An opportunity to share anonymously, controversial maybe, anecdotal — yes, the aim is to spark thinking elsewhere. Humour is good.
Never again will I take 15 students for a day's fieldwork in the snow without enough surprise bars of chocolate in my rucksack for everyone.
Never let anyone take the first five minutes at the start of a new module to advertise anything (Society events, careers events, ….). These announcements are always boring and take 10 minutes at least. The students all switch off, forget why they are here, and get the message that these other activities take priority over teaching sessions.
Embedding video clips from the news, CNN, BBC etc in the lecture, and getting groups discussing them, has transformed/level 1 students' appreciation of social geog-issues.
We are 400 miles from base, 60 students, walked a mile or so, nice briefing to frame the day, ten sets of kit — whose job was it to bring the batteries?
Is this the worst excuse for not producing a tutorial essay on time? “I've done the essay, but my mum was really busy this week so she didn't have time to check it for me, says she's sorry, she's got it now so it'll be okay. I'll be handing in tomorrow morning.”