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: investors are buying up trade schools right now, and your seniors' families have no idea.

The lesson: how to actually survive Year 1 as a CTE teacher who came from industry. Three moves, no fluff — teach less, build the fort, be yourself.

Plus a rant about the eval rubric built for somebody else's job — and why "proficient" is not what you think it is.

Toolbox: pull out your rubric and actually READ the top row. Once you see it, you can't unsee it.