The author's mother has taught advanced classes at a small Catholic elementary school. She also does private tutoring for at-risk students from neighboring high schools and colleges in an affluent suburban area. The author teaches at a large public, urban university. Her mother tutors Algebra through Calculus in a fairly traditional lecture-style format. The author teaches a range of classes from College Writing to graduate courses in composition theory. Her students work in pairs and small groups, workshopping papers, experimenting with writing exercises, and revising their own texts. On the surface, their professional lives are very different. However, the stories they tell are remarkably similar: their struggles with students who do not complete assignments or do not participate; students who push back, withdraw, make trouble; students who seem determined not to learn. In this essay, the author examines several stories of resistance, ones that may feel disquietingly familiar, and tries to read them through new lenses. She reflects on the role such stories might play in teachers' teaching lives. (Contains 2 notes.)