Professor Watchlist

Gholnecsar (Gholdy) Muhammad is an Associate Professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture at the University of Illinois Chicago. According to her university profile, she “studies black historical excellence within educational communities with goals of reframing curriculum and instruction today.” She is the author of the book “Cultivating Genius: An Equity Model for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy.”

Muhammad created the “HILL” model of teaching which “responds to students’ histories, identities, literacies and liberation.” Muhammad describes her education model as:

“The HILL model is an equity framework for teaching and learning across all disciplines. Honoring traditions and theories of culturally responsive learning, this model is historically responsive and grounded in Black education and Black excellence. Members of 19th century African American literary societies had four collective goals toward advancing their education.” 

Muhammad defines these four goals as: Identity, Skills, Intellectualism, and Criticality. For Identity, she writes:

“Because we are complex beings, we have racial, cultural, gender, environmental, and community identities, to name a few. Not only is it important to teach youths who they are, but educators should also teach students about the identities and cultures of others different from them.” 

The description for Criticality reads:

“Criticality is the capacity and ability to read, write, think, and speak in ways to understand power and equity in order to understand and promote anti-oppression. In Cultivating Genius, I define oppression simply as any wrongdoing, hurt, or harm, including racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, or any other oppression. Unlike lower case “c” critical, which is just deep and analytical thinking, Critical with a capital “c” is related to power, equity, and anti-oppression. As learning takes place, one asks, ‘How am I developing an understanding of power, equity, anti-racism and anti-oppression?’” 

In 2018, Muhammad founded HILL Pedagogies LLC. According to its website, the company is a “consultation and presentation agency with a focus on the historical foundations of literacy development and the writing practices among Black communities. The agency offers professional learning that shapes the national conversation for educating youth who have been underserved and works with teachers and young people across the United States and abroad in best practices in culturally responsive instruction.”

Parents Defending Education reports Muhammad received a grant of $749,896 in 2018 from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant was intended “to study a professional development model designed to improve secondary school teachers’ literacy instruction in STEM content areas.”

Muhammad received $4,000 from Olentangy Schools for a one-hour presentation and $2,875 from Naperville Community Unit School District 203 for a two-hour virtual workshop. She also participated in a “Black Futures & Black Joy” panel with Castro Valley Unified School District and was named Los Angeles Unified School District’s “Equity Champion in Residence.”

 

Published – August 24, 2023