ABSTRACT
High school students are highly adept at avoiding, when they actually need to engage, not avoid. An environment filled with model texts will generate writers who naturally come to know and use the patterns of the English language. High school students are thinking about the meaning-driven use of conventions beyond academic English. Grammar is more like a lump of clay waiting to be shaped through purposeful manipulation and movement. The acts of tinkering and experimenting with our writing transform our ideas into meaning and effect. High school writers can meet or exceed their language and convention standards while concurrently uncovering links between writing and reading. The invitational process is driven by students’ natural curiosity about language and life. Students are nudged to apply some of these new patterns to their individual compositions, free to risk, bend, and blend. Nudging writers toward application of the Patterns of Power permeates planning and instruction.
