Cotton Careers Expo

WALT (We Are Learning To)

• Identify a range of career opportunities within the cotton industry.
• Understand the different levels of training, locations, required experience, and salaries for these careers.
• Communicate occupational information effectively to peers.

Success Criteria

• Students can research and select three distinct careers within the cotton industry.
• Students produce informative and dyslexia-friendly fact cards for each career.
• Students confidently role-play as industry professionals, explaining their chosen careers and responding to peers' questions.
• Students demonstrate understanding of career pathways and associated skills.

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Curriculum Links (Australian Curriculum v9)

This lesson aligns with the following:

• AC9TDE10K04 (Technologies, Years 9-10): Analyse and make judgements on the ethical, secure, and sustainable production and marketing of food and fibre enterprises, including cotton.
• General Capabilities – Literacy and Personal and Social Capability: Communicating clearly in role-play; research skills; career planning.
• Cross-curriculum priorities: Understanding Australia's agricultural industries and regional work opportunities.

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Lesson Duration: 55 minutes

Class size: 25 students

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Lesson Overview

This lesson focuses on exploring career opportunities in the cotton industry that meet varying training levels, locations, experience requirements, and salaries. Students will create fact cards for three different careers in the cotton industry and simulate a mock career expo to practise communication and deepen understanding of occupational pathways.

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Lesson Breakdown

1. Introduction (5 minutes)

• Teacher Input: Explain the significance of the cotton industry in Australia (major regions, economic importance).
• Introduce learning goals: researching careers, producing fact cards, and a career expo role-play.
• Outline diversity of careers: from hands-on farming roles to agribusiness, research, and technical roles require different training (from certificates to university degrees).

2. Research and Fact Card Creation (20 minutes)

• Student Activity:
  • Divide students into pairs or small groups.
  • Assign or let them choose three different career options in the cotton industry, ensuring a spread of levels (e.g., cotton picker/operator, agronomist, marketing manager, seed technician).
  • Provide a dyslexia-friendly template for fact cards including:
    • Career name
    • Level of training (e.g., Certificate III, apprenticeship, Bachelor’s degree)
    • Job location (e.g., cotton-growing regions like New South Wales, Queensland)
    • Previous experience required
    • Starting salary range
  • Students research from printed handouts or pre-vetted resources prepared by the teacher to avoid screen overwhelm and assist diverse learners.

Differentiation and Support:

• For diverse learners:
  • Dyslexia-friendly font and layout for fact cards.
  • Give summary sheets with key points for each career.
  • Check-in regularly to support any students struggling with research.
• Extension: Advanced learners can add info on future career progression or sustainability practices linked to the role.

3. Preparation for Career Expo (5 minutes)

• Students prepare key points for a short presentation as their assigned career "professional."
• Teacher models example: a concise 2-minute pitch and common questions.

4. Mock Career Expo Role-play (20 minutes)

• Classroom arranged with stations representing different cotton careers.
• Students rotate, role-playing as industry professionals presenting their careers at their station.
• Peers ask questions to deepen understanding and practise verbal communication.

5. Reflection and Wrap-up (5 minutes)

• Whole-class discussion: What did students learn about the diversity of roles?
• Encourage students to reflect on how different skills and education pathways open various opportunities.
• Reinforce relevancy of the Australian cotton industry and link to future career thinking.

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Resources Needed

• Pre-prepared dyslexia-friendly career fact card templates
• Printed career info sheets (covering training, location, experience, salary ranges)
• Markers, laminated fact card materials (optional for durability)
• Classroom arranged for a "career expo" with breakout stations

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Example Career Options for Fact Cards

1. Cotton Harvester Operator

   • Training: Certificate III in Agricultural Machinery Operations
   • Location: Cotton regions in NSW, QLD
   • Experience: Some machinery operation experience preferred
   • Salary: Approximately $50,000 starting

2. Agronomist (Cotton Crop Consultant)

   • Training: Bachelor of Agricultural Science or Agronomy degree
   • Location: Cotton-growing regions, often field travel required
   • Experience: Internships or related agricultural experience beneficial
   • Salary: Starting $70,000 - $90,000

3. Textile Marketing Manager

   • Training: Degree in Marketing or Business
   • Location: Urban centres with cotton industry headquarters (e.g., Brisbane, Sydney)
   • Experience: Previous marketing experience or internship recommended
   • Salary: Starting $80,000+

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Additional Differentiation Suggestions

• Use visual icons on fact cards to represent training levels (e.g., book for university, wrench for certificate).
• Incorporate audio summaries or video snippets of cotton industry workers describing their jobs for students who benefit from multimodal input.
• Provide sentence starters for role-play questions and answers.

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By blending research, creativity, and communication skills, this lesson actively engages students with real-world career pathways in a major Australian agricultural industry, meeting key Australian Curriculum (v9) outcomes while catering to diverse learner needs.