This research concerns linguistic variation and Portuguese teaching at school. It is assumed that linguistic pattern is conceived by teachers as an homogeneous norm, so that it is incompatible with linguistic norms students face with in usual text reading and writing activities. Taking into consideration official evaluation of didactic books, scholar reading activities, and sociolinguistic results that prove school interference at students writing performance, this article proposes that Portuguese classes should present variation as complex continua in which is displayed a plurality of norms.