A Master at Teaching Students from Diverse Cultures
Students in Widad Mousa’s ELL and Arabic language classes at North Olmsted High School feel valued because she creates a safe classroom environment based on tolerance and respect. She encourages students to challenge themselves and continually affirms her belief in what they can accomplish.
"Dr. Mousa's impact at North Olmsted High School is something that cannot be measured. It’s an impact that will last for generations."
-Zach Weagley, Principal, North Olmsted High School
Dr. Widad Mousa's students have stories to tell. Many are newly arrived, Arabic-speaking refugees from Iraq, Syria, and Palestine. Others originate from Albania, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and China. Dr. Mousa believes it is vital for their voices to be heard, and with funds she received from the Jennings Foundation's 2023 Master Teacher Award, she plans to make that happen.
"I want to encourage the kids to preserve a positive memory from their past," says Dr. Mousa, an Arab Palestinian who was inspired by MAKETANK Inc.'s Illustrated Memoirs project to design a similar assignment for her ELL and Arabic language students at North Olmsted High School. A non-profit corporation based in Oxford, Ohio, MAKETANK works with English Learner high school students to create memoirs to "share their unique lived experiences and ways of knowing the world." The project celebrates the students' multilingualism, resiliency, and courage and is a means to “increase their intellectual self-trust.”
This spring, after Dr. Mousa’s students read The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, they will write short vignettes about their lives, using this “coming of age classic” as a template for their work. She will give them the option of writing about their life experiences or, if they are uncomfortable doing so, a life they imagine in the future. The vignettes will be illustrated and published into individual booklets, each carrying an official ISBN code.
Many of the booklets will be multi-lingual depending on the different languages the students speak. Once they are printed, the teens will share their work with younger children at the elementary, intermediate, and middle schools. The books will also be available in the school and public libraries throughout the district. Dr. Mousa envisions a book signing celebration at the end of the year where the student authors will invite teachers, family, and friends to view their new releases.
The Path to Becoming a Master Teacher
While she has earned several awards for her teaching excellence, Dr. Mousa did not set out to teach. A native Palestinian whose first language is Arabic, she earned a bachelor's degree in Applied Linguistics and a Diploma in Translation from Birzeit University in Palestine’s West Bank. After graduation, she worked in a press office for six months but realized it was not her desired career. With encouragement from friends, she applied to the United Nations Educational Institution, which offered her a long-term substitute job contingent on completing education courses.
Her first teaching position was at a refugee camp school in Qatanna, Palestine, where she taught English and gym to 7th, 8th, and 9th-grade students throughout the 1990s. At the time, there were no actual school facilities, she explains, just a series of rented rooms throughout the community. She describes them as simple "storefronts," some without electricity, others with buckets lined up outside the doors to catch water dripping from the ceilings or roofs.
These "eye-opening" conditions led to her life's work.
"That first job broke my heart," remembers Dr. Mousa, who attended an all-girls Quaker school while growing up in Palestine. "I met people from different backgrounds at the refugee school and realized how lucky I was compared to others. I recognized that not everyone has the same resources or support. It made me believe that through education I could make a difference in peoples’ lives. So from that moment on, I decided this would be my career, this is my calling.”
After completing her education coursework, Dr. Mousa was promoted to teaching college level classes but still worked with refugees in Palestine solidifying her desire to improve lives through education. She emigrated to the United States in 2000 and has been making a difference in the lives of students at North Olmsted High School, just west of Cleveland, for the past 20 years.
To be an effective teacher, Dr. Mousa says, "You need to think outside the box. You need to build trust, so the students open up to you. If the kids feel you are really trying to help them, that you are interested in them as a human being first, before being a student, they will do anything for you."
Currently, an Arabic and English Learner instructor and the school's World Languages and Cultures Chairperson, Dr. Mousa is passionate about teaching students from diverse cultures and linguistic backgrounds. Because many of her students came to the United States as refugees with nothing, she impresses upon them that they can "change everything" through education, a positive attitude, and a belief in themselves. She challenges them with rigorous learning experiences that build upon their current knowledge yet provide opportunities for them to grow and achieve at high levels.
"I feel I am a role model for my students," says Dr. Mousa, who earned a master's degree in Teaching Methods from Al-Quds University in Palestine and a Ph.D. in Urban Education: Learning and Development from Cleveland State University (CSU). Both degrees included an emphasis on TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). Today, she also serves as an adjunct faculty member of Teacher Education at CSU. "I try to instill in my students a love for education and for helping others regardless of their backgrounds."
When recommending Dr. Mousa for the Jennings Master Teacher Award, North Olmsted High School's principal, Zach Weagley, remarked: "Not only does Dr. Mousa challenge her students and bring out the best in them, but she does that while developing a classroom culture that is inclusive to all and puts students at the center."
Dr. Mousa considers her students experts in their lived experiences and incorporates that expertise into their learning. She promotes an "assets-based" rather than a "deficits-based" approach to teaching, concentrating on their strengths and acknowledging the unique experiences and abilities each brings to the classroom. She creates a strong sense of classroom community that promotes trust, respect, and belonging. While her students have much to teach and learn from each other, Dr. Mousa exclaims, "I learn something from them every day – believe it or not – I learn something new every single day!"
What Makes an Effective Educator
Dr. Mousa believes that to be an effective teacher in any educational setting requires subject matter knowledge, a true passion for teaching, and a willingness to work with all students regardless of their ages, backgrounds, or abilities.
"You need to build strong relationships," she emphasizes. "Without relationships, nothing works. Even if you are the best teacher, you cannot educate a student without knowing their background, what they've been through, and what's going on in their lives.”
Principal Weagley points out that Dr. Mousa has been essential in developing culturally responsive approaches with the staff at the high school due to the growing diversity of learners in the district. She leads professional development at the building and district levels and creates partnerships to welcome new families to the broader community. Beyond North Olmsted, she is a champion for multilingual students and is at the forefront of advances in the profession statewide. "Without her commitment and pursuit to educate ALL," adds Mr. Weagley, "our school community would not be what it is today."
Dr. Mousa believes her years teaching at the refugee school inspired her to advocate for children who need their voices and stories heard. "I will always believe in our language learners and the 'Power of Yet' when working with them," she remarks. "I will acknowledge them as a whole child with a unique story. And I will provide a high-quality, equitable education, accompanied by appropriate support, to help them succeed, become globally aware citizens, and be career and college ready."