Borderlands Writing Project
Department of English
MSC 3E
P.O.Box 3001
Las Cruces, NM 88003-8001

About the BWP

The Borderlands Writing Project is an exciting professional development project of the Colleges of Education and Arts and Sciences at New Mexico State University. Like the National Writing Project, its purpose is to place teachers at the center of their own professional development.

The mission of the Borderlands Writing Project BWP is to improve the teaching of writing and promote critical literacy in the schools within the southern New Mexico borderlands area. The essentials of the BWP model are designed to recognize, acknowledge and embrace the power and significance of teacher and student empowerment, expertise and leadership. In other words, we strive:

• to provide a forum for exploring and examining writing curriculum and pedagogy;
• to develop a strategy for creating a professional community among teachers; and,
• to provide support for the development of critical literacy in schools and communities.

The right of all individuals to have a quality education is recognized and supported by the BWP. Through its extensive network of Teacher Consultants, the BWP seeks to promote exemplary literacy pedagogy in every classroom in the southern borderlands of New Mexico. From this perspective, the BWP views access to excellent educational experiences as an inalienable right of all learners and teachers.

Those who participate in the various BWP professional development experiences are afforded many different kinds of opportunities to explore their pedagogy and practices, always considering who they and their students are, where they are located in and on the landscapes of our borderlands, and what kinds of languages and literacies they must honor in their classrooms and schools. Following in the footsteps of the NWP, Teacher Consultants forge paths to create viable and vibrant network of teacher leaders who seek to understand their pedagogical practices and create new literacy practices.

Diversity is an important tenet of the BWP. We value the diversity that is part of the southern New Mexico borderlands, including our teachers, students, their families and the communities that shape this multicultural landscape. Moreover, the BWP values all human diversity; such diversity is an integral part of our teaching and learning. And, we believe that all students' and teachers' lives, and educational practices, are thereby enhanced and enriched.

The Borderlands Writing Project is a non-profit organization which seeks to promote equity and social justice and does not discriminate against race, gender, class, ethnicity, language, sexuality or intellectual exceptionality.