My approach to teaching English is directly informed by my experience teaching outdoor skills. I've noticed that novice whitewater kayakers can only keep two or three things in mind at once. If I give them more than that, they get confused and typically fail to recall the two or three that will determine the difference between a pleasant and unpleasant trip through the rapids. Likewise, marking every error depresses the spirit of the writer, obscures the sort of emphasis which is essential to the acquisition of skills and precludes a sensible progression in that acquisition. My marking of errors depends on the individual character of the student whose paper I am grading. Often, I only indicate where an error exists, leaving it up to the student to diagnose it. After all, they need to develop an internal copy-editor: and that won't happen if a teacher marks and labels every mistake. In my summary comments on papers, I will however list grammatical concerns which may have been unmarked on the paper. At this point, the highschool students I teach will come see me to discuss them. To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/