Many English teachers identify as readers, drawing on broad literary knowledge to shape their pedagogy and to meet ever-increasing curriculum demands. Teachers identifying as writers, however, face the paradox of enabling authorial agency while adhering to time constraints and rigid assessment criteria. This article examines the role of the writer-teacher amid increasingly prominent high-stakes testing and a consequent emphasis on formulaic writing that lends itself to assessment. As a writer embarking on teaching in secondary schools, the author considers the continuing devaluation of creative writing. Drawing on her experiences as a creative writing workshop presenter, the author challenges deficit-based models of assessment that fail to recognise cultural capital and that ultimately stifle creative writing in schools. Through a degree of self-analysis the author determines her role as an English teacher and the value in flipping the creative writing classroom to facilitate and sustain creative writers.