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Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy
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.
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.
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2020
511 people are currently reading
4509 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 289 reviews
July 19, 2020
THIS IS THE BOOK I’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR MY ENTIRE TEACHING CAREER! Dr. Gholdy Muhammad connects the excellence of the past, Black literary societies, to how we need to teach for our Black and Brown (and all) students today. I’m so sick of teaching skills, skills, and more skills. That’s not what literacy is about. Literacy is about being human, figuring out who we are, knowing our world, and critiquing our world to make it a better place for everyone. Literacy is action. Literacy is love. We can do better for our students, and we can do it now. Dr. Muhammad shows us the way through her genius, excellence, love, and honesty.
July 28, 2020
This is, by far, the best book I've ever read about teaching, pedagogy, curriculum, etc. Given the recent culmination of events in our country, the reactions, and promises...anyone whose mission is to 'educate' children, especially Black and Brown children, needs to read this book. After you read it, grab a colleague and read it again. Begin asking the questions.
Interrogate your work.
Interrogate the system.
Interrogate the curriculum and standards. Interrogate the texts.
Then, start from scratch. Be intentional in designing your lessons and practice around the identities of the students you serve.
Interrogate your work.
Interrogate the system.
Interrogate the curriculum and standards. Interrogate the texts.
Then, start from scratch. Be intentional in designing your lessons and practice around the identities of the students you serve.
June 28, 2020
Wow! This is a must read for PreK-12+ educators. I know it is out of stock everywhere but order it anyway because everyone needs this book! So much to say and I'll blog about it later but this is a must-read.
May 29, 2020
I feel I could have written this book: the instructional practices, and even some of the instructional lessons I've created and done in the past-- but there is one very important and clear difference: Dr. Muhammad provides a historical context to the importance of literacy and literacy/literary history in Black history. Her writing and work strengthen my resolve to continue in abolitionist teaching practices. If you've been working in education and striving for equitable, culturally relevant teaching this is a must-read.
July 22, 2020
As many of the reviews say, all teachers need to read this book. The way that Muhammad builds the HRL on the understanding and example of Black literary societies is poignant and new learning for me. So many things to think about and reflect upon from this book.
June 20, 2020
Every person who works in some aspect of education needs to read this book.
July 12, 2022
Brilliant. All teachers should read.
April 15, 2021
SUMMARY: Gholdy Muhammad presents readers with a framework for teaching historically responsive literacy (HRL), a way to “authentically draw upon and respond to the histories, identities, and literacy and language practices of students for teaching and learning” p. 49). Within this framework, she provides readers with four pursuits: identities, skills, intellect, and criticality. These pursuits are enacted as ways to lead toward “liberation, self-determination, self-reliance, and self-empowerment” (p. 28). To assist in the cultivation of these literacy pursuits, Muhammad utilizes the rich historical traditions of Black literacy societies, showing how these groups relied on the cultivation of their genius. That is, rather than viewing themselves from a deficit perspective, they began with with their identities, their skills, their intellect, and their criticality as a way to spread knowledge to other Black folx. To assist teachers and teacher educators, she provides various examples and guiding questions to help us center the HRL framework in our classrooms.
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT: I kind of want to say everything, but to be specific, I love how she interweaves historical information, literacy, and pedagogy into one book, and she makes it easily accessible. I feel like I have ample strategies to use in my future classroom. I also think this would serve as a great foundational text in a methods course (any subject) because starting from this work decentralized prior notions of pedagogy and curriculum development. Lastly, I think this is a great book for teacher educators because I can see various ways that these strategies and ways of thinking about curriculum can also be included i know higher education.
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT: I kind of want to say everything, but to be specific, I love how she interweaves historical information, literacy, and pedagogy into one book, and she makes it easily accessible. I feel like I have ample strategies to use in my future classroom. I also think this would serve as a great foundational text in a methods course (any subject) because starting from this work decentralized prior notions of pedagogy and curriculum development. Lastly, I think this is a great book for teacher educators because I can see various ways that these strategies and ways of thinking about curriculum can also be included i know higher education.
January 22, 2021
Review #7 of 2021:
“Many curricula are written to focus on skills alone. Authors often feel it is easier to access skills and not other pursuits of learning. This then becomes a capitalistic ploy, to gain financial wealth. In other words, there are people who profit from the failure of Black and Brown kids. If they only market programs around skills or around state learning standards (which were not written for all students), then they are easy to sell, because businesses and schools haven’t traditionally valued identity development, intellect, or criticality over time. Publishers test and provide curricula on those goals they value most - those goals that marginalize certain groups.”
I’ve been dying to read this book ever since I heard about it on the Cult of Pedagogy podcast - I only wish I’d read it sooner! Cultivating Genius advocates that schools should not just be skills-focused; we should seek to foster strong senses of identity, skills, intellect, and criticality to form well-rounded, just citizens.
In the same way that Stephen King’s “On Writing” is part memoir, part writing instruction, this book is part history, part pedagogy. I was fascinated by the history of black literary societies dating back to the 1800s - and also that Muhammad uses these groups as a foundation for her current historical literacy framework. It’s part of the ongoing conversation of who designs our curriculum, and who is our curriculum designed for?
This definitely goes on the list of books that every educator should read in 2021. My only critique is that I wish it was longer; it felt kind of surface level at times, especially in the sample lesson plans, so I am searching for books similar to this topic to extend my learning and exploration into this idea.
“Many curricula are written to focus on skills alone. Authors often feel it is easier to access skills and not other pursuits of learning. This then becomes a capitalistic ploy, to gain financial wealth. In other words, there are people who profit from the failure of Black and Brown kids. If they only market programs around skills or around state learning standards (which were not written for all students), then they are easy to sell, because businesses and schools haven’t traditionally valued identity development, intellect, or criticality over time. Publishers test and provide curricula on those goals they value most - those goals that marginalize certain groups.”
I’ve been dying to read this book ever since I heard about it on the Cult of Pedagogy podcast - I only wish I’d read it sooner! Cultivating Genius advocates that schools should not just be skills-focused; we should seek to foster strong senses of identity, skills, intellect, and criticality to form well-rounded, just citizens.
In the same way that Stephen King’s “On Writing” is part memoir, part writing instruction, this book is part history, part pedagogy. I was fascinated by the history of black literary societies dating back to the 1800s - and also that Muhammad uses these groups as a foundation for her current historical literacy framework. It’s part of the ongoing conversation of who designs our curriculum, and who is our curriculum designed for?
This definitely goes on the list of books that every educator should read in 2021. My only critique is that I wish it was longer; it felt kind of surface level at times, especially in the sample lesson plans, so I am searching for books similar to this topic to extend my learning and exploration into this idea.
October 6, 2020
Incredible. Brave. Essential. Muhammad offers the lenses for teachers and school leaders to critically question all literacy practices. This text will now live forever on my desk for constant revisiting and use in professional development and planning with teachers. A few quotes forever etched:
“We know that we still have policies and laws in place that cause some people to be killed, persecuted, or treated in inhumane ways. Do we follow these policies just because they are written in print, or do we interrogate them and teach students to create a better world for all people— including those who look different from them?”
“And we want to make sure our youth become future adults who will work toward humanization and not perpetuate oppressions.”
“Critical love is leading schools toward anti-oppression.”
“We know that we still have policies and laws in place that cause some people to be killed, persecuted, or treated in inhumane ways. Do we follow these policies just because they are written in print, or do we interrogate them and teach students to create a better world for all people— including those who look different from them?”
“And we want to make sure our youth become future adults who will work toward humanization and not perpetuate oppressions.”
“Critical love is leading schools toward anti-oppression.”
June 23, 2021
This is an excellent framework to use when evaluating or planning curriculum. It could easily be adapted for different groups of students, different ages and different content areas. Using this framework will automatically and authentically up the rigor and responsiveness of curricula.
The framework is intended to be dynamic and not prescriptive. This means the lesson plans are extremely vague, intended to be ideas that can be adapted for different contexts. It would have been helpful to see at least one example of a completely planned lesson with time and activities and expectations for what students would be able to do at the end of it.
I really enjoyed learning about the Black literary societies and reading all the primary texts included.
The framework is intended to be dynamic and not prescriptive. This means the lesson plans are extremely vague, intended to be ideas that can be adapted for different contexts. It would have been helpful to see at least one example of a completely planned lesson with time and activities and expectations for what students would be able to do at the end of it.
I really enjoyed learning about the Black literary societies and reading all the primary texts included.
August 3, 2020
Revolutionary. A must-read. (And then, a must-change-your-teaching.)
March 28, 2021
This book is a must-read for educators and leaders who want to leverage the power of literacy to make students agents of change.
December 19, 2021
What this book seems like to me is that Gholdy Muhammad wrote a PhD dissertation about African American Literacy Clubs in the years before the American Civil War and tried to come up with a BuzzFeed list of "things you can learn from all of this research that I did". This is what serves as Popular Literacy Advocacy; Muhammad has no pedagogical research to support her conclusions. She does not situation the Literacy Groups she researched within the framework of the 150 years of educational research that have been done since these groups existed. She merely wants us to make a direct connection between the time and place she wrote about and plop us down in modern American education and solve everything. I was forced to read this book in a class for graduate school and I've also been given this book by my supervisor at my job. This is a terrible piece of text for teachers interested in making a real-world impact on their students. Demand better educational texts than this.
July 11, 2020
What a book! Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s research—mainly the historically responsive literacy framework—got me thinking about my curriculum in a completely different way. I want to cultivate the genius within each and every student, and this book shows educators how, no matter the grade they teach. I’m going to be recommending this book to every single educator I know. It’s time for a teaching revolution, and Muhammad’s work will lead the way.
June 29, 2020
I LOVED this book and can't wait to share it with teachers and see Gholdy Muhammed on FB Live with the Book Love Foundation Summer Book Club! Muhammed's Historically Responsive Literacy Framework gives teachers a great structure for creating curriculum and nurture the genius in all students:
1. Identity
2. Skills
3. Intellect
4. Criticality
1. Identity
2. Skills
3. Intellect
4. Criticality
July 25, 2020
Finished this and it will be one of many times reading this book. This is the most important professional book I’ve read recently. It has challenged me more than any other text to critically examine my practices and texts. And it provides supports and questions to help me do so. I will be working to use Muhammad’s framework, lesson design, and layered text approach this year.
January 13, 2022
I really wanted to like this book, but the truth is it could have been an essay or a paper.
Lots of helpful info on literary societies and the history of Black literacy, and new terminologies for me to contend with in my practice—but aside from that, I honestly didn’t love it. The writing was repetitive and I found myself having to read around a ton of stuff because of how frustrated I got at multiple consecutive sentences saying the same thing. It wasn’t as engaging as I’d hoped; and this is coming from someone who really loves Dr. Gholdy Muhammad on a personal level. She is wonderful. I’m unsure if it’s the editors or what but this should have been published as journal articles as opposed to a book. It would serve teachers better universally to be more concise and have a clear claim that gets proven through examples and explicit, concrete language rather than just restating the claim in new words every chapter.
Lots of helpful info on literary societies and the history of Black literacy, and new terminologies for me to contend with in my practice—but aside from that, I honestly didn’t love it. The writing was repetitive and I found myself having to read around a ton of stuff because of how frustrated I got at multiple consecutive sentences saying the same thing. It wasn’t as engaging as I’d hoped; and this is coming from someone who really loves Dr. Gholdy Muhammad on a personal level. She is wonderful. I’m unsure if it’s the editors or what but this should have been published as journal articles as opposed to a book. It would serve teachers better universally to be more concise and have a clear claim that gets proven through examples and explicit, concrete language rather than just restating the claim in new words every chapter.
October 7, 2020
There are some good, important ideas at the core of this book. Unfortunately, the writing gets in the way and almost completely obscures the message. The writing is sophomoric, and sometimes closer to high school sophomores than college! Lots of unsupported claims, sweeping generalizations, and even a few grammatical errors. Not to mention repetitive, repetitious, and redundant! How many times can she re-explain the four pillars of her "Historically Responsive Literacy"? (That's "HRL" in case you missed the abbreviation the first twenty times.)
August 20, 2020
4.75
Some amazing advice and practical application of strategies in literacy. I loved the historical connections to Black Literary Societies and the passion of the author. There were a few sections that were a little repetitive, but overall a very useful book. The author final thoughts in the section: Moving Toward Historical Excellence were incredible and could not be more on point.
Some amazing advice and practical application of strategies in literacy. I loved the historical connections to Black Literary Societies and the passion of the author. There were a few sections that were a little repetitive, but overall a very useful book. The author final thoughts in the section: Moving Toward Historical Excellence were incredible and could not be more on point.
January 6, 2021
I found this thought-provoking, and it will undoubtedly transform my views on literacy curriculum moving forward. I have so much underlined on each page, I’ll have to go back and look it over multiple times. Still the book leaves me with more questions to ask, and that’s always a good thing with a professional book.
July 7, 2020
Fascinating, important theory--with really useful examples of how to put it into practice.
October 10, 2020
A necessary read for anyone teaching at the moment. I got some very practical tips from this book that helped me to understand myself and therefore grow in my own pedagogy.
December 16, 2020
I am excited to use this one in my Methods course. I read it a few months ago, and I think about it often.
March 28, 2021
I’m so so grateful for this book and Muhammad’s scholarship. This is an essential professional development text for all educators.
June 19, 2024
Appreciated the elements of black literacy history that I didn’t know about that were embedded to this teaching and learning model—Historically Responsive Literacy. It also included some great questions to ask myself and/or administration while preparing lessons from curriculum that often doesn’t support students of color or affirm their identities.
January 27, 2022
Many others who have read this book drank the Kool-Aid and admitted defeat to its prolific use of sweeping generalizations, its structural incompetence, its refusal of evidence, and countless other vices of research-based nonfiction literature. I don't understand how self-respecting educators were able to both read and enjoy this unusually shaped roll of tissue paper. In truth, Cultivating Genius is written like a TedTalk - which is to say that it's written like an advertisement. I will inexhaustively list some particular failures within this book in the following section.
-Muhammad makes continuous claims that the core and center of our teaching practices should not be the arbitrary standards of policymakers nor should they be the irrelevant tools of teaching (such as texts), but then claims "Teachers must think of texts as the core and center of their teaching." (155). Excuse me? What? The book? The text? The center and core? But, what about our students?
-Muhammad makes no engagements with an interdisciplinary approach whatsoever. Economics and politics are completely absent from her inquiries into the current structure of American public education; history is utilized as far as it contributes to her misguided, reactionary pedagogy that is highly unoriginal yet convinced of its profundity;
-Is Muhammad even a teacher? Has she ever been a teacher? No one knows except Muhammad, because such information is actually withheld! Ha! Isn't that just golden?
-With that in mind, Muhammad villainizes teachers nonstop throughout the book; this is the exclusive viewpoint of American educators that Muhammad provides. She always takes the first-person perspective from her moralizing soapbox, claiming to always know greater than the teachers she has (or at least has claimed to) interacted and researched with, to which the teachers drop to their knees and exclaim in a simultaneous chant, "Oh! Dr. Gholdy E. Muhammad, how blind we were! How useless our practice! Guide us to the holy PedagogyLand that you speak on behalf of!" It is ridiculous how egotistical the prose is throughout, and her lack of sources makes every recurrent self-masturbating claim another degree less trustworthy.
-Oh yeah, about those sources? Where are they? I sure as shit couldn't find her citing evidence for her generalizations throughout the 171 pages that the book comprised of. In chapter 2, she claims to have worked among a cohort of researchers who studied 25 years worth of previous research literature on African American literacy development, she lists 6 findings, but provides TWO SOURCES. That's it! TWO. Isn't that unreal?
-Her conceptualization of literacy is completely and utterly romantic. The book is a strange synthesis of the romantic (and ultimately idealistic and unrealistic) notions of the 19th century and the arbitrary state of American education in the current day. There is never a mention of the labors of literacy, nor any approach that seeks to understand why literacy is important. Given the lack of evidence throughout the book, Muhammad's statements appear self-evident to herself and thus we are led to believe that literacy is universally liberating, never a laborous or methodological undertaking, but solely one of freedom and joy.
-The final point I will make is arguably the most important: her prose is awful. The outline (or lack thereof, I must imagine) of the work is completely incoherent. That is not to suggest that the work is dense nor difficult. The work is instead written like a speech-to-text essay whose minimal proofreading exclusively sought grammatical errors.
Do not read this. Stay away. At all costs. Pick up Freire. Much better option.
-Muhammad makes continuous claims that the core and center of our teaching practices should not be the arbitrary standards of policymakers nor should they be the irrelevant tools of teaching (such as texts), but then claims "Teachers must think of texts as the core and center of their teaching." (155). Excuse me? What? The book? The text? The center and core? But, what about our students?
-Muhammad makes no engagements with an interdisciplinary approach whatsoever. Economics and politics are completely absent from her inquiries into the current structure of American public education; history is utilized as far as it contributes to her misguided, reactionary pedagogy that is highly unoriginal yet convinced of its profundity;
-Is Muhammad even a teacher? Has she ever been a teacher? No one knows except Muhammad, because such information is actually withheld! Ha! Isn't that just golden?
-With that in mind, Muhammad villainizes teachers nonstop throughout the book; this is the exclusive viewpoint of American educators that Muhammad provides. She always takes the first-person perspective from her moralizing soapbox, claiming to always know greater than the teachers she has (or at least has claimed to) interacted and researched with, to which the teachers drop to their knees and exclaim in a simultaneous chant, "Oh! Dr. Gholdy E. Muhammad, how blind we were! How useless our practice! Guide us to the holy PedagogyLand that you speak on behalf of!" It is ridiculous how egotistical the prose is throughout, and her lack of sources makes every recurrent self-masturbating claim another degree less trustworthy.
-Oh yeah, about those sources? Where are they? I sure as shit couldn't find her citing evidence for her generalizations throughout the 171 pages that the book comprised of. In chapter 2, she claims to have worked among a cohort of researchers who studied 25 years worth of previous research literature on African American literacy development, she lists 6 findings, but provides TWO SOURCES. That's it! TWO. Isn't that unreal?
-Her conceptualization of literacy is completely and utterly romantic. The book is a strange synthesis of the romantic (and ultimately idealistic and unrealistic) notions of the 19th century and the arbitrary state of American education in the current day. There is never a mention of the labors of literacy, nor any approach that seeks to understand why literacy is important. Given the lack of evidence throughout the book, Muhammad's statements appear self-evident to herself and thus we are led to believe that literacy is universally liberating, never a laborous or methodological undertaking, but solely one of freedom and joy.
-The final point I will make is arguably the most important: her prose is awful. The outline (or lack thereof, I must imagine) of the work is completely incoherent. That is not to suggest that the work is dense nor difficult. The work is instead written like a speech-to-text essay whose minimal proofreading exclusively sought grammatical errors.
Do not read this. Stay away. At all costs. Pick up Freire. Much better option.
December 20, 2020
This book is a must-have for anyone in education, and for anyone who works with or has children. Dr. Muhammad has put together a framework that will work for all children, and will elevate education. We are in a national crisis right now; education does not currently uplift our students or provide the critical lens we all need to have in this age of information (and misinformation). This framework is designed to teach kids (and adults) how to know themselves and think for themselves, and find joy in literacy. I cannot say enough what a great book this is. I’m proud to own it, and I see myself reading and rereading it for years to come. Also- if you are in doubt about purchasing this, just google the author and listen to her speak. You will be sold. Her integrity and brilliance shine through every time.
July 9, 2020
A number of teachers around the country are reading this book this summer as part of their professional development to help students learn how to see and speak out against injustice in constructive ways. The author uses literacy practiced during the 19th century among free Black people living in the northern region of the US as a point of comparison. These folks came together to read, write, and think to accumulate knowledge in a number of areas--mathematics, science, history, literature, language, and English--to further shape, define, and navigate their lives. It was NOT just for self-enjoyment of fulfillment, "it was tied to action and efforts to shape the sociopolitical landscape of a country that was founded on oppression." She refers to this as Historically Responsive Literacy (HRL) that today refers to practices that are "multimodal and digital while also teaching and learning how to respond to racism, religious discrimination, homophobia, sexism, ableism, classism, and other oppressions. In this model, books are "the vehicle for all learning," including empathy. The author says we should focus on Black people because that group has survived the harshest oppressions in this country. Historically, "oppressors did not see Black people as useful, smart, or capable of rigorous learning," so they were "kept in darkness and ignorance, while other...citizens...enjoyed light and learning and liberty." So it is no surprise that many predominantly Black schools feature classrooms that focus on skills and test prep, and give the students "watered-down texts that speak to children's reading level (AKA lexile) and not to their full development or intellectual identities." Classes that cultivate intellect, however, give students texts that are "intellectually energizing enough to cultivate the genius inside of students" and help them to express their ideas and "rethink the world in creative ways," to discover the power of their own minds. We want them to become adults who will work toward humanization and not perpetuate oppressions. This puts the responsibility on educators to be selective about the reading material provided to students. Rather than blindly following the scripted canned curriculum often provided by school districts, teachers should tailor the curriculum to the students in their classes.
There was good information here for new teachers or those who don’t read as much as I do, but very little of it was news to me. I must confess that I found the writing to be frustratingly repetitive, and the author does the very thing I tell my students not to do when she repeats the contents of each quote in her comments rather than simply explaining them. 3
There was good information here for new teachers or those who don’t read as much as I do, but very little of it was news to me. I must confess that I found the writing to be frustratingly repetitive, and the author does the very thing I tell my students not to do when she repeats the contents of each quote in her comments rather than simply explaining them. 3
February 13, 2021
2021
There are some things from Dr. Muhammad's work that are starting to make sense to me. I like that she gives you a framework for framing lessons - however, these things are really difficult to implement in some of the top tier schools. Where I am at, for example, could never implement these strategies. The teachers, students, and parents are too focused on test work. I am reminded from reading this book the importance of Criticality in lesson plans - that students must learn to be critical citizens of the world rather than simply learning for the test. Bringing up African American Literary Societies plays in well to the discussion of the importance of Intellectualism for it's own sake. I also like how she covers how skills-based assessments are part of the issue. I believe this to be somewhat true, and yet, there is still much to be covered. Tests - for example, and how we move past them. How students do not find inspiration still in the curriculum. Ultimately, I find Dr. Muhammad's work much more beneficial than the first time I read it - giving me some clarity when it comes to lesson plans.
2020
I didn't like it. "Why?" you ask. This is a university approved book, so it MUST be something that you would like. Well, no. It's way too theoretical. It's not anything no one hasn't mentioned before. There isn't a wide variety of texts that are included. It's mostly focused on African American children - so advertise it. There are better books out there.
This chapter on Intellectualism killed me...
"Cultivating students' intellectualism means developing their mental culture - helping them to plan their central aims for quality of life and showing them how to navigate society after high school. Therefore, intelligence isn't just about academics, but also emotional intelligence and self / social awareness."
The questions would be the only good reason I wouldn't give it one star. You do have to have thoughts about your choices. It's just a problem, I think, when you use too much scholarly jibberish to put together a book that seemingly ties together a very loose teaching philosophy; then make it at mass-market use. There are FAR better books with more practical application.
There are some things from Dr. Muhammad's work that are starting to make sense to me. I like that she gives you a framework for framing lessons - however, these things are really difficult to implement in some of the top tier schools. Where I am at, for example, could never implement these strategies. The teachers, students, and parents are too focused on test work. I am reminded from reading this book the importance of Criticality in lesson plans - that students must learn to be critical citizens of the world rather than simply learning for the test. Bringing up African American Literary Societies plays in well to the discussion of the importance of Intellectualism for it's own sake. I also like how she covers how skills-based assessments are part of the issue. I believe this to be somewhat true, and yet, there is still much to be covered. Tests - for example, and how we move past them. How students do not find inspiration still in the curriculum. Ultimately, I find Dr. Muhammad's work much more beneficial than the first time I read it - giving me some clarity when it comes to lesson plans.
2020
I didn't like it. "Why?" you ask. This is a university approved book, so it MUST be something that you would like. Well, no. It's way too theoretical. It's not anything no one hasn't mentioned before. There isn't a wide variety of texts that are included. It's mostly focused on African American children - so advertise it. There are better books out there.
This chapter on Intellectualism killed me...
"Cultivating students' intellectualism means developing their mental culture - helping them to plan their central aims for quality of life and showing them how to navigate society after high school. Therefore, intelligence isn't just about academics, but also emotional intelligence and self / social awareness."
The questions would be the only good reason I wouldn't give it one star. You do have to have thoughts about your choices. It's just a problem, I think, when you use too much scholarly jibberish to put together a book that seemingly ties together a very loose teaching philosophy; then make it at mass-market use. There are FAR better books with more practical application.
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