Tim Dewar is a teaching professor in the Department of Education. His scholarship focuses on English education, with a particular interest in the teaching of writing. He divides his teaching between the Teacher Education Program and the Learning, Teaching, and Teacher Education (LTTE) strand of the Education Department.
Dr. Dewar is interested in writing instruction and assessment, how teachers come to frame the challenges they encounter in student work, and sustainable teacher identities. As a result of these interests, he is the single subject teaching credential coordinator for the Teacher Education Program, director of the South Coast Writing Project (SCWriP), and executive director of the California Writing Project (CWP). It is his work with new and veteran teachers that drives his scholarship.
Dr. Dewar earned his Ph.D. in education, language, literacy, and composition from the Gevirtz School in 2008, working closely with his advisor, Dr. Sheridan Blau. Prior to coming to UCSB in 2010, he was an assistant professor at SUNY New Paltz and taught secondary English in public and private schools throughout California.
Accepting new students for fall 2027: Unsure
Teacher education and professional development; Writing instruction and assessment; Literacy practices
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
California Association of Teachers of English (CATE)
"Teaching the UCSB Reads Book: A Faculty Panel", 2022
"New Worlds, New Teachers, New lessons: Ted Chiang's 'Exhalations'", 2022
"How Do Students Spend Our Precious Time? Let's InvestiCATE", 2020
"Pathways to Leadership: Stories from the California Writing Project Network", 2020
"When Writing Teachers Write Daily for 60 Days: Findings from a 40-year Experiment"", 2020
"Which Comes First, Reading or Writing: Balancing Literacy Instruction in the Secondary ELA Classroom", 2019
"'To Teach in Such a Way that People Stop Killing Each Other': Becoming a Teacher for Today and Tomorrow", 2018
"Experiencing Textual Difficulties: Supporting Students Reading Complex Texts", 2017
"Starting with Writing Standard 5: Making the Standards Work for Our Students", 2016
"Common Texts and Uncommon Connectionsâ, 2015
"Comparing Writers to Themselves: Some Thoughts of Formative Assessment", 2014
"What Can We Learn from Our Favorite Teachers", 2014
"Close Reading is Rereading" 2014
"Common Core, SBAC, and More", 2014
"Common Core and NGSS: Writing in Science" 2013
"New Teachers, New Standards: Writing to Learn and Informational Writing", 2012
"Models for Writing: Genre Study, Noticing, Naming, and Learning", 2012
"Writing with Other Peopleâs Words: Transcending the Research Paper", 2012
"CSP & CCSS: Parts I & II", 2012
"Forced-Choice Scoring: Determining Change, Seeing Developmental Patterns", 2011
"Introduction to the English Language Arts Common Core Standards", 2011
Dewar, T. "Books as comfort: The familiar genre". California English, 26.3, 6-7.. 2021. [Refereed Journal Article]
Dewar, T., Stowell, L., Wahleithner, Suyeyasu, K., & Kittle, P. "CWP Response to Amy Conley's "Imagining the future of literacy instruction."". California English, 27.2, 6-8.. 2021. [Refereed Journal Article]
Olson, Carol Booth; Woodworth, Katrina; Arshan, Nicole; Black, Rebecca; Chung, Huy Q.; D'Aoust, Catherine; Dewar, Tim; Friedrich, Linda; Godfrey, Lauren; Land, Robert; Matuchniak, Tina; Scarcella, Robin; Stowell, Laurie. "The pathway to academic success: Scaling up a text-based analytical writing intervention for Latinos and English learners in secondary school.". Journal of Educational Psychology, v112 n4 p701-717 May 2020. 2020. [Journal Article]
Dewar, T. "Content, Form, Balance, and Training Wheels". California English, 19.2, 12. 2013. [Refereed Journal Article]
Dewar, T. "Professional Development as Professional Learning". California English, 17.3, 6-7. 2012. [Refereed Journal Article]
Rogers, P., Whitney, A. E., Bright, A., Cabe, R., Dewar, T. & Null, S. Y. "Rejoining the Learning Circle: When Inservice Providers Conduct Research". English Education, 43, 171-192. 2011. [Refereed Journal Article]
Whitney, A., Blau, S., Bright, A., Cabe, R., Dewar, T., Levin, J., Macias, R., & Rogers, P. "Beyond Strategies: Teacher Practice, Writing Process, and the Influence of Inquiry". English Education, 40, 201-230. 2008. [Refereed Journal Article]