Cultivating Genius: Accelerating Underserved Students

February 12, 2025 from 8 to 9:00 p.m. ET / 5 to 6:00 p.m. PT

In this keynote, Dr. Gholdy Muhammad offers a uniquely culturally and historically responsive approach to cultivating genius and joy in education. This approach is essential for accelerating the growth of all students and uniquely youth of color, who have been traditionally underserved in learning standards, policies, and school practices. She will present her equity framework, called the HILL Model, to help educators develop students’ Histories, Identities, Literacies, and Liberation. The HILL Model consists of five pursuits in teaching and learning:

• Identity Development—Helping youth to make sense of who they are and others.
• Skill Development—Helping youth to develop proficiencies across the content areas and state learning standards. 
• Intellectual Development—Helping youth gain new knowledge set into the context of the world. 
• Criticality—Helping youth name, understand, question, and disrupt oppression in the world. 
• Joy—Helping youth uplift beauty, aesthetics, truth, and personal space fulfillment within humanity. 

Participants will learn about the purpose of culturally and historically responsive education and be encouraged to become more inclusive in their teaching. We’ll explore the importance of integrating cultural, racial, linguistic, and historical responsiveness into learning goals, lesson plans, and the texts they use to teach. Additionally, participants will see sample lesson/unit plans across grade levels, moving theory into action.

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About Gholdy Muhammad: Dr. Gholnecsar (Gholdy) Muhammad is Associate Professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture at University of Illinois Chicago. She specializes in Black historical excellence within education, aiming to reframe curriculum and instruction. Her work has been featured in prominent journals such as Research in the Teaching of English and Urban Education, and she led a U.S. Department of Education grant on culturally and historically responsive literacy in STEM. A former middle school teacher and literacy specialist, Dr. Muhammad authored Cultivating Genius and Unearthing Joy, best-selling guides on equitable, culturally responsive teaching. She collaborates with educators, leaders, and communities across the U.S. and South Africa, and her Historically Responsive Literacy model has been widely adopted by U.S. school districts.