Even with a degree in journalism, which included only one class in advising high school publications, I had no idea what to expect. Almost 40 years later, I’m still learning.

According to C.S. Elliott, “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” Your goal to become an EXPERT adviser is attainable whether it is your first year advising or your twentieth.

• Become a student and take additional training/classes at your local college or university in journalism and/or technology. Set an example for your staff. Students are smart and know when someone is bluffing—so learn it before you teach it!

• Attend Walsworth Yearbook’s Adviser Academy next summer and learn from successful, award-winning advisers who want to share their knowledge and experiences. In addition, you are able to visit the yearbook plants in Brookfield and Marceline, Missouri. If you are a new adviser, this is a must! If you are an experienced adviser, the Adviser Academy will get you recharged and refreshed for another year. This is an experience you will never forget! The bus ride to the plant and back is educational and fun, too!

• Join journalism associations, such as the Journalism Education Association (JEA), National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA), and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA), and become familiar with the Student Press Law Center (SPLC). These organizations can provide a wealth of information and resources. It is worth the money to join at least one of them. Visit their websites to find out more information. Join your state association, too.

• Seek out yearbook experts by attending local, state or national conferences. Every year the JEA/NSPA sponsors two conferences (one in the spring and one in the fall) and CSPA sponsors one in March. These conferences are where you will find “yearbook gurus” everywhere you go. Attend their sessions and learn from them. Students are encouraged to attend these conferences, too. Observing thousands of motivated yearbook staffers in one place is awe inspiring for you and your staff.

• Have your yearbook critiqued by one of these (NSPA or CSPA) organizations. The comments on the critique form are informational and beneficial. For some reason, staffs respond to comments, both good and bad, from someone else. The critique will reinforce what you teach your staff. Order a copy of the critique book from NSPA and CSPA. Use them to teach yourself—when I started teaching this was all that I had and “I never left home without them.”

• Use the new Yearbook Suite to create a curriculum/syllabus for yearbook class. Each workbook (Staff Management, Coverage, Theme, Design, Interviewing, Writing, Photojournalism, Caption/Headlines, Marketing, Editing, Legal) contains short lessons with activities to get students thinking and creating. An accompanying adviser edition includes additional instruction tips with a list of Common Core standards.

• Master your search engine to find information and ideas. Follow design ideas on Pinterest and other websites. Look for color trends, design techniques, staff training videos and more! You can find just about anything you need on the web and it’s FREE!
Establish a network with local advisers (everyone needs a support group). Being the yearbook adviser can be very lonely—you are the ONLY one in the school and no one understands what you do. Despite popular belief, Keebler elves do NOT create the yearbook—yearbook staffs do! Meetings with my yearbook friends were “my therapy sessions.”

• Make yearbook fun so your staff considers the yearbook space “home away from home.” Encourage the yearbook staff to spend time together away from yearbook, such as a greet-the-new staff picnic, decorate a Homecoming parade float, meet for breakfast before school, etc. Create an atmosphere that will attract staffers to work on the yearbook and that will encourage other students to join yearbook. Create a Parent Booster Club to help with deadline dinners, an end-of-the-year banquet, the yearbook unveiling/distribution, chaperoning for conferences, etc.

• Get your CJE (Certified Journalism Educator) from JEA. It is important for your school district and yearbook staff to know that you want to be an EXPERT adviser. Receiving certification from a national organization demonstrates to the school district and yearbook staff that you are serious about promoting professionalism in scholastic journalism. Doctors, lawyers and coaches must be certified before practicing their craft, and so should you. For more information, go to www.jea.org. Don’t stop with your CJE! Next, you can get your MJE, Master Journalism Educator.

Yearbooks are forever changing, making it important to stay informed with the current with the rules and trends. Learning is an ongoing process. “We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master,” said Ernest Hemingway.”

Valerie T. Tanke, CJE, a yearbook and newspaper adviser for 13 years before her 20+ year career as a Walsworth yearbook sales representative, has taught in both city and suburban schools in Indiana, and is a former Adviser of the Year for the Indiana High School Press Association. Tanke is a teacher at the Adviser Academy Track 1, and she is a frequent instructor at local, state and national workshops and conventions.