In watching the video, I definitely enjoyed a couple of the things that I saw Jack Wilde do. It seemed like he had an effective approach, and what he did worked well for both him and his students, which is the most important aspect in deterimining a strategy for teaching ANYTHING.

The first thing that I saw him do that I liked was the way that he worked with the girl individually  to help her improve her writing by asking questions and making small suggestions, but not actually telling he what to do. This is good because it causes her to reflect on her writing and think about what effects that her revisions might have on it, without him just spelling out what to do and her not learning from the process. Also, by not being overly forceful in his suggestions he allows the student to maintain ownership of the writing that she did. Sometimes, if a teacher really marks up and corrects a student’s writing, it can begin to feel like it isn’t his work anymore. This is not an issue with Wilde’s approach.

Another thing that I liked was the fact that he requires some revision, without giving students the option not to. I think that this is a good thing because students will frequently choose to just be done with their work if given the option, but going back, reflecting on and revising writing is an excellent way to learn skills and understand what someone’s strenghts and weaknesses are as a writer. Fortunately, Wilde balances that fact that the revisions he asks students to do are somewhat of a forced march with the fact that he only requires a minimum of three things that the students work could improve on. This is good because this does not overwhelm students with the process of finding and adjusting the writing, but at the same time it (according to Wilde) opens to door to improvements beyond just those three things as they realize what they are doing well and what needs improvement.

This method of operation clearly woks for Wilde, and I definitely plan on considering his strategies when my students are revising their work, even if I have to make them like he does.