Cultivating Genius - by Gholdy Muhammad (Paperback)

About the Book

In Cultivating Genius, Dr. Gholdy E. Muhammad presents a four-layered equity framework--one that is grounded in history and restores excellence in literacy education. This framework, which she names, Historically Responsive Literacy, was derived from the study of literacy development within 19th-century Black literacy societies. The framework is essential and universal for all students, especially youth of color, who traditionally have been marginalized in learning standards, school policies, and classroom practices. The equity framework will help educators teach and lead toward the following learning goals or pursuits:

• Identity Development--Helping youth to make sense of themselves and others
• Skill Development-- Developing proficiencies across the academic disciplines
• Intellectual Development--Gaining knowledge and becoming smarter
• Criticality--Learning and developing the ability to read texts (including print and social contexts) to understand power, equity, and anti-oppression

When these four learning pursuits are taught together--through the Historically Responsive Literacy Framework, all students receive profound opportunities for personal, intellectual, and academic success. Muhammad provides probing, self-reflective questions for teachers, leaders, and teacher educators as well as sample culturally and historically responsive sample plans and text sets across grades and content areas. In this book, Muhammad presents practical approaches to cultivate the genius in students and within teachers.

Book Synopsis

The four-layered framework-- identity, skill development, intellectualism and criticality-- is essential for all youth in classrooms, especially youth of color, who traditionally have been marginalized in learning standards, policies, and school practices. Readers will learn how to redesign their learning goals, lesson plans, and the texts they use to teach. The framework offers a unique and breakthrough blend of multiple pedagogical approaches including cognitive, sociocultural, and critical and sociohistorical theories.

About the Author

Dr. Gholnecsar (Gholdy) Muhammad is a Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Illinois Chicago, with a focus on literacy, language, and culture. She has served as a classroom teacher, literacy specialist, school district administrator, curriculum director, and school board president. She studies Black historical excellence in education, with the goal of reframing curriculum and instruction today, and has received numerous honors and awards for that work. Her Histories, Identities, Literacies, and Liberation (HILL) Model has been adopted in thousands of schools and districts. Dr. Muhammad's thought-leadership has laid the foundation for her bestselling titles, Cultivating Genius (2020) and Unearthing Joy (2022).