PEER LEARNING

People remembered different exercises for both the impact on their own need for self-care and healing, as well as the ways that the structure of the sessions modeled good facilitation. The group dynamics helped to shape the collaborative learning process. For example, an exercise that invited participants to show an artifact that reflected their culture or identity took 90 minutes, rather than the allotted 20 minutes! Agendas were adjusted, and in subsequent sessions, the group was guided in continued explorations of expressions of social identity/identities. Similarly, an exercise about the different ways that context impacts how one interprets a story unexpectedly became a platform for sharing stories of loss and grief, and another opportunity for the PLC group to show grace and foster healing. Others reflected on how the visual and theatrical exercises helped them be mindful of how they present themselves to their students physically and in their use of language. Remembering impactful moments in the PLC sessions, the participants felt safe revealing their strong emotions, even when sharing at the public forum of the Newark Trust Summit.

The planned PLC sessions, as well as the sometimes-unanticipated depth of sharing fortified the practitioners as they struggled with unfamiliar situations and emotions. Reminders of the essentials of arts-based trauma-informed/ healing-centered practices and repeating routines to foster self-care, mixed with new art forms, Zoom techniques, and fun activities kept the sessions lively, engaging and valuable for the core group of participants who attended regularly and over the course of the five sessions.