New Advisers

• Coverage Checks- Now is a good time to inventory your coverage to be sure no club, sport or group was left out. See the info below about how to use this as a class project.
• Group Photos- Getting those group photos on the pages now will alleviate stress at deadline. These pages can be done and submitted early.
• Spring Books Final Sales- You will submit your order for books at the end of the month. If you need help with selling books to meet your goal, look back at the previous update with ideas for a final sales push.
• Recruit Next Year's Staff- Visit your feeder schools and show a presentation on your program. Go to your lower-grade English classes on campus and show the same presentation. Send letters home to students who would be good for publications. (I asked English teacher to send me 10-12 names of hard-working students to target.)
• Email Parents About Summer Workshop Dates- Many families will start planning summer vacations soon. Send them a "save the date" email for the Tarleton Workshop June 16-18. Email me for more details.

Before pages are finalized, January is the perfect time to run a coverage inventory to ensure no club, sport, event or group is left out of the book. Use the model here to canvas your school to double-check you have included all groups. You also need to check with your activities director (or the principal's secretary) to see if any new clubs have forms or are in the process of being approved. Create a Google Doc to track where each event, club and sport is covered. You will have this document as a starting point for next year when you run this inventory check. Click here for more coverage help.

1) Once you have the photo of each group, upload the images into one Google Doc. Then start the caption for each photo (Front, Row 2, Row 3, Back - etc). Notice to use Front and Back, not Row 1. Share that Google Doc (make sure it's users can edit) with coaches and sponsors. Ask them to enter names for you.

2) Plan for where these photos will go in the book. Leave room for stats and other coverage.

3) Sports teams could include the stats and scoreboard of the season.

4) Clubs could include secondary coverage (quotes, candids, etc.)

It’s time to start checking the number of books sold at your school so far and comparing it with the number of books we’ve set to order. Check your homepage on your portal. You and your rep need to decide on the number of books and the number of pages by Friday, Jan. 30th, if our book delivers in the spring. Yearbooks that deliver in the fall do not need final counts until Thursday, April 30. It is important to promote book sales prior to these dates to ensure accurate orders.

Now that you have tagged your images, you can use a report to see who is in the book but hasn't purchased it. Send them a note encouraging them to buy. Remember, your copy count (final book order) is due in January for Spring books. Watch this video on how to do this.

Email jill.chittum@walsworth, debbie.vaughn@walsworth.com or leland.mallett@walsworth.com for details.

A group of first-year (or new) advisers. Your Walsworth rep has added you to this group for new advisers. If you would like to be removed, please email me and let me know. Most Sundays, I’ll send updates to help you in your classroom. Each update will be full of checklists, classroom help and pro tips.

After accidentally joining newspaper class in seventh grade, I’ve been hooked on student journalism ever since. I advised yearbook and newspaper at Legacy High School in Mansfield, Texas for 18 years and in Big Spring, Texas for seven. Legacy’s publications have earned CSPA Crowns, NSPA Pacemakers, and ILPC Stars. I’ve served as Webmaster for the Texas Association of Journalism Educators (TAJE) and received multiple honors, including:

• CSPA Distinguished Adviser (2024)

• JEA Distinguished Adviser (2018)

• JEA Commended Adviser (2025)

• Max Haddick Texas Journalism Adviser of the Year (2015)

• Edith Fox King Award (2010)

• TAJE Trailblazer Award (2013)

In June, I joined the Walsworth family as the Texas Education Specialist. My job is to help you and your students build a stronger yearbook while making your job easier.

Cell- 817.253.7813

leland.mallett@walsworth.com