I have two very bright daughters. But sometimes I fear that they don't put enough effort into their written work. I'm an author by trade, and I was worried that maybe I was expecting too much out of them. But it's hard to get a handle on what a third grader is supposed to write like, or a sixth grader, or a ninth grader.

So I found a site with writing samples from Grades 5, 7 and 10. They have samples for four different kinds of writing (narrative, expository, persuasive, and I forget what the other one is) and at four different levels (below standard, partially meets standard, meets standard, exceeds standard). It's really very helpful to read through.

I'm going to give it to my seventh-grade daughter so she can see. When she sees what other kids her age are doing, she almost immediately improves. It's that sense of competition thing, you know? And I hate always being the bad guy, saying you have to try again. This, I think, will help. So if you wonder how your child's writing fares, check this out.

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Posted by quietcajun

You can also google for grade-appropriate writing rubrics.

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Posted by Brianna

If our schools truly use this level of writing, I should at least be doing grade 11 english. That's a really bizarre way to mark, and it made me feel like I was somehow missing something that I was supposed to be doing wrong. Even the level fours were too painful to finish reading. Everyone in my academic class wrote better than that and got level twos.

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