IMITATION

The imitation stage should be planned carefully in steps. Plan what to write; what type text; what language is needed.

Pre-teach connectives and don't forget the audience and purpose.

Step 1: An exciting theme or experience, pitched above the children's level, including the overall structure.

Step 2: Learn the text orally, rehearse the text for as long as it takes to lay down the syntactical patterns. Using actions to represent the key features such as connectives and a text map.

Step 3: The text should be based on something that the children have done, know about and have experienced or might be interested in learning about. Generative grammar cannot work without understanding.

Step 4: Interacting with the text. Time has to be spent loitering with the text, play around with the information and language patterns, interacting and imitating as much as possible “magpieing”. 

Step 5: “box up” the structure, drawing out and then listing the key ingredients and writing techniques.

Step 6: Display on the working wall the main model, with boxed up and annotated text.

INNOVATION

This is an example of an innovative piece. The original text is: "I had a little cherry stone and I planted in the ground".

Once the children have become familiar with the original text they area ready for this stage. It is important not  to move on to innovation stage till the original model is deeply embeded, you cannot innovate on something that is only vaguely known.