Get Free

Tricia Ebarvia is a lifelong educator, author, speaker, and literacy consultant. She is an expert in curriculum design, culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy, and social justice education, as well as a teacher consultant and member of the National Writing Project. For more than two decades, Tricia taught high school English, including courses in American literature, world literature, and Advanced Placement English. In addition to teaching, Tricia designed and facilitated racial literacy leadership programs for students as well as district-wide equity initiatives for faculty and staff. Since 2021, Tricia has served as the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at a Pre-K to 8 independent Quaker school in Philadelphia, where she continues to teach, coach teachers, and partners with families to support positive identity development and academic growth of students. Tricia's deep belief in education as a vehicle for social change and justice undergirds and informs all her practice. Tricia is a cofounder of #DisruptTexts, an antibias, anti-racist effort to advocate for equitable and diverse language arts curricula and pedagogy. She is the codirector of the Institute for Racial Equity in Literacy, a professional development institute attended by hundreds of educators worldwide. Tricia is also the coeditor of the blog series, 31DaysIBPOC, which amplifies the voices and experiences of educators of color each May. Tricia is the recipient of several awards, including a National Education Association Leadership Grant, the 2021 Divergent Award for Excellence in Literacy Advocacy from the Initiative for Literacy in a Digital Age, the Pennsylvania High School Teacher of Excellence Award from the National Council of Teachers of English. Tricia has also been recognized as an Outstanding Asian Pacific American Educator by former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf. Tricia's work has been published and featured in The New York Times, Literacy Today, Education Update, The Council Chronicle, Research in the Teaching of English, Education Week, and in the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy.

Foreword Introduction Starting with Ourselves: We Teach Who We Are Creating Brave Spaces: Community First Unpacking Multitudes: Expanding Students' Understanding of Identity Listening and Speaking: Critical Conversations Rethinking Reading: Taking an Expansive Approach Perspective-Taking and Perspective-Bending: Strategies for Reading

VERDICT: This helpful book reengineers classroom literacy learning by encouraging teachers to facilitate while students command their own learning. -- School Library Journal In a time when teachers are feeling more constrained than ever, this book serves as a path forward to breaking free from the biases and social norms that hold us back. Ebarvia has created a comprehensive tool kit that marries necessary theory to practical classroom application, which is nothing short of amazing and will be one of the most frequently pulled books from your professional library. -- Susan G. Barber Get Free: Antibias Literacy Instruction for Stronger Readers, Writers, and Thinkers hits that beautiful sweet spot between inspirational and practical. Through stories, real examples of student work, and artfully synthesized theory, this book provides reflections, tools, and tangible strategies for educators who seek to help us all get free. -- Sarah-SoonLing Blackburn What does it mean to be free? And how can we, as educators, create conditions for students to answer that for themselves? Ebarvia asks the most important questions of the moment and guides readers on a journey to help them answer the questions for themselves. With every word, it is clear Ebarvia has a deep belief in educators to rise to the occasion and support students to become the critical changemakers we need for a more just society. -- Val Brown Ebarvia has written for us a guide for how to use education the right way: how to invite students into freedom through literacy and classwork. This is genius and I'm so excited for it to be out in the world. -- Lorena German Get Free is a powerful resource for teachers striving to improve literacy instruction while creating a just and inclusive classroom. It blends academic research with real-world experiences to provide practical strategies for nurturing stronger readers. The book shows teachers how to create classrooms that embrace every student's unique identities and experiences, making it a must-have for transformative educators. -- Britt Hawthorne Ebarvia's book Get Free: Antibias Literacy Instruction for Stronger Readers highlights the often overlooked and necessary aspects of the literacy classroom that truly centers students. Supporting educators to create bold, honest, and brave spaces for ALL students, this book is the one I'll be giving to all the educators I know. Freedom is the goal and Ebarvia will help us to get there! -- Tiffany Jewell This is the book I needed my teachers to have when I was a student, the book I needed as a teacher, and the book I need now as a teacher-educator. It is a gift and offering for educators interested in equity and social justice-one that centers the humanity of everyone on this journey. -- Jung Kim This beautifully crafted, research based, practically minded book will help you to solve a whole host of problems in your classroom. Students not finding the work of literacy class relevant? This book will help. Are you only able to reach a group of students while somehow others don't click into your teaching? This book will help. Concerned (or not sure) about the ways in which power and privilege affect your school community? This book will help. By uncovering the subtle biases we hold that have dramatic effects on students, outlining ways to build real community in our classrooms, and then setting the table for some deep, vibrant teaching that develops both antibiased schools and relevant reading, writing, and discourse work, Ebarvia masterfully plots a journey we can and must all begin-today. -- Kate Roberts What a gift Tricia Ebarvia has given us in the form of this brilliant book. Weaving together thoughtful scholarship and practical pedagogical tools, Ebarvia has constructed a must-read for educators. I can't wait to share this book broadly with my networks! -- Karen Scher Get Free: Antibias Literacy Instruction for Stronger Readers, Writers, and Thinkers guides literacy educators through the self-work required to effectively teach against historical and current inequities within literacy education. By providing practical examples and relevant lesson plans, the book empowers the reader to create inclusive, equitable, and transformative literacy learning experiences for students-and teachers. -- Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz Get Free is a must-read for every teacher of literacy. In the book, Ebarvia reminds us that our personal identities cannot be separated from the work we do as teachers and that unpacking our experiences and biases is critical. Then she serves as mentor and guide on a journey to help us understand what it can look like in a classroom to be free as a teacher and learner. -- Franki Sibberson Built on decades of teaching and leading, Get Free provides key activities and concrete examples for how to create and sustain an antibias practice of literacy. These chapters, strategies, and key questions give educators the tools to see how identity shows up in our teaching and learning, and how to support deep learning to get free through literacy. -- Liza A. Talusan