Once it was time to look at the data I had compiled, the work really began! As I typed out my notes, I began to pull out themes and ideas. I colour-coded and organized my notes repeatedly. Each time I did, I noticed something new. I was surprised to discover that I just kept learning. I had employed a number of strategies during the writing course in an effort to improve my facilitation skills, but I realized that wasn't what I had learned. I had begun my Changing Practices project to find strategies to deal with emotional situations and disclosures by my students. I came away from it with a new vision of what a classroom could be when I took the time to watch and listen.

What I Learned about Facilitating

Awareness

During the VALTA course, we read about and discussed topics including the importance of naming and recognizing violence, the hidden impacts of violence, how to bring the whole person to learning (and teaching), and how to take care of ourselves so we could keep going with our work. All of the information and discussions changed the way I looked at my role in the classroom.

Through my learning in the VALTA Project, I had become aware of issues and ideas around the impact that violence can have on learning, and what that might mean for my practice. What I learned from the Changing Practices project was that paying attention to the behaviors and attitudes of my participants was the most important way of providing what they needed.

Understanding Participants' Behaviors

My first insight was awareness of the issues of violence and learning. In the VALTA course, I learned how violence (in any form) could affect every aspect of a person's life. Attention span, retention, consistency of behavior, inability to sit still and low selfesteem can often be attributed to past or current violence. These are only some of the indicators that I saw in my classroom each time we met.