Conclusion

Exploring new kinds of learning and new ways of learning has been an amazing process for me. It's hard to pin down the connection between play and emotional resiliency, but as the VALTA course continued I knew it was making a difference. Activities I once did simply because they were assignments are now a part of my life. I'm hooked on them because they make me feel good.

I found ample evidence of connections between movement, music, art, and learning. There is also strong evidence that these activities support increases in self-confidence, which seems to me to be an important factor in learning. I'm much better, too, at paying attention to intuition after this research, and find it especially helpful in deciding which tutor to pair with a particular student.

Finally, I'm enjoying my work even more. I'm more relaxed, which seems to be helping new students relax more quickly. I found that by making time for fun and creativity I was able to handle the serious emotional challenges that come to a literacy worker when working with a survivor of abuse. Survivors are learning, not only in my program, but in the programs of the other participants in the VALTA Project, each of whom found ways to apply our learning to situations in their communities. It's been a privilege to learn and to share.