S2 E6: Cultivating Joy in STEM with Dr. Gholdy Muhammad
February 21, 2023 | 37 mins
Welcome back to season two of Teaching STEM #4Real! Today, we are excited to welcome Dr. Gholnecsar (Gholdy) Muhammad to the podcast!
Dr. Gholdy Muhammad is an Associate 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 book, Cultivating Genius: An Equity Model for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy. She also co-authored Black girls’ literacies: An Edited Volume. Her Culturally and Historically Responsive Education Model has been adopted across thousands of U.S. schools as well as districts across Canada. In 2022, she was named among the top 1% of Edu-Scholar Public Influencers due to her impact on policy and practice. Dr. Muhammad received the American Educational Research Association Division K Early Career Award and was named the 2021 NCTE Outstanding Elementary Educator in the English Language Arts. She has led a federal grant with the United States Department of Education to study culturally and historically responsive literacy in STEM classrooms. Her forthcoming book, Unearthing Joy, is the sequel to Cultivating Genius and provides a practical guide for putting culturally and historically responsive education into curriculum practice.
In this episode, Dr. Muhammad will share with us how she got to where she is now, the importance of bridging historically responsive education with STEM, and how to better help teachers understand how critical race and identity is when looking at student learning. We’ll also discuss embracing joy in STEM, the colonization of education specifically when it comes to STEM, and Dr. Muhammand’s practical guide for putting culturally and historically responsive education into curriculum practice. Last but not least, we’ll talk about the idea of liberation and how this may be difficult for STEM teachers who think they have to stick to content only. Keep listening to hear more from Dr. Muhammad!
Teaching STEM #4Real is a podcast dedicated to 4 real conversations on educational equity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education hosted by Dr. Leena Bakshi. If you’re interested in exploring what anti-racism and socially just instruction look like in our classrooms, schools, and beyond, you are in the right place. Dr. Bakshi is also the founder of the non-profit, STEM4Real. Please visit our website for information on how to partner with us. Thank you for helping us make STEM for real.
Dr. Gholdy Muhammad is an Associate 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 book, Cultivating Genius: An Equity Model for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy. She also co-authored Black girls’ literacies: An Edited Volume. Her Culturally and Historically Responsive Education Model has been adopted across thousands of U.S. schools as well as districts across Canada. In 2022, she was named among the top 1% of Edu-Scholar Public Influencers due to her impact on policy and practice. Dr. Muhammad received the American Educational Research Association Division K Early Career Award and was named the 2021 NCTE Outstanding Elementary Educator in the English Language Arts. She has led a federal grant with the United States Department of Education to study culturally and historically responsive literacy in STEM classrooms. Her forthcoming book, Unearthing Joy, is the sequel to Cultivating Genius and provides a practical guide for putting culturally and historically responsive education into curriculum practice.
In this episode, Dr. Muhammad will share with us how she got to where she is now, the importance of bridging historically responsive education with STEM, and how to better help teachers understand how critical race and identity is when looking at student learning. We’ll also discuss embracing joy in STEM, the colonization of education specifically when it comes to STEM, and Dr. Muhammand’s practical guide for putting culturally and historically responsive education into curriculum practice. Last but not least, we’ll talk about the idea of liberation and how this may be difficult for STEM teachers who think they have to stick to content only. Keep listening to hear more from Dr. Muhammad!
Teaching STEM #4Real is a podcast dedicated to 4 real conversations on educational equity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education hosted by Dr. Leena Bakshi. If you’re interested in exploring what anti-racism and socially just instruction look like in our classrooms, schools, and beyond, you are in the right place. Dr. Bakshi is also the founder of the non-profit, STEM4Real. Please visit our website for information on how to partner with us. Thank you for helping us make STEM for real.