There are many ways to document the event, and many of the most interesting photographs are of things other than the sun. But most people want to have photographs of the moon passing into the sun. To photograph the sun itself, you have to use a camera with manual controls and special filters. The only time that direct photographs of the sun can be taken without a filter is during totality, which is also the only time it is safe to look at the sun without special protection. Totality will NOT take place anywhere in the United States, so filtered photography is the only way to take pictures of the sun.
Many commercial filters are available for photographing the sun.
Be sure to put the filter in front of the camera lens, never between the lens and the camera or between the camera and your eye. If you do not, the flash will overpower the patterns created by the sun. If there is a big tree between the sun and your school building, look at the way the sun creates patterns on the building in the shadow of the tree s leaves.