So not long ago I had a student who balked at writing a personal narrative for me on an assessment. I tried "it doesn't have to be your actual favorite," "pretend", "just pick something", and "I just need a writing sample." Got ~30 words tossed off with a sneer and an expletive, which might crack double-digit percentiles. Might. We then had a serious little talk about long-term implications of blowing off your IEP testing. After some obligatory ennui on the part of the student, we finally negotiated a second attempt on the essay, with the revised prompt, "pick something you care about" followed by the remaining standard directions. This time, the student generated an essay above the 90th %ile.
I think that is often the key--something you care about. You don't have to write about yourself, just about a topic you care about. Most teachers consider both pieces of writing to be "about me".
