Teachers are People, Too

• Showcase teachers and staff as individual, actual human beings. Ask teachers to submit old photos of themselves when they were in high school and feature each older shot next to the most recent headshot. If the teacher has a nickname, use it on the old picture or come up with a recognizable alias that's close to the teacher's actual name. If the teacher is a married woman, use her maiden name.
  
  You may think that your teachers were voted "most likely to succeed" or were all valedictorians or members of the honor society in their high school days---but that's not always the case. Mr. Biology Teacher may have been voted "class clown." Your attractive gym teacher may have been captain of the nerd squad. Investigate; ask teachers about their high school experiences. You may unearth many funny surprises.
  
  If you have a prom or other formal dances before the yearbook deadline, candid shots of teachers dancing make fun additions to a yearbook. Seeing the algebra or history teacher who never smiled break out in the running man, the robot, or the cabbage patch at the homecoming dance is sure to make yearbook readers smile.
  
  

Keeping Tradition Fair With Flair

• Yearbooks traditionally include shots of sports teams, graduating seniors, and participants in extracurricular activities and clubs. They tend to highlight students who were active during high school, but it's important not to leave everyone else out.
  
  Include everyone by having students fill out questionnaires so you can add interesting tidbits about each person to photos. Another fun way to show students as individuals is to have each one do a poem about herself using each letter of her name. For example, Sam may keep to himself, but outside of school, he loves photography. He might write:
  
  Someday when I'm rich and famous
  All the supermodels of the world will worship me because
  My photographs make them even more beautiful.
  
  We just learned that Sam wants to be a fashion photographer and likes supermodels. Who knew?
  
  Update or add to the traditional superlatives for most popular, most likely to succeed, most athletic, best dressed, etc., Consider a teachers' list: best dressed teacher, toughest teacher, funniest teacher, etc.
  
  Get creative. For instance, a member of the math club might not be the most athletic, or even the most handsome or popular, but he deserves inclusion, too. Maybe he has pretty eyes, so come up with some new superlative categories, such as:
  
  Fastest texter
  Most friends on MySpace
  Most likely to join a fraternity/sorority
  Most artistic
  Best speaking voice
  Most likely to be on a reality show
  Tallest/shortest
  Loudest boy/girl
  Best laugh
  Best Eyes
  Most punctual
  Most likely to be late
  
  Include a photo of each category winner in an appropriately staged pose. For example, surround the loudest boy and girl with people with their fingers in their ears. Take close-ups that emphasize the eyes of the girl and boy voted to have the best eyes.