Knock Knock

Yep, that’s opportunity!

Do you like to write stories, poems, or nonfiction articles for children?

Well, here’s your chance to turn them into dough!

The Kansas Center for Educational Testing and Evaluation is looking for poetry and prose for grades 3 through 12.

Their plan is to use them on state reading assessments...

and they’ll pay you $250 for each piece they accept!

Cha-CHING!

This certainly looks like a great way to break into the business of educational writing.

As many of you know, I've been doing this sort of thing for years, so here are a few tips —

1. Pick kid-friendly topics for the grade level you’re targeting. Yes, that zombie kill-fest might be sooooo much fun to write, but you won’t sell it for Grade 2 assessments. Sorry.

2. Use the Readability Statistics that are built into Microsoft Word’s Spelling and Grammar Check. The Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level will help you zone in on your target audience. This number will not be accurate for poetry, though, so see tip #3…

3. Search core vocabulary lists for each grade level online and don’t stray too far from them. Trust me, I know how badly you might want to use “discombobulate” in a kindergarten text, but alas, it will not sell. For more thorough lists, pick up a copy of the EDL Core Vocabulary: Student Workbook by Steck-Vaughn. It will only set you back 10 bucks, and trust me, it’s money well-spent. I’ve been using mine daily since 2005.

So, check out the details for this terrific opportunity here, and…

PROMPT: Write on!