Teaching Sequence

10 minutes – Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge
45 minutes – Part B: What Does Being A Farmer Look Like?
5 minutes – Reflection

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

Step 1.

Distribute a copy of the What is Farming Question Sheet to each student and invite them to move around the room, interviewing three other students to get answers to the questions on the question sheet.

Students have three minutes to conduct their interviews and record their answers. Once complete, engage the class in a discussion around their answers. Suggested answers include:

Agriculture is the science of growing animals and plants for human consumption, including research and the study of genetics and breeding.
Farming is the practices of growing animals and plants for human consumption, and one aspect of agriculture.

Step 2.

Now, invite students to turn their What is Farming Question Sheet over and interview three other students to find out three different types of agricultural jobs (each answer must be different). Give students two minutes to record their answers. Once complete, engage the class in a discussion around their answers. Suggested answers could include:

Farmer
Scientist (e.g. water scientist, plant scientist, soil scientist, animal scientist)
Veterinarian
Beekeeper
Farm inspector
Farm labourer
Tractor driver/Machinery operator
Shearer

Through your discussion explain to students that there are a wide range of jobs in agriculture. However, for the rest of this lesson, students will be focusing on one of the most well known but often misunderstood people in agriculture: farmers.

Part B: What Does Being A Farmer Look Like?

Step 1.

Engage students in a class discussion around what a day in the life of a farmer might look like. Consider the following questions in your discussion:

Would every day be the same? Why or why not?
What sorts of tasks might you have to do if you were a dairy farmer? What about a sheep farmer or a farmer growing plant crops?
Would you be working with other people or on your own?

Step 2.

Now explain to students that they will be watching a clip about being a farmer in Australia and will be participating in a guided discussion around this clip. Discussion points and timings are provided below the clip.

Allow students to watch the clip through once uninterrupted. You can watch it a second time, pausing the clip in places in order to ask questions about what students are seeing in the clip.

From City Life to Cattle Farming | Farmer Stories (https://youtu.be/v_Rleq5koaw)

Guided discussion points:

0:19 – Where are Yougawalla and Bulka Stations?
Suggested activity: Open Google Maps and search for Halls Creek, WA. The stations are close to Halls Creek.
1:00 – What is the main type of animal farmed on this farm?
Suggested answer: Beef cattle/cattle for meat.
1:17 – Jane says that managing 2.5 million acres is a huge responsibility for a few people. Why do you think she says that? Do you agree with her?
Suggested answer: 2.5 million acres is a lot of land to look after. Jane and her family want to take care of this land.
2:14 – What sorts of things are Jane and her family doing to help the natural environment on the land they farm? Suggested answer: Controlling cattle access to waterways and erosion control around creek beds to allow native grasses to regenerate.
2:47 – What changes have they seen because of the environmental improvement works they have been doing on their land?
Suggested answers: An increase in bird life, such as rainbow bee-eaters and seabirds, as well as kangaroos and emus.
End – Do you agree that it is important to help the natural environment when you are a farmer? Why or why not?

Once complete, you could also invite students to share their thoughts on the following questions:

What did you find interesting or important in this clip?
What questions does this clip leave you with? What do you want to know more about?

You could record students' thoughts and use some of these ideas to guide further discussion or inquiry.

Step 3.

Explain to students that they will now work in groups to create their own guided discussions around a clip they will be assigned. Explain to students that the aim of a guided discussion around a clip is to get the audience thinking about the clip more deeply by posing questions that cause you to reflect on what is being said and how you feel about what is being said.

Break the class into three groups and assign each group with one of the following clips:

A day in the life of a Dairy Farmer – https://vimeo.com/63371140
A Day in a Life of Gerard the Farmer – https://vimeo.com/62776853#at=32
Day in Life of Trish Esson, a Farmer and Natural Fibre Processor – https://vimeo.com/62050734

Explain to students that they should watch the clip through once together. They then need to work together to identify some of the key parts in the story being presented (e.g. types of animals, main jobs, and tasks, etc.). Students should then think about what kinds of questions this clip raises for them and how these could be incorporated into their guided discussion.

Each group needs to create three discussion points relating to their clip and work out the timings of where they could stop the clip to initiate discussion with the audience (the discussion point should relate to the point where the clip is being stopped). Students should also try to provide some answers to the questions they are posing; they may need to undertake research to answer these questions (remind students of the Search Strategies for Googling).

Allow students time to create their guided discussion.

Step 4.

Invite each group to present their clip and guided discussion with the class. Other students should respond to the questions posed by the group presenting.

Step 5.

Finally, invite students to engage in a class discussion on the following points:

What do you think the best part of being a farmer would be?
What might be the hardest part?
Why do you think going to the Show might be important to many farmers? What would they get from going to the Show?

Reflection

Invite students to work independently to answer the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What was most interesting for you in this lesson?
What was the most challenging thing for you in this lesson? How did you rise to this challenge?
What questions does this lesson leave you with? What do you still want to know about farming and agriculture?

Take It To The Show

Invite students to look for some of the different tasks the farmers at the Show are doing and to write these tasks down. Tasks might include:

Cleaning
Preparing animals for judging (brushing, washing, etc.)
Leading animals in judging arena/ring
Comforting animals
Taking a well-deserved rest!

Differentiated Learning

Extension - Invite students to create their own 2-5 minute interviews with a farmer of other agriculturalists at the Show.

Provisions for Learning - Part B, Step 1's questioning can be replaced with students drawing a farmer or searching online for what they consider to be the typical farmer. Hold a discussion raising points about any typical features present in the students' farmer images e.g. gender, race or age range before breaking some of these stereotypes in the following activity.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

The Show - What Does It Take To Be a Farmer?

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