From the off I have to apologise for neglecting the Blog yet again. My only excuse is the one I always use - which is time.
Some years ago, when I scaled down my furniture making operation, my grand plan was to write and teach. The writing side of things came together pretty well, with regular magazine copy rolling in. The teaching side of things proved a taller order. After completing a very enjoyable teacher training course at a local college I started to send out my C.V to any relevant school, college or university. Unfortunately my timing wasn't great. A combination of changes to the higher ed structure and major funding cuts meant very few institutions were recruiting. In fact, most were letting people go. So I shelved the teaching plan and focused instead on the writing.
Three weeks ago I had a call from an old friend telling me a temporary lecturing job had come up at one of the local universities and was I interested? Suddenly I was jolted back into the idea of teaching. The previous lecturer had left without warning two weeks before the start of a new year, which left me just two weeks to get timetables and lesson plans together, hence the lack of blogs.
A few hectic weeks in and I'm starting to feel a little more on top of things. I have two groups of fifty students on my course which is titled Profesional Practice, the aim of which is to prepare and equip craft and design students for the tough buisness world beyond university.
The staff and students have been both patient and welcoming to me, and I have to say the challenge and experience so far has been one of the highlights of my working life so far.
Hope to be back on track with the blog.
