Unearthing Joy: A Guide to Culturally and Historically Responsive Curriculum and Instruction

Dr. Gholdy Muhammad has done it again! Unearthing Joy demonstrates the complexities of humanity and life. From start to finish she is providing vivid descriptions along with necessary truth-telling and reminders that we must do better for ourselves, our children, our community, and our legacy. This book encompasses many resources, disciplines, and strategies with historical aspects that allow us to reflect and assess our individual and collective past, present, and future. Through constant reflection and assessment, we can know there is hope, abundance, and prosperity through the unearthing process shared in this book. This is a must read to enhance your personal and professional toolkit.

Just like the headlines, plain and simple amazing book and amazing author. Must get for your bookshelf!

Gholdy Muhammad shows us what it means to be responsible, reflective, and to even unlearn some of the things that do not serve us or our students. She reminds us that we need to look no further than the students right before us to find genius-for there is genius in each and every one of them.

Gholdy Muhammad’s Cultivating Genius changed the way I teach by inspiring me to look beyond skills and standards—and giving me the tools to do that. In this book, she takes her genius a step further by focusing on something we all need, deserve, and have been deprived of for too long: joy. She reminds us why we became educators in the first place—and what we can do to regain and maintain joy and, in the process, ensure justice, wellness, and educational excellence for ourselves and our students. It’s a beautiful book. Essential reading!

This is such a great complementary book to Dr. Muhammad's first one. It definitely weaves in each pursuit and seamlessly combines it with JOY. From the music lists to the examples, I think that this would be great for any educator.

Easy to read and apply.

I absolutely LOVE this book! It reminds me of all the reasons I entered the field of education: the love of kids and cultivating beautiful souls that go out into the world to make it better. The author inspires educators to dream big and think about all of the possibilities of a child's potential beyond the stories we are told about what children can or cannot succeed. Inspires us to see the humanity behind the art of teaching. It's an uplifting read.I bought the audio book first but there were a few visual references so I decided to buy the tangible copy and I'm so glad I did. One of my favorite parts of the book are the QR codes that lead to playlists on Spotify and some on Youtube that were arranged and crafted by the author with a lot intention. The book is a multi-sensory experience. One can listen to the playlists that coincide with the chapters while reading to get a full sense of the message.There are also great lesson recommendations. Buy this book and do a book study.

The perfect continuation of very necessary conversations. Unearthing Joy could easily help reshape the teaching profession. Remembering your purpose and having strategies for reconnecting with your purpose when you are pulled away from it are keys to restoring the “career educator”. Our society is in desperate need of intelligent, hardworking, and compassionate educators. We are long overdue for a system that respects these people, pays them well, and honors them by not overworking them or requiring them to be martyrs. This book speaks to the heart and should be read by everyone. To fully reach the goals explained in the book, we need a system that respects the work teachers do.

The book lacks science backed research that would help its claims. Look for a better science backed book and not this fluff.