This exploratory study results from interviews with five high school English teachers regarding their writing instruction. The researcher sought to answer these questions: (1) How had the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program's (TCAP) Writing Assessment affected their teaching as gauged by the teachers' statements regarding the assessment, emphasis on the writing process, and use of multiple writing genres? and (2) How did these teachers learn to teach writing, and did their training mitigate the influence of standardized testing? The teachers indicated that the TCAP Writing Assessment palpably affected their instruction. Additionally, the teachers revealed that they struggled to teach the writing process and showed reluctance to teach or assign multi-genre writing. This may result from their dearth of training to teach writing before entering the field.