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