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"Walking down the halls, being in the classroom,
it all came back to me, why I loved teaching... I am
so thankful to the National Book Foundation for giving
me the opportunity to be a teacher again and to the
New Voices School for accepting me as one of their own."
--An Na, Writer-In-Residence
An Na
New Voices School
June 9-20, 2003
All Photos: Maryann Jacob
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An Na's
two-week residency at the New Voices School in Brooklyn
was inaugurated by a visit to an attentive, eager seventh
grade class. Students devoured Na's book, A Step
from Heaven, a Young People's Literature Finalist
for the National Book Award in 2001. The touching, heartfelt
story of a Korean family who immigrated to the United
States really hit home with a many of the students at
New Voices. Because the school is so diverse, several
students had their own immigration stories to tell and
at once recounted memories of stepping off the plane,
flying over the Atlantic Ocean, etc. Na proceeded to
tell them, "Write it down!"
Among the numerous questions asked of Na, students
wanted to know how someone so young (31) could have
achieved "literary success." Na replied that
she was just as surprised as everyone else! They also
asked if the family in A Step from Heaven resembled
her own, to which she replied, "somewhat."
Issues of assimilation, and strict parental influence
were common themes in students' work throughout the
weeks. Many students had so much to say, but didn't
know where to begin. After introductory sessions of
answering questions about her life and the book, Na
conducted classes in workshop form. She helped students
begin their writing by re-introducing them to the five
senses. Students were instructed to write "memory
pieces" describing their family and life experiences
to date. Na told students that if they could not remember
specific details they should feel free to concoct new,
and different scenarios. She told them, "writing
is a lot like putting on makeup", in other words,
enhancing what is already there. At the end of her first
week at the school, Na noted that the seventh graders
were gifted, creative students.
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An Na's second week at the New Voices School consisted
of sixth and eighth grade visits. At the end of this
week, she had met with the entire middle school! Many
of these students were interested in Na's life as a
writer. She explained that her daily routine is from
9 a.m. to 5 p.m., like "regular" jobs. Na
remarked that taking care of her daughter, Juna, takes
up much of her time these days that writing time is
often squeezed in. Much of her writing is done in her
office, which also happens to be her gardening shed!
Na mentioned how much she had missed being in a classroom
setting. She was pleased to see how students prepared
for her visit by not only writing their own stories
and poems, but going the extra mile to illustrate and
use their artistic skills to depict scenarios from Na's
book, as well as their own.
On her last day, students waved, hugged, and called
out their goodbyes to Na, trying to relay their appreciation
for her visit. She remarked on how impressed she was
with students' attentiveness, despite the ending of
the school year.
…For the rest
of the week, we spent time investigating their voices
and their stories. I started them off with writing down
their first vivid memory. Getting the "bones"
of their narrative down on paper without worrying about
whether it sounded right, writing through writer's block.
Next we worked on "fleshing" out the story,
adding details and impressions to their piece by thinking
about the five senses: smell, taste, touch, sound and
sight. How each sense adds to the imagery of their memory.
The following day, we worked on the "muscles"
of the story. How to instill movement and energy to the
writing by changing passive verbs to active ones starting
with the most common passive verb "to be": is,
are, was, were. We did a lot of modeling on the board
with the students sharing their work. Before entering
workshop, sharing with each other their writing and their
thoughts, I defined ways to be constructive as opposed
to being destructive in their criticism. Finally, we ended
the week playing with similes and reading the memory pieces
out loud. While the students had little to no time to
revise or edit, they, at least, had a rough working draft
that their teachers could develop further if they so chose.
Part of the difficulty with only a week obviously stemmed
from the inability to follow through on some of the writing
exercises, but hopefully, the teachers felt confident
enough to continue without me. I heard the beginnings
of some touching stories.
…I had a wonderful
time at New Voices. Walking down the halls, being in
the classroom, it all came back to me, why I loved teaching,
why I couldn't write when I was teaching. It takes single-minded
energy and dedication to be a full time teacher. These
students deserve the best we can offer them. I am so
thankful to the National Book Foundation for giving
me the opportunity to be a teacher again and to the
New Voices School for accepting me as one of their own.
Best,
Na
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