CMYK
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Image => size = after unchecking “resample” => size 300 dpi
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Save as => TIFF
1.
Photos: (
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A good photo should:
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Grab attention
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Tell a story
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Show action
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Trigger memory
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Get an emotional response
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NO POSED
PICTURES, aside from mug shots and team/group photos!
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Four tips for photographers: Get Close!
Get Close! Get Close! Get Close!
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Take close-ups! You cannot take great
action shots from far away!
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When taking a picture, think
prepositionally (beside, above, under, below, next…)
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Different angles make pictures more
interesting; always take pictures from the most dramatic angle possible; vary
your bodily position as you shoot. Keep the camera level.
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When we take pictures, we need to
capture both the action and reaction, then we pick.
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Capture color: point the camera to reds,
vibrant greens and blues, oranges, and yellows.
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Crop tightly as you frame each picture;
floors, ceilings and blank walls do not intrigue the reader.
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For mods, we need to make collections of
similar pictures.
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Take the camera outside of the school
walls.
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Great pictures give birth to great
stories.
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Remember the rule of thirds: the action
of the shot should never be dead center, but off to the side.
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Once you have been assigned or you have
volunteered to take photos for a specific event, you should download those
photos on the desktop of the computer allotted to you no later than the
following school day, and you should include the following with each set of
photos in a word document inside the photo folder: Who, What, When, Where + at least 6 different
quotations (from coach, participants, audience) that answer Why and How (you will receive a grade on this).
2. Design: Once you have modified the photos, start working on your spread
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Make sure that, when you open a new document, you
set the page size to A4 instead of
Letter.
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Make sure you have 8 columns on each page
(vertically + horizontally)
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In a column design, all elements fall within the
columns and do not stop in the middle of a column. (p.67)
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Make sure the horizontal guides go from margin to
margin.
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Make sure you lock the guides: View => lock
guides
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Make sure you have an eyeline per spread.
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Design from the bottom up (p.66).
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Make sure you have a very effective DOMINANT photo per spread (20%
of the spread: at least 21/2 to 3 times the size of the next biggest photo
element; the dominant photo should mostly consist of individuals and pairs, unless you think
it is essential that you use a group photo as a dominant). The dominant photo
should touch the top or bottom margin, or even both.
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Do not put 2 photos of the same shape
next to each other on a spread.
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Make sure at least 1 photo bleeds on
each page of a spread (never bleed top or bottom).
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Make sure the photos are
placed in a way that makes the reader look towards the gutter (all people in
photos should face towards the center => concentrate everything to the
middle). Work from the Middle Out, not outside in!
- Group photos and individual portraits should not go across the gutter. (p71)
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Place from 5 to 9 photos on each spread.
Diversify shapes and size (avoid squares!) to create contrast.
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Make sure you
stick to the fonts and font sizes agreed
upon:(cf.Columbia pp81-82)
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Copy/body: Bookman Old Style- size 10 (Opening & Closing dividers:
size 12-14 - Theme copy: 12-16)
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Headlines:
- Primary: Lucida Black
Letter size 42-72 (size per section)
- Sub headlines:
Eurostile size 16-24
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Captions:
- Titles: Copperplate size
9 bold
- Body: Eurostile size 8 regular
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Sports:
- Headlines: Impact- size 42-72 (size
per section)
- Sub Headline: Lucida Handwriting size
16-24
- Copy: Eurostile size 10
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Make sure that Sports Headlines are NOT in a script/decorative font
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The Type
we use on the cover we should use throughout the book.
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Make sure no less and no more than 1 pica separates all the elements on
the spread.
- Make sure that, on every spread, you respect the following:
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Contrast
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Proximity
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Alignment
§ Repetition
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Make sure you ONLY use CMYK colors!!
- Make sure that every element on the spread fits exactly into the internal lines of the columns and guides.
- All white space should be to the outside of the layout.
- “White space is the most sophisticated thing in yearbook”
- Borders = 4 picas
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Bleed= 0.125 inches
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Leading: It should be 120% of the point size. Ex: 10
pt type => 12 pt leading- The longer the copy, the greater the leading.
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File => document presets : to put the same format
on all computers
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1 inch = 6 picas
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NO 2 spreads alike: vary the layout of spreads!
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WOW Inducing Designs!! Never settle for the just ok!
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Visual and verbal connection: hook the reader to the
content; tie the visual and verbal together.
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Do not use graphic elements without any purpose! Use
graphics to:
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Unify
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Separate
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Direct
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Emphasize
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Mug Shot Pages: Group shots: add info graph
=> who is the adviser, how many members, when do they meet….
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Page Layout for Seniors, Grade 8
students, and staff:
1.
5 columns
2.
6 guides
3.
0p5 gutter for both
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Page Layout for Grades 11-10-9-7-6:
1.
6 columns
2.
7 guides
3.
0p5 gutter for both
3.
Interview…
Interview… Interview! (pp.52-55)
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The interview is the main source of
information for any story!
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Ask open-ended questions (no just yes or
no questions; add why and how).
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Write the lead on the most significant
thing the interviewee said.
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You need to have at least the following
questions answered:
Who? When? Where? What? Why? How?
+
What happened before?
What happened after?
How did they feel? Why?
Quotes from different people:
Quote # 1:
Quote # 2:
Quote # 3:
Quote # 4:
Quote # 5:
Quote # 6:
4.
Copy:
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Copy writers should attend the events
they are covering! They need to get information first-hand by attending event
and interviewing participants. (p.61)
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Make sure that every copy starts with a
“Catchy opening sentence” => Hook them or Lose them!
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Make sure that every copy starts with a
lead (introduction): allusion, astonisher, atmosphere, background,
compare/contrast, descriptive, direct quotation, exclamatory, narrative hook,
parody, personal experience, question, shocking statement, summary, suspended
interest, or suspense/teaser.
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In the lead, emphasize the HOW and WHY.
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Follow the same Approach throughout a section -as much as possible- and this
approach has to be related to the theme! Then
vs. Now, for example.
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2
Approaches to Copy:
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Lead, Body
(5 Ws and H), Conclusion.
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Lead,
Quote, Transition, Quote, Transition, Quote, Closing Transition, Conclusion.
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Keep in mind that good writing contains
numerous, story-telling quotes. (p.52)
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Start with the most important and end
with the least important (so that, in case we need to cut out a part of the
copy for lack of space, we end up cutting out the least important)
- Every copy needs to have an angle: the point you want to make!
- Write the way students talk.
- Avoid using the phrase “this year” and the school’s name.
- DO NOT MAKE FUN OF PEOPLE! No sarcasm!
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NO PERSONAL OPINION (do not editorialize)! Interview
and quote people (whoever we quote can give their opinion)!
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Indent: 3 spaces, not 5.
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No comma before and in a series.
Titles are italicized, not underlined. Use smart quotes (“ ”) not ("").
- Give credit to whoever writes the article (we shall try to put the author’s name at the bottom of every spread).
- Write copy in the third person for objectivity. (p.53)
- Always make sure names are spelled correctly.
- Check the following web site: http://www.theonion.com (parody)
- “Good yearbook copy is ... a narrative that should engage the reader’s senses and emotions.” Bobby Hawthorne- Idea File- Winter 1997
5.
Headlines:
- One main headline per spread.
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Headlines should be clever, arresting and exciting.
They need to draw readers who might otherwise ignore the copy into reading the
story on the spread (
- Secondary headlines are very important.
- Headlines should not contain material that will be found elsewhere. (p.62)
- Choose headlines that match the dominant photo/story.
- Start with a big dropped initial (large letter embedded in the copy) at the top of the story.
- Use action verbs in the present tense. Do not use past tense when writing headlines! Only present tense. Use alliterations / figures of speech; make headlines funny, witty.
- Use clever play on words to intrigue the reader.
- Use single quotation marks.
- Use comma in place of the word “and.”
- Avoid periods, hyphenated words, abbreviations, splitting verb phrases, repetition, separating an adjective and the word it modifies. (p.62)
6. Captions: (Most read copy! They are becoming Photo Stories!) pp.59-60
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Caption
writing cannot be done sitting in the yearbook room guessing what might be
going on in the photograph!
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The caption
writer’s job is to let the reader know what happened just before and right
after the picture was taken.
- Captions are mini stories; minimum 3 to 4 sentences; all captions should have the same size throughout the book.
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Every caption
should include the following:
a- A title (capital letters, bold)
b- who, what, where, when, why + How
c- background info (before or after the photograph)
d- a direct quote from somebody in the photograph or from someone who attended the event being covered. (The quote should add new info to the caption; if everybody could say the same quote then it needs to be changed).
- You need a caption for each photo- If there are 7 people or fewer in the caption, you need to identify them all. If there is a big crowd, identify none.
- The first sentence is in the present tense and the rest in the past tense: use present tense, active voice for the sentence that captures the action of the photo; background and supplemental information may be written in past tense.
- Captions should be adjacent to the photos they identify.
- We can put a caption inside the photo if there is dead space. We can group captions (clockwise from left/top left…)
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For each
caption provide a title that mimics the main headline.
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When writing a caption, consider the action before,
during and after the photo as well as the reaction to the event.
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Use complete names.
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Interview participants, advisers, teachers, coaches
and other sources to add specific information.
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You cannot comment, question, or talk to the
picture; you cannot use joke captions! However, the people in the photo or
those who attended the event captured in the picture can: quote them!
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Do not stack more than 2 captions or place captions
between photos. (p.72)
7. Modules: Area on the spread that will always be the same!! (Herff Jones p. 61-64)
- Modular design is an easy way to incorporate alternative coverage.
- Mods allow us to match the content of the spread to its design.
- With mods, more students can be featured on a single spread
- Always include the number of people interviewed, if we are writing about a certain percentage of people.
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Modules Place/Size: Bottom
right hand corner- SIZE= W: 21p3 – H: 31p6 (4 columns, 4 guides)
- Special Modules Place/Size: To the right- SIZE= W: 15p8 – H: 64p1 (3 columns, 8 guides)
Ideas for mods:
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top
10 list (big 10)
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top
10 hangouts
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his
view vs.
her view (compare and contrast student opinions)
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Students
demonstrating school spirit (spirit week spread)
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old
ACS new ACS
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Q
& A
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Style
watch (fashion)
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Favorite
vacation spots
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Trip
of a lifetime
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Side
bar (additional info to the dominant story; it has to be related to it)
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Express
yourself
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In
the know
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Brag
about (mods)
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How
many students would… (include number of people interviewed)
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+ STAR July 4, 05
Ideas from Other
Yearbooks/Workshops:
# 7- Leysin:
International Day?
Travels … cultural
journeys….
What does it mean to be a
senior?
Sponsors (instead of business
ads) p242
Candid
photos on portrait pages
Freshman 9th
grade Sophomores 10th grade Juniors
11th grade
Academics:
IB / Bacc / HS, Academic trips, Modern languages:
French & Arabic, Drama, Fine Arts, Music, Humanities, English, ESL, Math,
Science, PE & Health, Yearbook, Academic Awards
#4- Essence:
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Old
school vs. new school: p 6-7
o
Telephone
model, president, radios, popular skirts, teen age idols, favorite cars, plays
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Students’
self-described styles: trendy, punk, gangster …
#5- Experience
today:
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seniors:
best of the best (dressed, car, eyes, school spirit, smile, friends, student
teachers, laugh, couple, dancers, hair…)
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seniors:
the most (athletic, fun, outgoing, helpful, …)
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seniors:
the most likely to (be principal/teacher at ACS, be a celeb, a singer, an
actor, a talkshow host, successful, president…)
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What’s
your favorite school lunch?
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P
162- free offers with expiry date (chicken wings)
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Ads:
pizza places/ Dominos?
Catch Phrases in
Magazines (that you can modify and use for Headlines/Mods):
(Use figures of speech: alliterations, onomatopoeia,
asyndeton, rhyme, … )
Ideas… Stories
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Ask
international students to write at least one sentence in their native language.
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Faculty…
how they dress
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Stories
about ordinary people at ACS)
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Senior
day scandal!
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Events:
ACS Car Wash (# of cars washed, # of students, money made, date, place…)
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How
students spend their free time
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The
Inside story
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What
is your biggest achievement?
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Senior
day scandal
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Graduation:
Cheering for success
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Concert:
The anatomy of a show
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Sparkles
in motion
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Friday
Night Lights + people talking about how they felt
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Overheard
comments in classrooms-
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Get
the readers involved in the book: Games: ex: match the tattoo with the person
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On
people’s pages: choose one or 2 people from the list and interview them.
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Discover
who I am: clothes kids wear to school
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Body
language?
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You
think you know…. But you have no idea
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Use idioms
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What
is a yearbook about? (we can include in our book)
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Choice:
how many of you would…. (+ number of people interviewed)
Academics:
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Substitute
teachers
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Field
trips
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Cliff
notes
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Cheating
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What
do you daydream about during class?
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What
is it like to be at the same school where your parents work?
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Teachers
who attended this school
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First
day of dissection in Biology class
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Who
blew up the lab?
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Learning
/ teaching styles
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Overcoming
learning difficulties
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Cooking
up a career
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Worlds
away (international students in our school)
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Stress:
“Restless”
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The
job of a teacher is to: encourage, stimulate, inspire
Student Life:
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Friendships
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Dating
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Diversity
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Volunteering
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Music
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Technology
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Driving
in
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First
kiss, date, traffic ticket, F on a test…
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What
do students do to earn their money? How do they spend it? Do any try to save
some?
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Trip
of a lifetime
People: embarrassing moments
Current events:
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How
did the events make you think, react…?
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Contrasting
attitudes
Sports:
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Trainers,
coaches, fans, profiles, balancing academics with sports, Fine Arts vs.
Athletics, rituals, philosophy of winning…
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Almost
walking on air…
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So
close… (after losing a game)
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Capture
the moment
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Goals
with sight
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More
than just a coach
Arts:
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Auditions
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Stage
frights
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My
voice as an artist
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How
did you discover your character?
Section Pages in the Yearbook:
Student life: p 16 => 53 = 38 / 39 pages
People: p 54 => 101 = 48 / 47 pages
Academics : p 102 => 133 = 32 / 24 pages
Sports : p 134 => 157 = 25 / 28 pages
Community & Organizations : p 158 => 179 = 22 / 31 pages
Graduates : p 180 => 221 = 42 pages (17% of all)
Parent Tributes:
p 222 => 239 = 18 pages
Ads: p 240=>
255 = 16 pages
TOTAL number of Pages: 275 => 138 spreads ó 7 spreads per student (responsible for)
Spreads to finish in November: 7 spreads
Spreads to finish in December: 21 spreads
Spreads to finish in January: 21 spreads
Spreads to finish in February: 21 spreads
Spreads to finish in March: 21 spreads
Spreads to finish in April: 21 spreads
Spreads to finish in May: 21 spreads
Spreads to finish in June: 11 spreads:
Prom, graduation (2), Centennial week, Centennial Gala, Athletic banquet, Academic awards, Spring Carnival, grade 8 promotion ceremony, index (2).
After School Hours = 5 per week in December! 6 per week from January till May.
7 (or more) per week in June