ABSTRACT
Undergraduates are generally exhausted by the rigors of university life; students from historically underrepresented backgrounds also have the compounding challenges of additional extracurricular responsibilities (e.g., family obligations, jobs) and of feelings like the imposter phenomenon. By centering joy, instructors can access empathy and allow space for brief periods of quiet time at the start of class to allow students to transition into the classroom and to process course material. This can reduce students’ high cortisol levels and feelings of amygdala threat, helping them formulate contributions they feel confident to share. Paradoxically, making space for quiet in the classroom can combat the silencing of students with low social capital, ultimately promoting equity. A beneficent cycle of joy commences: making room for all students’ contributions allows the class material to come to life more meaningfully. Using silence to activate class participation may seem counterintuitive, and resting the body in the classroom may seem revolutionary to some. Indeed, curating quiet classroom spaces takes intentionality that runs resistant to some notions of academic rigor, but it can lead to learning benefits for students and instructors alike.
