There are definitely degrees of reluctance in writers that come in. I have never had a student be downright hostile to me or the process of fixing their paper, but I have had many students ambivalent about what we are doing, especially 1010 students at the beginning of the school year. Just last Friday I had a girl come in who when I asked her about her paper and what she wanted to work on silently handed me the sheet her professor gave them. After we started going over her paper I found a few spots where she just had really funky sentences and word choice that really confused her point. The first time I pointed one of these spots out and explained why it was odd and what could be done to make it better she just sat silently through the whole thing. After asking her if she understood, she just sort of nodded a little bit. I asked her if she agreed with me and she just said she wanted the paper looked at. I realized she could care less about the specific revisions I was trying to make, and was only there because she had to be. So I handed her a pen and asked her which of the options I had listed she liked, or whether she had one of her own. Then I waited. And waited some more. Honestly, I had just about given up on this waiting for her to answer idea when she explained why she liked a certain word and it did seem to make her point better. She wrote it down and then asked me a question. Thrilled at even this minimal interest on her part, I had to carefully control my interest to rampantly run circles around her and fix all of her confusing sentences. After that point she became increasingly more engaged, asking questions, and even making suggestions of her own. Though it was never a great session, and I don't think she'll remember it fondly, nor look forward with joy to coming back next time her professor asked, it was nice to see her become more and more interested in her own paper.

Reluctant writers, though initially harder to work with, have been a part of some of my most rewarding sessions. The stark difference in their attitude and eye contact from the beginning to the end of the session has helped me feel like I actually have made a difference. Granted, there have been times where I have been unsuccessful at showing the writer why they should be interested in their paper, and those sessions are discouraging. Nevertheless, I like working with the writers who, though initially reluctant, secretly want to argue about word choice and thesis statements.

And because I would hate to disappoint myself or anybody who might be reading this who is wondering how I made it this far without mentioning the LSAT: look how early in the week I'm posting! That's a new record for me! I decided this week was just going to get worse, seeing as the test is on Saturday, and so I should get it done early. Hoorah!