Two types of tutoring - and my experiences

     The first article seemed to be what I've heard most about tutoring - that the student should always be in total control of his or her paper.  I've worked hard to accomplish this in sessions, because despite how simple it sounds, it's very difficult to do.  I have improved with doing this, also, which makes me happy.  But I always feel there is a line where you must help the student, at least a little, or lose all hope of accomplishing anything.  With this, I mean that you cannot let the student hit breaking point.  I've suggested a student to use a different word, and the student became so frustrated from not being able to think of another word, that he was ready to give up on his paper.  I hope to not cause any student such distress over a single word.

     The second article intrigues me because I can think of an example of where a teacher was directive, and it became a turning point in my writing.  She did not rewrite my paper, but she did take me aside and tell me something useful.  She said I was a good enough writer to know the truth about conclusions.  What I had at the moment, which was the usual summary of the paper, was weak and would hold my writing back.  She then explained to me that the conclusion was to answer the "so what" question.  She only elaborated slightly on this, but I tried to write it, and she continued to tell me it was wrong until I got it right.  This made a huge difference in my papers, and i passed my peers in writing capability because of this knowledge.  In that respect, I can understand where the second article is coming from.  I do agree that different students need different tutoring styles.