Why Teachers should write

Teachers should write, first of all, because it is fun. It is a satisfyingly human activity that extends both the brain and the soul. It stimulates the intellect, deepens the experience of living, and is good therapy. As Graham Green says, "Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, the melancholia, the panic fear which is inherent in the human situation."

Teachers should write so they understand the process of writing from within. They should know the territory intellectually and emotionally: how you have to think to write, how you feel when writing. Teachers of writing do not have to be great writers, but they should have frequent and recent experience of writing. The best preparation for the writing class, workshop or conference is at least a few minutes at the writing desk, saying what you did not expect to say. If you experience the despair, the joy, the failure, the success, the work, the fun, the drudgery, the surprise of writing you will be able to understand the composing experiences of your students and therefore help them understand how they are learning to write.

From A Writer Teaches Writing Revised
by Donald M Murray