"coaching"

I definitely believe that coaching is a beneficial practice for us and for the first-years.  I have to admit that i feel silly calling it coaching, though.  I'm just not going to use that particular term.  I'm replacing the noun with "guru" and the verb with "enlighten"...   Silly, but it feels less silly, or maybe more obviously/deliberately silly. 

What sort of a guru am I?  Maybe I should ask my first years.  I think sometimes I tend to focus too much on the suggestions for improvement and too little on the positive aspects of the lesson.  I listen, offer tips, sometimes commiserate.  I think the most difficult part of enlightening is motivating, at least for me.  I'm a pretty low-key person, not great at motivational speeches.  I'll tell you that you're awesome if you are, but if you don't believe it, I don't really know how to change your mind.  Since I haven't been a guru long, I don't think I've developed a style.  If I do have one, it must be inherent.  I don't think it's had much of an impact on my teaching, other than to remind me how far I've come in a year. 

The biggest thing I've noticed about enlightening is that I do it very differently than my second years did last year..  I'm guessing that they had the same sort of spiel that we got about it, because they did it basically the same way.  I realize I'm contradicting myself, so let me clarify.  My second years also gave plenty of praise along with their suggestions for improvement, but they did it from a different position.  I admit my weaknesses (perhaps too much), which I don't remember my gurus doing.  I'm not sure if this is a bad thing or not..  I guess maybe someone will tell me.