words / Despite a broken air-conditioning unit–or maybe because of it–Melvin Spencer III and Lois Ann Yamanaka greeted me after a long day of teaching with a mixture of exhaustion and amusement. As soon as we sat down to talk about education, I instantly saw what I think motivates their students every day: two dynamic and charismatic educators who are unjaded and highly entertaining. The convivial tone at Na’au, the pair’s private writing school in downtown Honolulu, seems rooted most deeply in Spencer and Yamanaka’s friendship. The two instructors tease each other like siblings: ‘This is the third life we’ve shared together,’ says Yamanaka. Spencer agrees with a smile. ‘I met Mel in 1981. In 1983 or ‘84, we had both graduated from college and dreamed about having our own school one day–we would be in charge, it would be a writing school–Na’au is an old dream that Mel and I shared.’

Yamanaka and Spencer work eye to eye with their students around a large rectangular table. This goes a long way toward creating a trusting rapport between mentor and student. The introductory process of Na’au is unique and representative of the creative pedagogy present at the school: ‘When a kid comes through the door, whether 4 or 88, they start with a poem called I Am, which introduces the student to the concept of using word lists as oppose to just writing poetry from out of the blue,’ says Yamanaka. ‘It kind of expresses who they are through the use of metaphor, rather than ‘I am the child ofÖ.’ It helps us with the children that are not feeling too happy with themselves, with their self-esteem and issues like that. That’s where we start and from there we use my own curriculum that I’ve used throughout all my years of teaching. From there we intuitively judge where the student should go next.’

I sat down for juice and snacks just as second grader Keenan Dung tore into his prize package containing a book he won for his poem titled, December 19, 1997. Positive reinforcement in the form of winning writing competitions seems par for the course at Na’au, though Yamanaka and Spencer are careful to judge if each student responds well to the stress of competition: ‘At Na’au every child will at some point win an award or will have some kind of recognition eventually if they stay long enough because that’s the way it seems to work. Several of our kids are multiple winners–they never get jaded, they always have that joy and glee with having their work recognized, no matter how small or large the prize.’ After reading me one of her student’s award-winning poems, a beaming Yamanaka exclaims, ‘How can this lose?’

Spencer, who continues to teach at the College of Education at University of Hawai’i-Manoa, believes that teaching students to write begins with the imagination.

‘I think it starts off with a foundation in creative writing. All good writing comes from poetry and the poetic. If we can give each child a strong foundation in that, they will be able to write good sentences good paragraphs, good essays,’ says Spencer. ‘It’s the natural lyricism that poetry has–if we teach them well, they will weave that lyrical language into their essays, their college application essays. I think that what we have seen in the students that have stuck it out with us are very good results. With that basic foundation in the poetic, their writing will stand out in terms of how their message is delivered.’

Creating a love of reading is also vital to the work done at Na’au. In order to compete with all the distractions students face, Na’au works to find each student’s passion and then capitalizes on it through further cultivation of that passion. This technique comes directly from Yamanaka’s childhood experience.

‘I was such a dodo-head when I was a kid. I was real lolo, because my mother made me feel like I was stupid. I was deaf in one ear so she always made me sit up front in class, so I would feel stupid, and I was a slow reader,’ she says. ‘But what happened was I got really into the Holocaust so my mother borrowed books for me–non fiction and novels–and I read them cover to cover because I was so fascinated by the wrongs that were done. All children are fascinated by something.’

Adds Spencer: ‘We also try to make a connection with their heritage, their Japanese heritage, their Chinese heritage, their native Hawaiian heritage to let them know there are other voices out there that sound more like their own. If they read about their heritage, that could be a way to make connection to reading.’

After years of trying to reform the Department of Education’s approach to writing as an educator, Yamanaka gave up the ghost. ‘With regard to writing, the problem–and I’ve always said this to [the DOE]–is that writing is art. Writing is also skill-based, like all art forms involve a great deal of skill. That’s why in music, we play scales, that’s why in painting we do line, line shade, shade–there’s a skill base, but there is also the symphony. Our goal is to shape the symphony, our goal is to complete the piece of art,’ says Yamanaka. ‘The goal of writing is more than writing the five-paragraph essay, intro, three-paragraph body and conclusion. It’s art! What happened to the poems? To the short stories? What happened to all the art pieces that are supposed to come from the skill-based learning? The DOE, with regard to writing, has only focused on a skill-based curriculum, and they have disregarded writing as an art form.’

With a grand total of 20 years of teaching between them, Spencer and Yamanaka draw from something infinitely more valuable than a set of curriculum: experience. Great teachers. Successful students. The only task left is to figure out how to get more Spencers and Yamanakas into classrooms.

Na’au is located at Nu’uanu Square, 23 S. Vineyard Blvd., Suite 201, at the intersection of Vineyard and Nu’uanu, classes cost $150 a month for one hour a week, for more information visit Na’au’s website at [www.yamanakanaau.com] or call 548-NAAU (6228)

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