My Goals for the Semester or what I had planned months ago and forgot to write

I will be honest, I didn't know what type of goals I would need to set for myself. Now that I have been there for awhile or four months, I have a better idea of things I still need to work on.

I now have a better understanding of things that I still need to learn a bit more about. One of those is InDesign. It is the program that they use to design the yearbook and newspaper pages. It has been close to two years since I have used the program but only for a few weeks, so I did not gain as much knowledge as I would have liked. I guess I will need to spend more time getting to know this program better. Some of what I did learn in my class, is starting to come back, but I still wish I was more proficient.

The class I have been observing has started designing and making decisions about how they want to put their yearbook together. It goes without saying that it has been numerous years since I worked on a yearbook. We did not have the technology that these students have today. It is going to take me some time to learn about all the new programs. Josten's has a number of different templates for page design, so that they do not have to come up with one of their own. Which, in my day was not an easy task. So, I will also need to get to know how to use that one as well.

As we have started working on the yearbook, I have noticed a few areas that every student needs to be more mindful of and that is picture taking, picking the right picture and picture placement. I have already talked to my CT about a lesson on picture placement, particularly when you have a photo that runs through the gutter of the book. It's not something that anyone would think of when they are looking at the page on the computer and this is just something that comes with experience. I have already pointed this out to a few of them and explained why. I believe that it will be beneficial for everyone of staff to have a short lesson on what to look for and what will work for a picture that runs through the gutter of the book.

All that being said, really, my one major goal is to help guide my students through the tricks and trivialities of putting a great yearbook together. It's not always easy and it takes a lot of work and sometimes a few tears. I just want to be their to help them through it all.