Truth: I've wanted to write a reflection on it for some time, but academic life and projects (not to mention home-stay and online transitions) kept me distracted. Still, it was the book I've left out on my dining room table so I can see it every day...be reminded by it...keeping its energy, karma, and wisdom floating throughout my house.
Truth: I'm working on a collaborative project to name best practices in adolescent literacy and, stopping everything, I re-read Dr. Muhammad's book again yesterday. Best practices, indeed. The book was moved from the dining room table to my desk upstairs as I began to write and think.
Truth. When I came upstairs from getting a glass of water, I had to capture this photo (as my screen rotates through numerous photos and this one seemed timely): Abu Bility, the #1 Teacher mug given to me by a 5th grader, a baseball with a poem written across its leather given to me by a senior visiting CNY colleges and Universities, and a Sushi-Pen given to me by the family I lived with when I went to Japan with a Fulbright Memorial Scholarship.Abu, introduced to me as a sophomore in high school as a refugee-background youth, is now teaching in Syracuse. He's inspired me tremendously and helped build the CWP-Fairfield programs in Connecticut to be what they are (his influence on the programs can be felt in the article William King, Jessica Baldizon and I wrote this spring for the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, "We are All Projects...Together We're Strong"). Abu, and the 7 other young men taught me that history should come first (which I wrote about in Educating Refugee-Background Students: Critical Issues and Dynamic Contexts). I was cultivated by them.
Truth: My doctoral work and life-ever-after is owed to many people, including the boys and Dr. Alfred Tatum. At the Literacy Research Association annual meeting in 2010 I nervously approached him for advice. I had begun to conceptualize the study and wanted critical feedback. It was the first time I ever met him, and he listened to what I had to say, thought about it, and simply responded, "Don't go ahistorical. Delve into the history." To the library, once again, I went.
Truth: I did what he suggested, and ten years later Dr. Gholdy Muhammad's book arrives - it speaks volumes to me. The book is a must-have for all educators who work responsibly for equity, history, and culturally-rich pedagogy. In so many ways Gholdy puts into language - into a brilliant framework - the genius that I've needed for some time. It's will be on all my syllabi this upcoming year and I will be sharing it in all professional development I do in schools, with young adult authors I'm blessed to collaborate with, and my National Writing Project family. This is the book.
Truth: I realized while I went through a second reading of Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy that the only way I could capture what really needs to be highlighted is to say, "Don't read my blog post. Order the book now. It's all there." All I'm able to do is share the genius Dr. Muhammad cultivated for the rest of us. It is wisdom, tremendously overdue. The cover, with its roots and leaves offers the perfect metaphor. Here's some reasons why:
- the minds of young people need to learn that pens are weapons to battle injustice;
- young people need to be cultivated within their own 'literate societies' toy develop skills, to help one another to meet an end, to write, and to envision a greater humanity for all;
- Historically Responsive Literacy brings critical, sociological, and cognitive theories together to empower young people to seek 'emancipatory' and 'humanizing' trajectories for themselves and for 'mental freedom,' 'political power,' and an ability to set the agenda so their voices will be heard;
- story is singular, stories are plural. There are multiple stories needing to be heard and understood;
- keeping knowledge to the self is a selfish act - sharing knowledge is the way to grow;
- we need a literary presence for all voices and visions to be shared, to select the texts that speak to multiple identities, and to promote multiple responses to texts (I'm reading Vertovec's recognition of super-diversity here, too);
- there are urgent pedagogies I've been trying to name for 25 years, that Muhammad (2020) nails in one book: use of diverse forms of text by diverse authors, harnessing of positive energy to push through weariness; building of collaborative curriculum with youth; teaching in ways that move beyond sanction norms and processes; listening to students even when you don't agree or understand them; making it impossible for students to fail; writing and selecting on teaching practices, teaching unapologetically, decentering self as teacher, and becoming a scholar of the discipline you teach and knowing the meaning and histories of your content areas (including the diversity of thought and the oppressive structures in place that keep some voices from being heard...throughout the history we teaching in school);
- Gholdy's 4-layered HRL Framework cultivates identity, the pursuit of skills, the pursuit of intellect, and the pursuit of criticality is golden like here name; and
- I quote here, "And transformation has to be collaborative. This level of change does not happen if our universities, schools (and leadership), and communities are not working together toward this progress” (p. 169) (this - the heart of why the CWP team wrote as we did in JAAL this spring - had we this text as a reference, it would have been CENTRAL to the argument).
Truth: I'm giving Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy a standing ovation. It's long overdue. It's smart. It's needed. And finally, it will be transformative within the schools that seek ways to cultivate genius within, with, and for ALL learners. I cannot sing enough praises for the book, so offer a cyber high-five, a tweeted hug, some blogging admiration, collegial appreciation, and an absolute celebration to Dr. Gholdy Muhammad and her text. It's as a small 'thank-you' from those of us who do the work that we do.
So, thank you.
So, thank you.
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