Prof. McCleary suggests that most secondary teachers focus on spelling,
grammar and syntax, rather than content and cohesion, when grading
student papers.  I"d like to add that it's true, the majority of marks
made on the actual paper do call attention to those types of errors.  We
(secondary teachers) who teach writing as a process, expect those
specific errors to have been edited before we grae the final draft.
Nothing grates more that a spelling or usage error, still in evidence
after the third or fourth draft.  As for content, the teacher I know
tend to utilize tightly crafted rubrics that define content, style and
structure.  When workshopping papers, content, style and messege are
primary and unfortunateely, spelling and grammar are considered
"housekeeping."
 
MTCW
 
Abby Anderson
Dept. Chair
Dowling High School
West Des Moines, IA