Project Grade 6 Careers & CTE
Kirkhaven Is Hiring: A Grade 6 Water Job Posting Project
A four-session grade 6 project in which teams research one water utility job, write a posting and a 90-day training plan, and argue for it before a district board.
Objectives
- Students will describe the duties, tools, and license required for one water utility job.
- Students will map at least three different routes a person could take into that job.
- Students will argue, using evidence, which two of four open positions a district should fund.
Vocabulary
- Apprenticeship
- A way to learn a skilled job by working alongside experienced workers while getting paid. Water utilities use apprenticeships to train new operators and technicians.
Also: job posting, certification, duties, training plan
Teacher overview
Over four sessions, teams take on one open job at a fictional water district, research what that job actually involves, and produce a job posting, a first-ninety-days training plan, and a short case for funding the position. The district can pay for only two of the four openings, so the class ends as a board meeting with a vote. One misconception is worth correcting at the start. Many students assume that every job at a water utility requires a four-year degree, while others assume none of them requires training at all. A single utility hires across all of those routes at once, and for most of these jobs the state checks a license earned by exam rather than a diploma.
Project Brief
Driving question. Which two of the four open jobs should the fictional Kirkhaven Water District fill this year, and what would each new hire need in order to be ready on the first day?
The client. The board of the fictional Kirkhaven Water District serves a town of about 14,000 people. Four jobs are open. The budget covers only two of them this year. The board has asked four teams to study one job each and to come back with a posting and a case.
The four open jobs
| Job | What the district says it needs |
|---|---|
| Water treatment operator | Someone to run the plant on the afternoon shift and keep the daily test records |
| Distribution and valve technician | Someone to find and turn valves, repair mains, and flush hydrants |
| Laboratory technician | Someone to run samples, keep the lab notebook, and prepare monthly reports |
| Maintenance mechanic | Someone to service pumps, motors, and the plant's standby generator |
Sources you must use. Use the class fact sheet below, one state certification program page, and one real job listing from any water utility. Name all three in your posting.
Class fact sheet on water careers
- Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators earned a median of $60,020 a year in May 2025. The lowest tenth earned less than $39,110 and the highest tenth earned more than $91,060. These figures describe operators specifically, not every job at a utility. (Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.)
- About 10,000 operator openings are expected each year from 2025 to 2035, even though the number of these jobs is projected to shrink by about 6 percent. The openings come from replacing people who retire or move to other jobs. (Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.)
- EPA estimates that roughly one-third of the water workforce can retire within the next ten years. In 2016, only about 10 percent of water workers were 24 or younger, compared with 12.5 percent of all U.S. workers. (Source: EPA Water Infrastructure Sector Workforce page; Brookings, Renewing the Water Workforce.)
- Becoming an operator usually takes a high school diploma, on-the-job training, and a state license earned by exam. Licenses come in classes tied to plant size and experience. (Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook and state certification programs.)
Constraints. Every team works inside the same limits. Your posting must fit on one page. It must list at least eight duties and the license or certificate the state requires. It must show three different routes a person could take into the job, and one of those routes must begin right after high school. Your training plan must fit inside ninety days and must name who does the training. Your presentation runs three minutes and must use at least two pieces of evidence. No team may argue that another team's job does not matter. Argue from what the district needs instead.
What you turn in. Each team turns in a one-page job posting, a week-by-week training plan for the first ninety days, and a three-minute presentation to the board.
Milestones
- Session 1: duties and tools. Research your assigned job. Turn in a list of at least eight daily duties and three tools or instruments the worker uses, with each source named beside the fact it supplied.
- Session 2: routes into the job. Turn in a completed three-row table. Row one is the route that begins right after high school. Row two is a certificate or two-year degree route. Row three is a four-year degree route, or a note explaining that this job does not use one. Name the state license or certificate in every row.
- Session 3: posting and training plan. Turn in the one-page posting and the ninety-day training plan. The plan lists what the new hire learns in each two-week block and names the person who teaches it.
- Session 4: board meeting. Present for three minutes to the fictional Kirkhaven board. Turn in a one-paragraph written case naming your two pieces of evidence. The board then votes on which two positions to fund and records one reason for each choice.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Rubric
| Criterion | Emerging | Developing | Proficient | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy of the posting | Duties are guessed and no source is named | Some duties are accurate and one source is named | At least eight accurate duties, the required license, and all three sources named | All of Proficient, plus duties are ordered by how often the worker does them |
| Routes into the job | Names one route only | Names two routes but leaves the credential vague | Names three routes, including one that starts right after high school, with the license in each | Names three routes with the license in each and explains what each route costs in time |
| Training plan | Plan is a list with no schedule | Plan covers ninety days but names no trainer | Plan covers ninety days in two-week blocks and names who teaches each block | All of Proficient, plus the plan says how the district would know the new hire is ready |
| Case to the board | Offers opinion with no evidence | Uses one piece of evidence | Uses two pieces of evidence and connects them to the district's stated need | Uses two pieces of evidence, connects them to the need, and answers a board member's question |
Differentiation
Support
Give these students a partly completed posting template for the fictional Kirkhaven job, with the duty section already holding three duties as models. Provide the three-row routes table with the row labels filled in, and shorten the presentation requirement to ninety seconds with a printed script.
Extension
Ask these students to write the interview questions the fictional Kirkhaven board would ask finalists for their position, then to explain what a strong answer to each question would show. Teams may also add a fifth open job they believe the district overlooked and make the case for it.
ELL supports
Pre-teach "posting," "duties," "certification," and "shift" with a labeled example posting from a different field. Provide sentence frames for the board presentation, such as "Our job is ____. The district needs it because ____. Our evidence is ____." Allow team research notes and rehearsal in a shared first language.
Extensions
Have the class send its four postings to a local utility or public works department and ask whether the duties and routes match what that employer actually requires, then revise the postings from the reply. Students can also compare the fictional Kirkhaven board's vote with what the evidence alone would have favored and write two sentences about the difference.