Do you write to educational standards?

JumpingJack said:

It occured to me the other day, that I didn't know if I should be following certain standards in my writing for MG.

All I have ever done is keep the language simple, and short. Watching the sentence lengths and steering clear of any words I thought might be difficult for my target age group.

I've avoided certain subjects I know unsuitable for the age group, and not included any bad language (not that my setting allows for it).

So here is the question. Do you follow any written standards provided by education boards or schools in your writing standard? Are you using any official guidelines? Do they even exist?

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I don't know what state you are in, but most are available online.
For my state, Pennsylvania, here is the site: http://www.pde.state.pa.us/stateboard_ed/cwp/view.asp?a=3&Q=76716

Schools here take standards extremely seriously. The school academic calendar is based on the standards, and each day lists which standard will be taught.

I just don't know if publishers/agents have caught on to this. And I've never been able to get anywhere with strictly academic publishers.

Hope this helps.

I've never even thought about adhering to some kind of educational standards. I want to write books kids want to read, not stuff that's neccessarily Good For Them. (This is mostly because, while childhood was long ago and much has become murky, I recall an ability to spot an author trying to pull a fast one on me from a mile away. And it really irked me, too. I didn't forgive C.S. Lewis for years.)

I just sold a middle-grade book (my first to a major publisher! EEEE! *cough* Sorry, still not over that...) and I didn't worry all that much about the vocabulary. Kids know when you're talking down to them. Clear, lucid prose is solid writing at any age, and nobody was ever scarred for life by having to ask their parents what "lucid" means.

I can't recall a single book I've seen with "Conforms to the Educational Standards of Some State!" emblazoned on the cover, so my advice would be not to sweat it unless you're writing specifically for text books. It's one more ball to juggle, and what for?

UrsulaV said:

I just sold a middle-grade book (my first to a major publisher! EEEE! *cough* Sorry, still not over that...)

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Congratulations!

In response to the question, no, I don't write 'to educational standards' but that's because I don't think it would make my writing any better - in fact, I think it would destroy my imagination!

Having said that, I do write 'reluctant readers' - short novels for teenagers who have a reading age of considerably lower than their chronological age - and those books do have to adhere to some pretty strict rules about complexity of structure and vocabulary. I do set out to write those in a different way to writing for other markets.

I refuse to write to the government education standards. I write to appeal to my readership's pleasure and passion, not some quasi-no-child-left-behind BS. If the two coincide, it will be a surprise to me, and one I won't consider noteworthy.

Congrats Ursula.

And to the question: No. The thought of that never entered my mind.

And I'll add another no to the bunch.

JumpingJack, it makes a difference only if you are targeting a very specific educational niche. I don't know anyone who really worries about those guidelines. I'd ignore them.

I think you're doing just swell; keep it simple, keep it fun and relaaaaaaaax!

Congratulations UrsulaV!

Question About Structure

Congrats on the sales.

Standards in reading/writing/language arts/ English classes are usually so general that ANY book could demonstrate them. Examples might be a student understanding characterization, dialogue, conflict, climax, resolution.

Most books can be used to teach those, but what you see most often are Newberry Winners and Newberry Honor books, so write an out of this world book, and there you go!

I don't use any educational standards either, but I think I'm going to look them up anyway. It doesn't hurt to know what they are.

moondance said:

Having said that, I do write 'reluctant readers' - short novels for teenagers who have a reading age of considerably lower than their chronological age - and those books do have to adhere to some pretty strict rules about complexity of structure and vocabulary. I do set out to write those in a different way to writing for other markets.

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I'd really like to take a look at a couple of examples of "reluctant readers". Is there a particular publisher or author who specializes in them? Thanks.

I teach first grade. Can I let you in on a secret? Most teachers don't give a fig for the "standards" when we choose a book, either. The standards say what a child should know and be able to do at the end of a year of education. and it's much easier to accomplish that with great literature kids get excited about. If I can get kids excited about reading and bonded for life with a favorite character or two, they'll meet the standards with very few problems.

I am a California Credentialed teacher too. It would be a good idea to think of the standards as... to quote Pirates of the Caribbean...."Guidelines," not boundaries. And you'd want to keep most of your vocabulary within your age bracket. However, don't limit your vocabulary.

If you use more complex words, make sure they are easily understood within the context of the sentence. Us teachers like to use those words as "teachable moments." If we are doing a reading circle, we will stop and ask the students what they think the word means by using the clues the sentence gives.

Have fun!

In response to dolores haze's question about reluctant readers, Orca publishes a reluctant reader series for young adults, called Soundings, and a series for middle grade reluctant readers, called Currents. They're fast-paced, fun reading and have done very well. Orca's website is www.orcabook.com and has descriptions of each book in the two series. I believe they also have teacher's guides for many or all of them. Orca is a Canadian publisher but distributes in the US also.

Also in response to Dolores, I write for www.barringtonstoke.co.uk but they are based exclusively in Britain. They only publish reluctant readers and are the only specialist publisher in this area in the UK. If you look at their site you'll see (under 'series') how they divide up their interest age range with reading abilities.