That "CTE" Guy - CHAT-CTE: Finally—PD That’s Personal

Kids want trades classes. A new national survey shows a third of the students who tried to sign up couldn’t get in, either because the class wasn’t offered or it was full. Meanwhile, two out of three Swiss teenagers go the vocational route. On the news desk this week: why other countries treat CTE as Plan A, and why… Read more

Short one this week, and I’m doing something I’ve never done. For fifty-some episodes, a recording of my voice has told you this show is brought to you by Blueprint-CTE. I built Blueprint-CTE. I’ve been sponsoring myself, in my own basement, for over a year, and nobody has called me on it. So today I’m talking about… Read more

Ninety days after Workforce Pell went live: eighteen approved programs, in five states, in the entire country. Thirty-one states have a webpage up. Four of them post an actual list. Meanwhile a district in New Hampshire said yes to fifty kids who asked for CTE and got a $730,000 bill — $280,000 of it just to drive… Read more

Plano ISD's enrollment has dropped every school year since 2010-11. Their CTE programs have grown. They're opening a 150,000 square foot career center this month — designed so programs can be phased in and out as the trades change. Being the growing thing inside a shrinking district is a win. It's also a position… Read more

Plain, topic-forward, unmistakable. Any CTE teacher who's ever wondered which document they're supposed to be writing sees that and clicks. It's also the most searchable title of the season — nobody else is making content on this and people look for it. ALTERNATES "Nobody Needs Bloom's Taxonomy at a Workbench" —… Read more

Windham School District in Texas has one hundred campuses and over forty CTE programs — welding, construction, CDL, the same NCCER credentials your kids are chasing. Every campus is inside a Texas Department of Criminal Justice facility. There is a welding instructor somewhere in Texas who drives to work, goes through… Read more

CTE might be the last bipartisan issue in America. Everybody agrees with us now — which is the most dangerous moment a movement ever has. New research says intensive CTE works: better jobs, better wages, real outcomes for kids the academic track was losing. But when comprehensive high schools just expanded their… Read more

Brown University looked at 1.74 million California students and found something the trades have known for three hundred years: attempting the hard thing and failing beats never attempting it at all. But only when somebody's standing close enough to catch it. In the shop, your mistake gets corrected and disappears into… Read more

Different kind of episode. School is starting for most of you this week. You do not have time to sit and think about individual episodes of a podcast right now. So here's the greatest hits. Six frameworks from Season 3 so far. In order. Fast. All of them. So when you walk into your building on Monday, you can carry… Read more

Who gets to shape what happens next in CTE? Not the boards. Not the districts. Not the state office. Not Rick Hess writing op-eds. It's you. In week two. Deciding — usually without knowing it — which kids belong in your program and which kids shouldn't have gotten scheduled. News desk: Lauderdale County, Mississippi… Read more

Trust is all we have in the end. And you have exactly one shot to prove it — the first ten minutes of the first day of the year. News desk: WSWHE BOCES is loading up a mini-excavator, welding equipment, and student demonstrations for the Washington County Fair. Actual CTE, in the middle of the funnel-cake stand, where… Read more

This is a different kind of episode. Two news stories, both about what happens when the system fails to show up. First — the federal investigation into the Connecticut Technical Education and Career System, one of the largest CTE districts in the country, over the handling of alleged staff-on-student sexual… Read more

Wrong question: is CTE working? Right question: is the system around your CTE program built to help you succeed, or built to slow you down? News: Anchorage moved the CTE door two weeks earlier — freshmen touching six trades before high school starts. The certification pipeline that keeps industry pros OUT of the… Read more

Somebody's deciding what CTE looks like next. Question is who. Three stories this week that give three different answers — a North Carolina district that put pilots in the cockpit before graduation, the federal administration quietly rolling back CTE data collection, and the private equity story nobody's telling:… Read more

A podcast for Career and Technical Education teachers — the welders, cosmetologists, chefs, auto techs, designers, and builders who know their trade cold and then got handed a classroom with no manual. Hosted by a working CTE teacher who's still in the room, it's real, teacher-to-teacher talk about the part nobody… Read more

Week one is over. The shop's standing. Nobody's bleeding. And a stack of IEPs landed on your desk with a bunch of acronyms nobody explained. News: College Station ISD opened its first CTE center on day one — eight pathways at once — and the scheduling detail that shows somebody actually thought about the kid. Plus the… Read more

Season 2 finale. Short one this week — five minutes, signature open, no news, no rant. Just a few callbacks to the season that meant something, and the thank-you you earned for pressing play. The show comes back July 1st. When it does, it's a different thing. Bigger. Sharper. Some stuff I've been building for a while… Read more

At least 26 states reported a CTE teacher shortage this year. And here's the gut-punch: the industry-to-classroom teachers — the electricians, chefs, and nurses we recruited specifically for their skills — leave the profession about 25% faster than teachers from traditional ed programs. When they go, the class doesn't… Read more

It's late May. You've got two, maybe three weeks left, and the tank is empty. So this episode breaks format on purpose. We open at the News Desk with three stories about who actually values CTE work. First, the good one: Dean Technical High in Holyoke, Massachusetts unveiled a permanent wall of apprenticeship pathways… Read more

What to Capture NOW Before You Forget Everything It's May. You're cooked. And every August, you wish you had notes. This week on CHAT-CTE: the five-minute capture system that protects everything you learned this year — before grading season eats your brain. Plus the news desk hits hard with Virginia's CTE Signing Day,… Read more

Summer is almost here, and if you're a CTE teacher, you're probably caught between two feelings: relief that the year is ending, and that nagging voice in the back of your head reminding you that you said you'd plan better next year. Sound familiar? Here's the truth: the teachers who plan in summer have a completely… Read more

Every CTE teacher knows what August feels like — a stack of district task lists, a half-broken curriculum from whoever taught the class before, and 180 days you somehow have to fill with real, standards-aligned work. I lived that for years. So I built Blueprint-CTE — an AI tool that reads your district task list and… Read more

Being the lead SkillsUSA advisor looks great on paper — competitions, leadership, student growth. But what does it actually cost you? In this episode, Steven sits down with a fellow CTE teacher to talk honestly about the advisor role: budget battles, student participation, getting other teachers involved, and the time… Read more

Forget counting down the days. In this episode I break down the strategy that gets me through the wildest stretch of the school year — when seniors are checked out, schedules are unpredictable, and real curriculum feels almost impossible. It's simple, it's practical, and it just might change how you feel about the end… Read more

Twenty four years ago I walked into a CTE classroom from the advertising industry and made project packets that looked like vacation brochures because nobody handed me a curriculum and my brain is wired for design. That was the beginning. Since then I've built curriculum using Ning communities, class websites, online… Read more

In this episode, we talk about something that does not get enough attention in schools — watching out for the people you work beside. In a small school, and especially in CTE, coworkers become more than just the adults down the hall. Over time, they start to feel a little like family — the wise mentors, the work… Read more

In this episode, I talk about the teachers union in a real and honest way — what it actually is, what it is not, and why so many educators misunderstand it. This is not about using the union as a complaint desk or a shortcut around every frustration in the building. It is about understanding the contract, respecting… Read more

Leadership changes happen in every school eventually. A new assistant director, a new principal, or a new director can quickly spark uncertainty — and the rumor mill usually starts spinning long before anything actually changes. In this episode of CHAT-CTE, we talk about what leadership transitions really mean for… Read more

Career and Technical Education teachers are some of the most creative, capable educators in the building—but they’re often handed the most chaotic starting point: a task list, a program of study, and the expectation that they somehow turn that into a full curriculum. In this episode, I talk about the real problems CTE… Read more

This week I said something out loud that caught me off guard: “I think we lost a generation.” As creative educators, many of us remember when students would disappear into projects — obsess, iterate, compete to be the strongest piece on the board. Lately, the energy feels different. More completion-focused. More… Read more

In this episode of CHAT-CTE, we dig into something that sits underneath every successful classroom — trust. Not the soft, feel-good version. The real version. The kind of trust that: reduces behavior issuesallows you to hold high expectationsmakes feedback landand prepares students for life beyond your program In CTE… Read more

What if the final ten years of a teaching career aren’t about coasting — but about legacy? In this episode of CHAT-CTE, we explore how experienced teachers can rethink their “golden years” as the most intentional and meaningful phase of their career. Not by doing more, but by finishing what matters. Using the metaphor… Read more

How a class ends matters more than most teachers realize. In this episode of CHAT-CTE, we complete the Opening–Middle–Close framework by breaking down the close — the final minutes of class where learning is either reinforced or quietly lost. Too often, the end of class turns into rushed cleanup, early packing up, or… Read more

What does teaching in Career and Technical Education actually feel like when you’re new to the classroom? In this CHAT-CTE roundtable episode, we bring together teachers from different CTE programs to share new teacher perspectives on the realities of teaching — especially for educators coming from industry or… Read more

The middle of a CTE class is rarely quiet — and it shouldn’t be. In this episode of CHAT-CTE, we break down the most challenging part of teaching for many CTE educators: the middle of the class period. This is where students are moving, working at different paces, using tools, and asking questions — and where teachers… Read more

How a CTE class starts determines how the rest of the period — and often the rest of the year — unfolds. In this episode of CHAT-CTE, we begin a three-part breakdown of every successful CTE class: the opening, the middle, and the close. This episode focuses on the opening — the routines, expectations, and systems that… Read more

What if finishing the school year strong wasn’t about working harder — but about building better systems? In this episode of CHAT-CTE, we shift from reflection into execution. This is the “go time” moment for CTE teachers — especially those who came from industry and feel like teaching is still heavier than it should… Read more

Winter break has a way of messing with our heads. It starts with good intentions — reflecting, planning, getting ready to “fix” everything for the second half of the year. But rebuilding takes energy… and most CTE teachers hit winter break already running low. In this episode, we talk about why winter break works… Read more

A student once told me they’d “worry about their future in 12 years.” This episode is about why that mindset is exactly why CTE teachers do what we do — and why the lessons that matter most often get ignored until it’s almost too late. We talk about teaching beyond projects and grades, preparing students for real… Read more

After 23 years of teaching art and design, I faced the most disengaged, unbothered, creativity-resistant group of students I’ve ever had. Basic figure drawing? Nope. Participation? Hard pass. Failing? Totally fine by them. In this episode, I’m telling the full story — the frustration, the accountability pressure, the… Read more

Steven shares the story of how ChatGPT and Base44 became essential tools for teaching intuitive cooking. This episode explores how AI prompts, structured learning, and conversational guidance can turn complex techniques into simple, approachable steps. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at how modern tools can elevate the… Read more

In this episode, we dig into one of the most exhausting and misunderstood parts of teaching: modifying lessons for 504 and IEP students. Instead of pretending it’s a “quick” task, we get real about the pressure, the paperwork, and the way new CTE teachers often get blindsided by their first big meeting. I share the… Read more

In this special episode, I’m bringing you behind the scenes of a presentation I gave to graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania — a room full of future teachers wrestling with the fear, excitement, and chaos of AI in education. If you don’t know my story, here’s the short version: I’m a dyslexic CTE… Read more

This episode walks CTE teachers through how to take a single project idea — starting with the prompt “I want to create a…” — and build it into a complete one-week, eight-hour lesson plan. Listeners learn how to structure each day, create admin-ready documentation, and build student-friendly materials like vocabulary… Read more

Planning your CTE year doesn’t have to start with a blank calendar. In this episode, host Steven Bross breaks down how to turn your program task list into a full-year plan that actually works — from estimating time per task to creating a natural flow from beginner to advanced. You’ll learn how to: Organize your task… Read more

Restorative practices don’t have to mean circles, scripts, or forced conversations that don’t fit your class culture. In this episode, I share how using AI chat reshaped my approach to community, accountability, and trust — not by replacing relationships, but by helping me build them better. From co-writing class… Read more

AI is coming for jobs—or so the headlines say. But if you're a CTE teacher? You're built different. In this episode, we cut through the panic and get real about what AI can do—and what it can't. Spoiler: it’s not teaching kids how to weld, cook, cut hair, or fix engines. But it can be the assistant you’ve always… Read more

What if your PD actually understood your shop? In this episode of CHAT-CTE, we explore how CTE teachers can use ChatGPT’s Custom GPT feature to build their very own AI co-teacher—one that talks like them, works like them, and supports the real day-to-day needs of a trade-based classroom. You’ll learn how to kick off… Read more

What if your first classroom rule wasn’t “stay seated” or “raise your hand”—but make a mess on purpose? In this episode of Chat-CTE, I break down how I used ChatGPT to design a bold, creative launch to the school year. But this isn’t just about art class—it’s about rethinking how we set the tone for any subject,… Read more

In the first full episode of Season 2, I share the story of wiping the slate clean—twenty-three years of curriculum, archived on a drive—and how I rebuilt from scratch with the help of a custom GPT assistant and restorative practice training. From faster planning to deeper connections with students, this is what it… Read more

After 23 years of playing it safe, I pulled the plug on my old curriculum and started fresh. Why? Because CTE students—and the world they’re stepping into—are changing faster than ever. In this new season of Chat-CTE, I’m diving into what happens when you reset, rethink, and let AI + creativity help us build… Read more

In this raw and reflective episode of CHAT-CTE, I get honest about what burnout really looks like after 22 years in the classroom. When I realized I was just going through the motions—and my students were too—I did something drastic: I threw out my entire curriculum. What followed was a complete reset of how I teach,… Read more

What happens when you’re the only shop teacher in the building? No team meetings. No pacing guides. Just you, 30 kids, and a buzzing classroom full of projects and potential. In this heartfelt episode, we unpack the emotional weight and everyday hustle of teaching solo—whether you're in art, auto, culinary, or… Read more

So, you’ve got 30 students, no curriculum, and a pile of state standards staring at you. Sound familiar? Welcome to the first week of teaching a trade. But what if you had a planning assistant that never sleeps and actually listens? That’s where AI comes in—and today, we’re gonna show you how to use it without losing… Read more

In this debut episode of CHAT-CTE—Finally, PD That’s Personal—we explore the emotional and professional journey every trade teacher walks: the 5-Year Arc. From white-knuckling your first lessons to reinventing your program a decade in, this episode unpacks the real stages of CTE teaching: Survival, Emerging… Read more

"Finally—PD that’s personal. In this trailer episode, we’re setting the stage for what’s coming: real talk, real tools, real survival strategies for CTE teachers who are building futures (and occasionally birdhouses out of duct tape and good intentions). Meet your host, hear why AI is now a trusted sidekick, and get… Read more

What happens when an overworked art educator meets a curious AI? This episode dives deep into how ChatGPT flipped my entire teaching experience—from burnout to boldness. I’ll walk you through the real impact it had on my planning, creativity, and classroom energy. But this isn’t just my story—it’s an invitation. I’ll… Read more