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

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 different school year than the ones who don't. Not 10% better — a different universe. The reason most of us avoid summer planning isn't laziness. It's that planning a year from scratch is overwhelming. That's exactly where AI changes the game.

In this episode of That CTE Guy, we get tactical about using AI for summer curriculum planning. You'll learn:

• The 5 things AI is actually great at when planning your year
• The 4 things AI is terrible at (and why you can't skip the human work)
• A 5-step playbook for using AI to organize your task list this summer
• A copy-and-paste prompt you can steal and use today
• Why the "conversation phase" matters more than the planning phase

Whether you're a brand-new CTE teacher staring at a 200-item task list with no curriculum, or a veteran ready to finally work smarter instead of harder, this episode gives you a real, usable framework you can put to work this week.

Mentioned in this episode: Blueprint-CTE — the curriculum planning app built specifically for CTE teachers. Turn your giant task list into a real, usable teaching plan. Free to start: blueprint-cte.com

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and if this helped you, share it with another CTE teacher who needs to hear it.

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 builds you a full year of curriculum, lessons, and assessments, all mapped to your standards. It learns from YOUR materials, in YOUR voice, for YOUR program.

In this episode: why generic AI tools keep failing CTE classrooms, what Blueprint actually does, and the free PD library I built inside it.

Try it free — no signup required — at blueprint-cte.com. Type in any CTE class and get five real bell ringers in 15 seconds.

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 it really takes. If you're advising now, thinking about taking it on, or quietly wondering if it's worth it — this one's for you.

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 of the year.

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 course structures, instructional design frameworks, AI tools, and vibe coding platforms — including a curriculum planning app for CTE teachers and a visual communications learning platform with over 240 self paced modules.

That CTE Guy is the podcast about what's actually possible in Career and Technical Education right now.

Not theory. Not district PD slideshow stuff. Not generic teacher inspiration.

Real talk about lesson planning, curriculum building, AI integration, and what happens when a trades teacher who never stopped nerding out over curriculum design discovers that the tool he's been waiting for his whole career finally exists.

If you're a CTE teacher trying to figure out the teaching side of this job — welcome.

If you came from industry and nobody handed you a system — this is for you.

If you've ever stared at a task list with 200 skills on it and thought "what do I actually do with this" — pull up a chair.

The question isn't whether AI is coming to your classroom.

It's already there.

Let's make sure you're the one driving it.

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 siblings, the fun cousins, and yes, the occasional crazy uncle energy too. That can be messy, but it also matters.

This episode looks at why strong staff culture is not just about celebrating people when they are having a great year. It is also about noticing when someone is struggling, carrying something heavy, or just not quite themselves. We talk about grace, personality, hard seasons, old grudges, and the quiet responsibility of paying attention to each other.

Because real trust at work is not built through slogans or staff meetings. It is built when people feel seen.

If we are going to gather in the same building every day, then part of the job is learning how to watch out for our people.

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 the purpose of the union, and recognizing why it matters so much over the course of a long career in education. If you’ve ever been confused, frustrated, supportive, skeptical, or just curious about how the union fits into school life, this episode is for you.

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 teachers, especially in CTE programs where classrooms and labs run on strong systems and relationships.

Drawing on more than two decades of experience in education, this conversation looks at:

• why leadership changes can feel unsettling • the difference between new assistant leaders and directors • how the rumor mill grows in schools • and why experienced teachers learn to stay steady through the changes

Administrators may come and go, but strong classrooms remain. When your systems are clear and your relationships with students are strong, leadership changes often pass over your classroom like weather.

This episode is a reminder that the stability of a school often lives in its classrooms — not just in the offices.

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 teachers face—especially new ones—and how those challenges pushed me to build something different.

Blueprint-CTE started as a personal survival tool. A way to turn two documents—the task list and the program of study—into a living system that organizes lessons, tracks skills, and helps teachers build meaningful instruction without starting from scratch.

In this episode I walk through: • Why CTE teachers struggle more than most people realize • The two documents that secretly run every CTE program • How curriculum actually gets built in real classrooms • And how Blueprint-CTE helps teachers turn chaos into structure

If you're a CTE teacher trying to make sense of everything you're responsible for, this episode is for you.

You can learn more about Blueprint-CTE and try the system here.

Use code PODCAST at checkout for 50% off the lifetime membership.

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 cautious. Less hunger.

In this episode, I unpack what that statement was really about.

We talk about:

• The grief behind shifting classroom energy
• Optimization vs. obsession
• Why today’s students may struggle with ambiguity
• The difference between motivation and structure
• And how scaffolding might actually protect creative immersion

This isn’t about blaming students. It’s about recalibrating as educators in a changed environment.

Maybe we didn’t lose a generation.

Maybe we inherited one with a different nervous system — and a different set of needs.

If you’ve quietly questioned your pacing, your model, or your edge, this episode is for you.