As a former classroom instructor and experienced home school teacher, I viewed curriculum guides as a gift and a curse. First, I often got confused and overwhelmed when I had my first glance of what was to come. Second, the amount of material almost made me throw in the towel before the year even started. But, the fact that someone had taken the time to gather the material and break it down into smaller size pieces gave me comfort and courage to believe it was possible to teach the material, and to teach it well! I can imagine it is difficult to develop a comprehensive directive of what educational material needs to be covered and the time frame to complete it. The value of the guidelines I followed are that they provided permeable boundaries, helpful assists, suggestions and links for resources, and most importantly, gave me confidence that I was abiding by the educational goals and directives of my state. This is what United Yearbook offers you.
You can be confident we have covered the subjects and steps required to communicate the material to your students
We have prepared curriculum guides to make the process of teaching your yearbook class successful, helpful, productive, confident and enjoyable as possible. The first step is to take a moment to examine the CA Visual Arts Standards and Enduring Understandings which gives an overview to what is required by the state of California. Because we have used these as our foundation, you can be confident we have covered the subjects and steps required to communicate the material to your students. After you have examined the overall objectives, the instructional guides break down the objectives into manageable portions.
There is flexibility in this curriculum, which allows you to adjust, expand, take away from, as you see fit for your particular class population
The work has been done for you! Our process to create the curriculum for you has decreased your individual planning time! No longer do you have to slog and push through the CA standards and figure out how you are going to cover them, nor do you have to figure out what material to include or discard. We have already determined the most important topics, and suggested the method to implement them. United Yearbook endeavored to make its curriculum as inviting and supportive of you, the teacher/adviser, as possible. Step by step recommendations explain the overview and purpose statements, and arrange the topics to fit the calendar schedule resulting in a completed, amazing yearbook product. Take your time to review this and get the overall idea how the year will play out. Look for the lesson plans and learning activities that excite you the most, and those that you are less enthusiastic about, prepare yourself to find the gems hidden within. There is flexibility in this curriculum, which allows you to adjust, expand, take away from, as you see fit for your particular class population.
If you have ever wondered what kind of materials you will need to complete a lesson plan, worry no more. Our materials lists spell out the necessary ingredients to complete it, which allows your students to optimize the learning experience and be successful. You are prepared to have what they need when they need it!
The majority of the lessons are geared to mentorship, developing student leadership, and shared decision-making
It is important to walk through the lesson plans prior to presenting the material. Even though the plans are comprehensive and you could ‘wing it,’ the optimal goal is to understand the direction of the lesson and how you will instruct and engage the students. The majority of the lessons are geared to mentorship, developing student leadership, and shared decision-making. They are meant to result in fun, interactive, cooperative communication between students as peers, between student leaders and their peers, and between students and instructor/mentor. If you take the time to familiarize yourself with the steps, you will be confident and ready to adjust when things diverge from the plan. Several notable standards of the lesson plans are the assessment rubrics and advanced organizer. What a relief to appreciate and assimilate these into your plans. No more worrying about how to assess a student’s work, or a team’s presentation. It has been broken down and analyzed with the explanation of what to grade and the parts to evaluate. The organizers keep you on track and include statements of the plan/steps/goals to take you from the beginning to the end product.
You will find links to resources, to an activity interactive group task, or to a skill enhancement project
When you hit the wall on how to guide your students in computer literacy skills, and have tapped out creatively on learning activities to inspire and underscore your lesson, let the curriculum guide be your helper. The software skills and learning activities bring fun and spontaneity into the classroom. Gone are the days of boring textbooks and drab illustrations! You will find links to resources, to an activity interactive group task, or to a skill enhancement project. If you or your students find yourselves interested in a topic and want to research it further, the links encourage and provide ways to delve deeper.
Lastly, as an adviser, you may still find you would like assistance or continued support in your journey as a teacher and mentor to your students. Our United Yearbook Printing Workshops and Master Classes are designed for you and with you in mind. It is likely you cannot fulfill or be everything to every student. No one is expected to. However, any opportunity you have to undergird and strengthen what you pour yourself out for on behalf of your students and the school family, please don’t hesitate to avail yourself. These workshops and master classes are another outlet for exploring creativity, dreaming and planning, building unity and cooperation, and producing an extraordinary yearbook product.
That is the whole goal: an extraordinary, creative yearbook product that encapsulates the life of the school community, captures the unique representation of the student body, faculty and staff, and shows the year’s happenings in a comprehensive manner. Let United Yearbook’s Curriculum and its Instructional Guides support you in your yearbook adventure!
Contributor: Donna Ladner obtained a B.A. in Education and a minor in English from California Baptist University, and a M.S. in ESL from USC, Los Angeles. After she married Daniel, their family moved to Indonesia with a non-profit organization and lived cross-culturally for 15 years before returning to the U.S in 2012. Donna has been working as an editor and proofreader for TSE Worldwide Press and its subsidiary, United Yearbook since 2015.
Editor: Lucy McHugh comes to United Yearbook Printing from a 39-year career in public and private school education. She was a former visual art teacher and yearbook adviser. She received a Bachelors of Science in Art from Columbia College in Columbia, SC, a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Nebraska in 2000, and in 2014 earned a Certificate in Catholic School Leadership from Loyola Marymount University. Lucy enjoys her family, making art and gardening.