Thursday Afternoon, February 5

Cultivating Genius and Joy in Education through Culturally and Historically Responsive Pedagogies

In this keynote, Dr. Gholdy Muhammad offers a unique, 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. 

About Dr. Gholdy Muhammad

Dr. Gholdy Muhammad is the John Corbally Endowed Professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has previously served as a classroom teacher, literacy specialist, school district administrator, curriculum director, and school board president. She studies Black historical excellence in education, intending to reframe curriculum and instruction today. Dr. Muhammad’s scholarship has appeared in leading academic journals and books. She has also received numerous national awards and is the author of the best-selling books Cultivating Genius and Unearthing Joy. She also co-authored the book Black Girls’ Literacies. Her Culturally and Historically Responsive Education Model has been adopted across thousands of U.S. schools and districts across Canada. In 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, she was named among the top 1% Edu-Scholar Public Influencers due to her impact on policy and practice. She has led a federal grant with the United States Department of Education to study culturally and historically responsive literacy in STEM classrooms. In the fall of 2026, her first curriculum, entitled Genius and Joy, will be available to schools and educators.