In this personal narrative, the author presents her own difficulty in learning to write and in writing for publication. She connects these experiences to her teaching of writing.

“From my own writing journey, I have learned some lessons about teaching writing…The best advice comes from experience. I have since learned that taking writing to the nth degree can produce a feeling of accomplishment and appreciation for others for a job well done. But it also requires wrestling with doubt, facing truths perhaps long hidden, and feeling rejected, a lot. Writers need to face fears.

In the classrooms where I teach, I’ve seen lots of kids paralyzed by fear. Most of them know, perhaps better than their teachers who have never written, just how hard the act of writing can be” (p. 355).

Laverick Harrington, S. (1997/1998). One teacher’s writing journey: Hey, I’ve been there. The Reading Teacher, 51(4), 354-355. Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com