First-year students in literature-based composition courses do not read the way instructors would desire and do not seem to respond actively enough to their reading, judging by both the lukewarm responses in classroom discussions and the superficiality of their written reactions. In an attempt to make students respond actively to their reading, the author applies Russell Hunt's interventionist strategies in an in-class reading exercise and "track" the students? initial reading of a literary text. The author finds that letting students see his own struggles with reading encouraged them to feel greater confidence, thereby easing the way for productive interventions in the process. (Contains 2 notes and 2 tables.)