1. Journalism/Yearbook
Week 16

2. Monday: Work on Interview paper
When finished, newspaper is due Wednesday!

3. Tuesday:
Today is the last day to work on your interview paper and newspaper article.
Please work… if work is not being done, you will lose the privilege of working on your newspaper article in class…
Yesterday was not good.
Due Date Reminders:
Advertisement sale or no sale form: December 16th
Nov Newspaper: November 30th
Candy Grams: December 1st – December 16th
Midterms: December 19th, 20th, 21st.

4. Wednesday Bell Ringer & Agenda:
Captions & Headlines

5. Completing Your Copy with Captions and Headlines
Before anyone reads your well-crafted story on a yearbook spread, their eyes will be drawn to your headline and captions.
Photos will draw their attention first, so it’s automatic that people will read the accompanying captions to learn more about the people and what they are doing.
Cleverly written and well-designed headlines will attract readers to a spread almost as much as the dominant photo.

6. Completing Your Copy with Captions and Headlines
Your journey to writing great caption and headline copy that readers will enjoy starts now. In this unit you will learn to:
Write great captions using the ABCD formula
Write intriguing headlines that are vivid and descriptive while staying factual

7. Lesson 1: Writing Great Captions
Each year when schools are planning coverage and how to best write a story, there are always yearbook staffs who say, “Why do we write body copy? No one reads it.”
While it may be true that not everyone reads it immediately, people will read it when they are reminiscing or before a reunion.
However, you cannot use that same defense against caption writing.
Photos are the largest, most-seen graphics in the yearbook.
If the photo has stopped the reader, he will read the caption to know the story.

8. Lesson 1: Writing Great Captions
Captions are small bits of information given to the reader in digestible chunks.
They tell the reader all the factual information they need to know about the photo. To make it more personal, you can include a quote from someone in the photo.
So, all of the good rules you’ve been taught will still ring true for caption writing.
You still need to attend events, interview those involved and stick to the facts.
Once you know the 5Ws and H – Who, What, When Where, Why and How – captions write themselves.
Pull out a few yearbooks for students to look at, without reading the captions, or project images from past yearbooks without the captions. Ask students if they can really tell what
is going on in each photo without the information from the caption, starting with the names of the people in the photos.

9. Writing a Caption is as Easy as ABCD
For the video that goes to this lesson, go to walsworthyearbooks.com/greatcaptions

10. Lesson 1: Writing Great Captions
• List three to five words that grab the reader’s attention
and link the photo and caption together
• Lead-in states the obvious in an unobvious way
• Include the five Ws and H
• Use a variety of adjectives and adverbs
• Be descriptive
• Use strong, visual specific nouns
• Consider the action before and during the photo and reaction to the event
Review this list of “Do’s” with students to make sure they understand each of these points.

11. Lesson 1: Writing Great Captions
• Don’t state the obvious
• Don’t begin leads with names or overuse the same lead pattern
• Don’t use label leads (example: basketball girls, swimmers, etc.)
• Don’t use an excessive amount of –ing verbs
• Avoid “During” to begin your lead as it’s overused
Review this list of “Don’ts” with students to make sure they understand each of these points.

12. Lesson 1: Writing Great Captions
• Don’t use “Pictured/Showed Above,” “Seems/Attempts to”
• Avoid using “to be” verbs
• Don’t use “gag” or joke captions
• Don’t comment or question the action in the picture; you are telling the reader what happened, not conversing with him
The “Don’t” list continued.
walsworthyearbooks.com/yearbooksuite

13. Lesson 1: Writing Great Captions
Special considerations:
• Identify both schools’ players and opponents by jersey number and name
• State position of the player(s)
• Consider plays leading up to the action
• Tell the result or outcome

14. Lesson 1: Writing Great Captions
Special considerations:
• Begin with name of group
• Identify from left to right, but don’t write that as part of the caption
• Give clear row designation in a different font than text
(CHEERLEADING Front: Name Here, Name Here. Row 2: Name
Here, Name Here. Back: Name Here, Name Here.)

15. Lesson 1: Writing Great Captions
• Attend the event and know what you are writing about
• Write the caption as soon as possible after the picture was taken
• Identify everyone in the photo
• Describe what is happening in the exact moment of the photo
• Give your photo a timeframe
• Avoid passive voice
• Don’t add unnecessary phrases such as “left to right” or “pictured
above”
• Check and recheck the spelling of the names and text
• NEVER make up information – it is journalistically wrong!

16. Lesson 1, Activity 2: Write the Captions
CAPTION 1 – MUSICAL CHAIRS
Juniors Jessica Peterson (left) and Mary Lopez (right)
Participate in blindfolded musical chairs at the first pep rally of the year
It was 97 degrees outside and two people suffered from heat exhaustion
This was a competition between the classes
Occurred on Sept. 6
“I couldn’t see so I sat really quickly on someone
and when I looked, it was Mary [my best friend],
so it was the perfect person to sit on. It just stunk
I was still out,” Peterson said.
“The music ended so quickly. I just sat as quickly
as I could. I thought it was so funny that Jessica
ended up on my lap,” Lopez said.
The seniors won this event.
Blake Waranch

17. Lesson 1, Activity 2: Write the Captions
CAPTION 2 – ACTOR
Junior Clark Thornton plays a townsman who has an ailing back.
This was the drama department’s production of Anatomy of Gray.
The production ran Oct. 4, 5 and 6 at 7 p.m. in the school’s auditorium (unnamed).
Debra Christopher, a former student, directed the play.
This program earned the troop four Critic’s Choice Awards and 10 Best in Show awards at the district competition.
“Being able to play a crazy man was so much fun,”
Thornton said.
“Through staging, I get to see every actor almost as a
unique chess piece, and it’s the director’s job to play the
game with the pieces and play it well,” Christopher said.
The setting was Gary, Indiana, in the 1800s.
Photo provided by Boone High School

18. Thursday Bell Ringer & Agenda:
Get out your worksheet from yesterday.
Bell Ringer
Captions & Headline Activity

19. Lesson 1, Activity 2: Write the Captions
Now that you’ve written a few captions, swap with a peer. Evaluate and critique each other’s caption writing using a Caption Checklist. See how much you remembered.
CAPTION 1 – MUSICAL CHAIRS
__ Makes a creative caption/photo connection (Attention getter)
__ Present tense sentence identifies who (everyone in photo) and describes what is happening in each photo (Basic info)
__ Past tense sentence takes reader beyond moment of photos (Complimentary info)
__ Quotes are interesting and not just facts (Direct quote)
__ Caption is factual
__ Avoids editorializing, school name, and terms like: this year, apparently, seemingly
__ Written in third person (no you, us, we, our)
__ In active, not passive voice verb
__ Spelling, grammar, and punctuation are correct
__ Doesn’t begin with name or -ing
__ Overall captions are positive and interesting.
Make sure students have their caption checklists handy when evaluating their peers’ captions.

20. Lesson 1, Activity 2: Write the Captions
CAPTION 2 – ACTOR
__ Makes a creative caption/photo connection (Attention getter)
__ Present tense sentence identifies who (everyone in photo) and describes what is happening in each photo (Basic info)
__ Past tense sentence takes reader beyond moment of photos (Complimentary info)
__ Quotes are interesting and not facts (Direct quote)
__ Caption is factual
__ Avoids editorializing, school name, and terms like: this year, apparently, seemingly
__ Written in third person (no you, us, we, our)
__ In active, not passive voice verb
__ Spelling, grammar, and punctuation are correct
__ Doesn’t begin with name or -ing
__ Overall captions are positive and interesting
Make sure students have their caption checklists handy when evaluating their peers’ captions.

21. Critique Captions CAPTION 1:
After checking off your captions:
Take a newspaper section or magazine. Find three photos with captions. Write down the captions and answer these questions.
1. Critique the captions. How could each caption be improved? Is anything missing from the captions?
2. Rewrite the captions with the information provided in the current caption and/or the accompanying story. Remember to keep them factual.
CAPTION 1:
CAPTION 2:
CAPTION 3:
Provide students with newspapers or magazines and have them cut out photos and captions, or let them go to online news sites and copy captions.