Trevor T. Stewart

Trevor Thomas Stewart, Associate Professor

School of Education
War Memorial Hall
Office 310D
Blacksburg, VA 24061
540-231-8335 | ttstew@vt.edu

Dr. Trevor Thomas Stewart is an Associate Professor in the School of Education and the Program Leader for English Education at Virginia Tech. He received his Ph.D. in Language & Literacy Education and a Certificate in Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies from the University of Georgia (2010). Prior to becoming a teacher educator, Dr. Stewart worked as a high school English teacher in southwestern North Carolina. His previous academic appointment was at Appalachian State University (2010-2014) where he taught courses focused on writing, English Language Arts methods, and digital literacy.

Dr. Stewart’s scholarship is grounded in the work of Russian literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin. His research extends dialogic theory to the field of education and focuses on the importance of making classrooms generative spaces that bring content into dialogue with students’ lives. His work can be found in international and national peer-reviewed journals, such as English Education, the International Journal of Qualitative Methods, the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, The Urban Review, the Journal of Constructivist Psychology, and the International Journal of Dialogical Science. He has also published two books with colleagues reporting results from a longitudinal study examining approaches to supporting novice teachers and improving teacher induction programs:

Fecho, B., Coombs, D., Stewart, T. T., & Hawley, T. (2021). Novice teachers embracing wobble in standardized schools: Using dialogue and inquiry for self-reflection and growth. Routledge.

Fecho, B., Coombs, D., Stewart, T. T. with DiSabato, E., & Knecht Scott, R. (2024). Two years in the lives of two English teachers: To be, to do, to become. Routledge.

Dr. Stewart received the Outstanding Scholarship/Creative Achievement award from the Reich College of Education at Appalachian State University in 2014, the Gary Moorman Early Career Literacy Scholar award from the American Reading Forum in 2017, and the Certificate of Teaching Excellence from the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech in 2021.

Principal Areas of Research Focus

English education
Literacy
Dialogic Pedagogy
Teacher Induction
Professional Development
The Roles of Language and Culture in Meaning Making

Education

Ph.D., Language & Literacy Education, University of Georgia
Certificate in Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies, University of Georgia
M.A.T., English, Western Carolina University
B.A., English (Summa Cum Laude), Western Carolina University

Professional Roles

Program Leader, English Education Program, Virginia Tech
American Reading Forum Board of Directors 2012-2015
Editorial Boards / Activities
- Journal of Language & Literacy Education 2011-Present
- Voices from the Middle 2016-Present

Awards and Honors

2021 Certificate of Teaching Excellence
2020 Named a Research Associate for the Virginia Tech Center for the Humanities
2017 Gary Moorman Early Career Literacy Scholar Award, American Reading Forum
2014 Reich College of Education Outstanding Scholarship/Creative Activity Award, Appalachian State University

Publications

Selected Publications

Books

Fecho, B., Coombs, D., Stewart, T. T., & Hawley, T. (2021). Novice teachers embracing wobble in standardized schools: Using dialogue and inquiry for self-reflection and growth. Routledge.

Fecho, B., Coombs, D., Stewart, T. T. with DiSabato, E., & Knecht Scott, R. (2024). Two years in the lives of two English teachers: To be, to do, to become. Routledge.

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles (Selected)

Stewart T. T. & Jansky, T. (In press). Complexity, struggle, and the Dialogical Self: Learning from New Teachers to Shift the Paradigm of Teacher Education and Professional Learning. Journal of Constructivist Psychology. Manuscript DOI: 10.1080/10720537.2024.2398110

Jansky, T., & Stewart, T. T. (2024). Wobble and transcending the challenges of new teachers. Journal of Excellence in College Teaching and Learning, 20, 70-82.

Stewart, T. T., & Jansky, T. (2022). Novice teachers and embracing struggle: Dialogue and reflection in professional development. Teaching and Teacher Education: Leadership and Professional Development, 1(1), 1-9.

Stewart, T. T., *Hill, J., & *Lindstrom, P. N. (2020). Exploring wobble through collaborative dialogue to reconcile theory and practice. Teacher Education Quarterly, 47(1), 48-70.

*Hill, J., *Bass, E., & Stewart, T. T. (2020). Promoting preservice teacher efficacy through dialogic problem-posing seminars. English in Education 54(4), 358-370.

Stewart, T. T., Coombs, D., Fecho, B., & Hawley, T. (2019) Embracing wobble: Exploring novice teachers’ efforts to enact dialogic literacy instruction. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 63(9), 289-297.

Stewart, T. T., & Boggs, G. L. (2019). Urban teachers’ online dissent produces cultural resources of relevance to teacher education. The Urban Review. 51(2), 183-200.

Boggs, G. L., Stewart, T. T., & Jansky, T. (2018). Economic relevance and planning for literacy instruction: Reconciling competing ideologies. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 61(5), 553-565.

Stewart, T. T., & Boggs, G. L. (2016). Emerging dialogic structures in education reform: An analysis of urban teachers’ online compositions. Dialogic Pedagogy: An International Online Journal, 4, 142-161.

Azano, A. P., & Stewart, T. T. (2016). Confronting challenges at the intersection of rurality, place, and teacher preparation: Improving efforts in teacher education to staff rural schools. Global Education Review, 3(1), 108-128.

Azano, A. P., & Stewart, T. T. (2015). Exploring place and practicing justice: Preparing pre-service teachers for success in rural schools. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 30(9), 1-12.

Stewart, T. T., & McClure, G. (2013). Freire, Bakhtin, and collaborative pedagogy: A dialogue with students and mentors. International Journal for Dialogical Science, 7(1), 91-108.

Brozo, W., Moorman, G., Myer, C. K., & Stewart, T. T. (2013). Content-area reading and discipline literacy: A case for the radical center. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 56(5), 353-357.

Stewart, T. T. (2012). English teachers, administrators, and dialogue: Transcending the asymmetry of power in the discourse of educational policy. English Education, 44(4), 375-393.

Stewart, T. T. (2011). Transactional analysis: A framework for illuminating human experience. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 10(3), 282-295.

Stewart, T. T. (2010). A dialogic pedagogy: Looking to Mikhail Bakhtin for alternatives to standards period teaching practices. Critical Education, 1(6), 1-20.

Book Chapters (Selected)

Stewart, T. T. (In press, due Spring 2025) Reframing teaching as a profession of connection: The power of internal and external dialogue. In A. W, Jordan, T.S. Hawley, and T. Hunter-Doniger (Eds.) Acting Up: Fostering Joyful Teaching as Resistance in the American South and Appalachia. IAP.

Stewart, T. T. (2022). Reflections of an academic father: A dialogic approach to balancing identity. In A. D Broemmel & N. Vines (Eds.), Teacher reflections on transitioning from K-12 to higher education classrooms (pp. 75-82). IGI Global.

Stewart, T. T. (2018). Dialogue, inquiry, changing roles, and the dialogical self. In F. Meijers & H. Hermans (Eds.), The Dialogical self theory in education: A multicultural perspective. Cultural psychology of education, Vol. 5, (pp. 35-47). Springer.

* Indicates current or former student

Courses Taught

EDCI 5104: Schooling in American Society
EDCI 6505: Reading Research Seminar
EDCI 5724: Teaching English in the Middle & Secondary Schools I
EDCI 5964: Field Studies (English)
EDCI 5724: Teaching English in the Middle & Secondary Schools II
EDCI 5754: Student Teaching Internship (English)
EDCI 5454: Teaching Composition
EDCI 5264: Comprehension Processes and Content Area Reading

Work with Graduate Students

2019- present Lauren May

2018- present Heather Wright

2015-2020 James Hill (Assistant Professor, University of Northern Michigan)

2015- 2019 Pamela Lindstrom (Adjunct Professor, Penn State Harrisburg, Millersville University)

2015- 2019 Erika Bass (Assistant Professor, University of Northern Iowa)

2014- 2017 Tanji Reed Marshall (Research Associate, The Education Trust, Washington D.C.)

Notable Outreach / Achievements

Stewart, T. T. Developing Tools to Support Teachers: Embracing Wobble Through Reflection & Collaborative Dialogue. (December 7, 2020). Virginia Tech Faculty Research Associate Colloquium Series. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA.
Fecho, B., Coombs, D., Stewart, T. T., & Hawley T. Novice Teachers, Moments of Wobble, and the Dialogical Self. (November 9, 2020). Panel Discussion for the International Society for Dialogical Science. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2Fk6tRTFng&t=6 48s.