The Stubborn Student

Usually I would use a word with a less pejorative connotation than "stubborn", but I don't know how else to describe this student. "Annoying" would also apply. The first essay I assign in my freshman composition classes is a narrative. Who can't tell a story? I know not everyone tells a story well, or tells a good story, but everyone has a story. My students were supposed to have come to class with three sentences that would be part of their prewriting: the "before", the "what happened", and the "after". They are writing a narrative (personal or not) that talks about a change in perspective or action, and I wanted to help guide them as they put their ideas together. Of the seventeen students in the class, four had written their three sentences. I put those students in one group to discuss their topics, and put the rest into groups of three to brainstorm. I said they would be able to leave when they had their sentences. (It was already close to the end of class time.)

Most of the students were on task, doing what they should have been doing. I went to the group with those who had (allegedly) completed their homework, and one of them had chosen to write about how all water tasted the same to him until he had tried [some brand I can't remember], and since then he can't drink any kind of water except that brand. After I read his notes, I asked if that was seriously his topic. I tried to ask in a nice way. He's a smart guy, so I thought he might be joking. He doesn't have much of a sense of humor, but he pretends to be a stickler for semantics. I had asked that they bring three copies of their rough drafts on Wednesday, and he wanted to know if that meant a total of four papers. He claimed to understand my directions as "one original and three copies." I explained that if he were actually making copies on a copy maching from a single printed document, he would need two copies of that original, but since he would probably be printing all of them at the same time, he should print three. Good lord! But that's not the worst of it.

He acknowledged that his topic sentences were weak, but claimed he had nothing to write about. Nothing had ever happened to him; he'd never changed his mind about anything. He never went anywhere. I suggested he write about someone else. He said he doesn't know anyone. He has two friends and they're just as boring as he is. The others in his group (remember, this was the "finished" group and these kids could have left because they had their work done) kept trying to help him come up with ideas and encourage him that there must be something he could write about. I related to him Ring Lardner's quote (and I'm paraphrasing here) that anyone who has survived childhood has enough material for ten novels. Still nothing. I wouldn't say I gave up on him entirely, but other students had questions, and they really wanted to do the work. For the moment, I had to step away from this student to preserve my sanity and to help the other students. I haven't encountered a student like this before, so I need to work on a strategy. My preference is to help all my students, but some truly don't want to be helped.