Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy

by Gholdy Muhammad

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781338594898
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	12/13/2019
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	41,421
Product dimensions:	7.30(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Dr. Gholnecsar (Gholdy) Muhammad is an Associate Professor of Language and Literacy at Georgia State University. She also serves as the director of the GSU Urban Literacy Collaborative and Clinic. Dr. Muhammad’s scholarship has appeared in leading educational journals and books. Some of her recognitions include the 2014 recipient of the National Council of Teachers of English, Promising New Researcher Award, the 2015 NCTE Alan C. Purves Award (honorable mention), the 2016 NCTE CEE Janet Emig awardee, the 2017 Georgia State University Urban Education Research Awardee, the 2018 UIC College of Education Researcher of the Year and the 2018 Emerald Literati Award.
 

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 5

Foreword Bettina L. Love 6

Introduction: Restoring Equity and Excellence to Today's Classrooms 8

Part 1 Drawing From History to Reimagine Literacy Education 16

Chapter 1 How 19th-century Black Literary Societies Can Elevate Today's Literacy Learning 18

Chapter 2 What Is Historically Responsive Literacy? 38

Part 2 Teaching and Learning With the Four-Layered HRL Framework 62

Chapter 3 Toward the Pursuit of Identity 64

Chapter 4 Toward the Pursuit of Skills 82

Chapter 5 Toward the Pursuit of Intellect 100

Chapter 6 Toward the Pursuit of Criticality 116

Part 3 Implementing Historically Responsive Texts and Lesson Plans 134

Chapter 7 Selecting Historically Responsive Texts 136

Chapter 8 Using Historically Responsive Lesson Plans 156

Afterword Maisha T. Winn 170

References 172

Index 174