It's 3:20 a.m

So it's 3:20 a.m., and I can't fall back to sleep because my mind is occupied with tasks that still need to be completed with the yearbook.  Are all the ads placed, and have they been approved by the customers? Have all the photos been tagged, or better yet do we have all the students in the portrait sections to even be able to tag all the photos?  Are the "rescued spreads" progressing?

If there has been one constant "pain", it's been the yearbook.  I just haven't been able to create the culture that should exist.  I haven't been able to inspire the students to see the fun and creativity and joy in sharing the story of the school year.  Instead, the priority has been about getting A's for the course.  Instead, the priority has been with just getting it done because no one looks at anything but the pictures anyway.  Instead, the priority has been to do the least amount of work possible.

To be honest, that's not the case with each student.  There are bright spots, but they are the minority.  I wish I could package them up and somehow clone them and have a 15-20 motivated, excited, creative "worker bees" having a ball sharing the story of the school year.  We'd be as admired as the 3-Peat Music Department; be as respected as our dominant boys basketball, football, and softball programs; be as big as our FFA.  Heck, we might even be as fun and meaningful as FCA or NHS or Student Council.

It's now 3:31 a.m.

Next year there will be a new adviser.  Another faculty member reluctantly accepted the position, but now another faculty change may create an additional move.  Where will I be relocated so the new adviser can use Room NE10 and Lab NE10 A for a staff room?  Now that I think about it, there's going to have to be a new name for this blog! (perhaps a topic for the next 3:30 a.m. blogpost)

The change won't be easy.  The new adviser has no clue on the variety of skills needed to pull off the monster that is a yearbook and no clue on the amount of money involved.  I've tried to extend thoughts and ideas and information, but everyone is focused on finishing up their end of year stuff this year.

It will be over for me at the end of the school year, but yearbook won't stop.  Parents will already start filling out order forms for the 17-18 book over the summer.  Mrs. Workman will start loading a big manila envelop with order forms and checks.  The shipment of 16-17 books will arrive sometime in late July or early August, and the new adviser will have to be available to receive the shipment and check for damage and verify that the shipment is correct.  Then Mrs. Hasson will have to send out a message to students about pick up dates for the books.  Somewhere during the summer there might be an opportunity to attend a training session in Kansas City or perhaps closer to get the updates on the publishing program that is utilize or the latest trends in graphic design.

The books will be distributed soon after, and the handful of angry emails or phone calls will arrive with complaints about who didn't get in the book or the spreads that featured mistakes or misspelled names or words.  And the 17-18 book will begin with a discussion about strengths and weaknesses of the previous year's book and then work will start into the new theme.

I may be up at 3:43 a.m. again next year with a different set of thoughts upsetting my brain.  It won't be yearbook stuff, though.

I'm heading back to bed - hopefully a little less filled with worries.