I had grown tired of the sound of my own voice. By the third day of the semester, I recoiled at the thought of another term of my own voice echoing across five composition classrooms. As I prepared my next lesson, I was struck by an unexpected idea: What if I didn’t talk? What if I stayed intentionally silent? What possibilities and meanings might be made in the absence of my voice? Uncertain but intrigued, I spent the next several days sketching plans and gathering materials for what would become my first Silent Class. What began as a tentative classroom experiment would soon challenge my…
Author: Leigh Bennett
Leigh Bennett
Leigh Bennett is a PhD candidate in Higher Education at the University of Massachusetts Boston (expected June 2026) with over fifteen years of experience teaching college writing in urban community college and minority-serving institutions. Her research explores how tactility, materiality, and multimodal pedagogies—including makerspaces, embodied practices, and arts-based methods—can foster more just and inclusive writing environments.