Dream UP! Career Exploration Program Essay Challenge Teacher Guidelines Introduction: USA TODAY Charitable Foundation and the Office Depot Foundation are proud to bring you the Dream UP! Career Exploration Program Essay Challenge. The Dream UP! Essay Challenge is designed to help students discover who they are, where their interests lie and what careers they may want to pursue. The Essay Challenge will give students a chance to find out what really interests them while they are in middle school. By looking at different careers and types of jobs now, they will get a head start on the future. They will start to see the many exciting possibilities that exist for them and begin to learn all they can about them. In addition, students who enter the Essay Challenge will have the opportunity to win an opportunity to spend a day with a mentor in the field of their chosen dream career! Common Core State Standards: This challenge is aligned with the Common Core State Standards as detailed below. College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading: 1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing: 4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. 5. Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. 7. Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation. 8. Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism. 9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. Time Requirement: This project requires up to six weeks for completion. It is recommended that students spend 3-4 hours per week working in and out of the classroom to complete the essay challenge.

Essay Submissions: Teachers will submit their three (3) best entries by completing the online entry form and then uploading the 3 top essays per teacher to the following site: http://www.usatodaycharitablefoundation.org/dreamup-entry/ by 6:00 P.M. EST on February 6, 2015. More Information: Visit the official website at: http://www.usatodaycharitablefoundation.org/dreamup/ for further details.

Dream UP! Career Exploration Program Essay Challenge Student Guidelines Introduction: USA TODAY Charitable Foundation and the Office Depot Foundation are proud to bring you the Dream UP! Career Exploration Program Essay Challenge. The Dream UP! Essay Challenge is designed to help you discover who you are, where your interests lie and what careers you may want to pursue. The essay challenge will give you a chance to find out what really interests you while you are in middle school. By looking at different careers and types of jobs now, you will get a head start on the future. You will start to see the many exciting possibilities that exist for you and begin to learn all you can about potential careers. In addition, students who enter the essay challenge will have the opportunity to win an opportunity to spend a day with a mentor in the field of your chosen dream career! Goal: Create a 500-word persuasive essay that will convince your teacher that you are a perfect fit for your intended career. Guidelines: • • • •

Competition is open to middle school students nationwide Winners will be determined by a panel of judges based on the Dream UP Career Exploration Program Essay Challenge rubric One (1) entry per student Winners will be required to complete an affidavit of eligibility/liability and a publicity release that will be provided after winners are chosen.

Prizes: • •

Five students will be selected as winners. Each winning student will receive one day of shadowing a mentor in the field of his or her selected dream career.

Steps for Entering the Dream Up! Essay Challenge: 1. Research (1-2 weeks) – Prepare to write your essay by conducting research on a variety of jobrelated topics. Be sure to take notes for each of the following activities and keep your notes to use later when you are writing your essay. Complete the following assignments to assist you in your research: a. Read USA TODAY and make a list of careers, organizations and businesses that interest you. What might you experience if you spent a day with one of the individuals, organizations or companies you read about? Write down ten things you would expect to learn or witness during a “typical day.” b. Make a list of job qualities that appeal to you. For instance, do you want a job that requires teamwork and creativity? Are you looking for a company that rewards service to others and taking risks? Do you want security and structure in your job? Once you have made a list of job qualities, circle your top five. Read USA TODAY to find examples of people whose work involves one or more of the top five job qualities you selected. Do the career examples you found interest you? c. Describe the job environment in which you would most like to work by answering the following questions: Would you prefer working inside or outside? What hours would you like to work? What would the dress code be? What characteristics would your supervisor possess? How many people would work in your office? Write a paragraph or two detailing your ideal job environment. d. Find an individual who has a dream job that you may be interested in. Schedule an informational interview and make a list of questions to ask. The interview can be conducted in person or by phone or email so you do not have to limit your search based on location. You may want to include some of these suggested questions: What are your responsibilities? What are the challenges of your job? The demands? The rewards? What education, skills and personal qualities are required in your job? Do you have a regular daily routine? Are there other people you can recommend to give me more information about this career? Take notes while conducting the interview. e. Make a list of your skills and interests. If you get stuck while making this list, think about the clubs and activities you participate in. What skills do you use in these activities? You can also ask your friends and family to help you make a list of your skills. f. Refer to the Occupational Outlook Handbook on the United States Department of Labor website – www.bls.gov/ooh. Explore different career opportunities by browsing the occupation groups that interest you. Make a list of jobs that appeal to you based on the job summary, education requirements and median pay listed. 2. Select your Dream Job (1 day) – Using your research, brainstorm a list of your dream jobs. On the list, circle the one job that you would like to focus on for your Dream UP! Essay. Do a five minute quick-write on what a person in your dream job does and why this job appeals to you. 3. Pre-Writing (1 week) – Before you begin writing your essay, it is important to take some time to review your research and gather all the information in one location. Organizing your notes and your thoughts will help to create a clear and concise essay. Use the following steps to prepare for your essay: a. Write the name of your dream job on a clean sheet of paper. Then, underneath it, create four columns. Label the first column “Skills,” the second, “Education,” the third, “Personality” and the fourth, “Experience.” What skills, education, personality traits and

experiences would someone in your dream job need in order to be successful? Brainstorm and write lists for all four columns. (Use the notes from your research to help complete these lists.) Consider trading your four-column paper with a peer and have him or her add to your lists. b. Now, write your name at the top of a clean sheet of paper and label the same four columns: skills, education, personality and experience. This time, make a list in each column describing YOUR skills, education, personality and experience. (Use the notes from your research to help complete these lists.) c. Compare the two four-column sheets – the one listing the qualifications for your dream job and the other, listing your qualifications. On your qualification sheet, highlight or circle the qualities that are the same as those on the dream job qualification sheet. d. Using the qualification sheets you just created and all the notes from your research, create an outline for your essay. • Consider creating five paragraphs for your essay including an introduction, three supporting paragraphs and a conclusion. • Your introduction should include a strong thesis statement that explains why you are qualified for your dream job. • The supporting paragraphs should each cover one qualification you possess that will allow you to be successful in your chosen dream career. • The conclusion should wrap up your argument and close with a convincing statement that will have a lasting impact on the reader. 4. Write a rough draft(s) of your essay (1-2 weeks) – When you are writing an essay, you do not want to submit the first draft you complete. It is important to review a few drafts before submitting a final copy. You will want to check for spelling and grammatical errors, assess the strength of your arguments and supporting evidence and receive feedback from a teacher and peers. Give your rough draft(s) to one teacher and at least two peers to receive their feedback. Consider writing a fresh draft after receiving each round of feedback. Sometimes it may take multiple drafts before you are fully ready to write your final essay. Before writing your final essay, review your latest draft and use the judging rubric below to give yourself a score. If you are not satisfied with your score, then make revisions to your essay until you feel it will qualify for the highest score possible. 5. Write and submit your final draft (1 week) – Write a final draft of your essay based on the feedback from your teacher, your peers and your own personal review. Your final essay should be no more than 500 words, in 12-point Times New Roman font. Visit the Dream UP! Career Exploration Program Essay Challenge official website at

http://www.usatodaycharitablefoundation.org/dreamup/ to review the official rules and guidelines

before submitting your essay.

Turn your final draft in to your teacher.

Dream UP! Career Exploration Program Essay Challenge JUDGING RUBRIC Content 20%

Development 20%

Organization 20%

Language Use 20%

Quality 5 • Selection of your strong qualification for the job. • Clear understanding of the job’s role and responsibilities • Connection between personal qualifications and the job’s role • Use of specific and relevant supporting examples and evidence of your job qualifications • • •

• • • •

Focus Structure Coherence

Voice Audience Purpose Sentence structure and variety

4 In-depth understanding of the job

3 Basic understanding and analysis of the job

2 Confused or inaccurate understanding of the job

Makes implicit connections between your qualifications and the job

Makes inaccurate connections between your qualifications and the job

Develop job qualifications clearly and fully with multiple details and examples Consistent, clear and appropriate focus

Develops some job qualifications clearly using details and examples

Develops qualifications minimally with confused or vague references to examples Establishes but fails to maintain a general focus

Logical and coherent structure throughout response Distinct voice

Logical structure with some internal inconsistency

Basic structure with internal inconsistency

Basic awareness of audience and purpose through appropriate use of language

Little awareness of audience and purpose

Minimal to no awareness of audience and purpose

Little use of sentence variety

Incoherent or inappropriate use of language

Emerging control of conventions with errors that interfere with comprehension

Minimal to no control of conventions

Makes explicit connections between your qualifications and the job

Consistent awareness of audience and purpose Conscious use of simple and complex sentence structure

Conventions 20%

• • • • •

Spelling Punctuation Paragraphing Capitalization Grammar

Control of conventions with essentially no errors

Consistent, clear and appropriate focus

1 Minimal to no understanding of the job Makes no connections between your qualifications and the job

Minimal development of qualifications with no evidence

Minimal or no focus Illogical structure

Some use of sentence variety Control of conventions with some errors that do not interfere with comprehension

Language use may be illegible or not recognizable as standard English