research brainstorming (blog 9)

For my project, I really want to do something that will help me become a better coach.  So that leads me to think about aspects I'm not comfortable with/skilled at.  
One of those things is what to do when I don't know what to do.  I could break that into when I don't know the answer to a student's question, when I don't know how to help a student or what style/method/technique to use, and when I don't know how to figure out what the student means.  I think all of those together are pretty broad and I would need to focus on maybe just one or two.  And relevant to all of them is how I do present myself when I'm at a loss and how I should present myself.  I think taking notes on how I handle these situations as well as how another tutor handles it would be beneficial (along with reading what the experts have to say).


Another idea I have is about what to do when I disagree with a student.  I think it sort of connects with the above stuff, but it's also different enough to stand alone.  By disagreeing with a student... I guess I mean about either the topic she chooses or how she chooses to present her ideas.  For instance, say a writer wanted to write about Kean being the worst school ever.  (Okay, yes, this is an unlikely paper topic, but I've heard people say this...)  I would have a hard time being objective.  I might even argue with the student and give examples of how Kean is definitely not "the worst school ever."  Now, I could say I was doing this to help improve her argument, modeling the process of developing an argument.  Buuuuuut there's also a good chance I'm thinking, Uhhggg she has no idea what she's talking about.  If she had ever gone to another school, she would see that parking is almost always bad, lots of schools have gone 'paperless,' and.... < That is not good coaching.  
But if someone has a really bad topic (okay, or at least what I think is a really bad topic) that she is 100% sold on, what do you do?
And also like I mentioned, what if she has a pretty good topic, but insists that she wants to present it in X way, and I just think she's delivering it in a really bad way?  
Maybe these are things that as a tutor, you sometimes just have to concede to? So maybe they're not even good research questions...


I do feel a little more confident about the first set being research-able, though.