About the Project

The Missouri Writing Project, founded in 1977 at the University of Missouri, is a charter member of the National Writing Project, a network of more than 200 sites throughout the country dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of writing. The MWP offers a variety of courses and prepares teachers to serve as curriculum leaders. The MWP is one of five writing project sites within the state of Missouri. We believe that writing represents far more than communication — that it also engages the mind, body, and spirit in thinking, learning, discovering, and connecting ideas, regardless of one’s age, ability, role, purpose, or circumstance.

The Missouri Writing Project Collaborative is the nonprofit arm of the MWP, providing professional development opportunities for teachers, learners, and others interested in language as a means of professional and personal transformation. The MWPC also focuses on underserved groups in our community, such as veterans and nursing home residents. We promote improved understanding and appreciation of language learning at all levels of the elementary, secondary, and higher education community and among the larger population. We also provide scholarships for K12 students to attend writing and literacy events, such as our long-running “Youth Writing Conferences.” We focus on the processes and products involved in writing, reading, and media, in print and digital formats, regardless of academic discipline, text, genre, purpose, and audience.

Project Objectives

• Writing is pivotal to learning, to academic achievement, and to job success.
• Writing instruction begins in kindergarten and continues through university.
• Universities and schools in collaboration can provide powerful programs for teachers.
• Effective teachers of writing regularly write themselves.
• Exemplary teachers make the best teachers of other teachers.
• Teachers are the key to reform in education.
• Professional development begins when teachers enter teaching and continues throughout their careers.
• Writing is fundamental to learning all subjects.
• Real change in classroom practice happens over time.