When cherubs entered Fisk Hall for \u201cAdvanced Interviewing Techniques,\u201d a lecture by instructors Cynthia Wang and Bret Begun, they didn\u2019t expect comedy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was expecting to learn, but I was not expecting to be practically rolling on the floor laughing,\u201d said Shayna Fitzershtein of Glenview, Illinois.<\/p>\n
In addition to Wang and Begun, instructors like John Kupetz and Carlin McCarthy often used humor to engage or entertain students. Mimi Yao of Shanghai said these jokes helped her understand and retain information.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t remember everything, but I remember the parts they acted or the jokes they made,\u201d Yao said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdvanced Interviewing Techniques\u201d was a favorite among students for its funny moments, including a memorable anecdote from an interview Wang conducted.<\/p>\n
\u201cReal life can be very funny, and when you\u2019re a journalist, a lot of what you experience may seem absurd to the average person,\u201d Wang said. \u201cHumor is a way of connecting and showing that even in crazy circumstances, there can be a lot of joy to be found in this craft.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lecture also featured an exaggerated demonstration of handshake technique, which Fitzershtein said added to the \u201cfun and joyous vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wang said her teaching balances humor with attention to serious topics.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re talking about something that\u2019s very serious, you want to make sure those points are conveyed with a level of gravity,\u201d she said. \u201cBut after that\u2019s over, it\u2019s nice to vary the pace and share something a little less serious, so both lessons will stick.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jokes can make important points more memorable, Fitzershtein said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always easier to remember something if there\u2019s a joke in it,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen you hear one lecture that makes you smile, where a lecturer cracks a joke or where you feel like you\u2019re part of this community, it\u2019s way more likely to stick in your memory.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wang added that laughter can improve students\u2019 educational experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think laughing at yourself and laughing at us is a form of learning, and it makes it easier to digest these tips,\u201d she said. \u201cBy making them relatable and humorous, we\u2019re hoping that even more of these lessons will be retained.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When instructors add humor to journalism lectures, cherubs stay engaged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":374,"featured_media":11702,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,339],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[683],"class_list":["post-12210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-front-page-academics"],"acf":[],"authors":[{"term_id":683,"user_id":374,"is_guest":0,"slug":"zhang26","display_name":"Celine Zhang","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e8cf8d52b7b12ccb73ff9cbbb18bf1b72f44a5d6f5f96c9f7b11b250373a098f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"Zhang","first_name":"Celine","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/374"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12210"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12296,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12210\/revisions\/12296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12210"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=12210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}