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How have my SLOs connected to my slips this semester?

This is an image of scattered notes about the five components of Student
Learning Outcomes.
I feel like it was just last week when it was my first day of UWRT 1102 and I
received my first SLIP assignment. The entire class was confused and thought
these nine hundred word assignments were just a waste of time. Now as I
approach the last week of UWRT, I smile at all the work I have completed
and how funny it is that our work had a purpose. Rhetorical knowledge,
Critical reading, Composing processes, Knowledge of conventions, and Critical reflection are all
apart of the Student Learning Outcomes(SLOs).
Dr. Crickenberger would always ask us questions and help us to think about who and
what we are writing for. I have numerous pages in my writing sketchbook with those questions
which is what I go by when planning my next paper. I now know how my audience can impact
my style of writing which ties into Rhetorical knowledge. Rhetorical knowledge is the ability to
identify and apply strategies across a range of texts and writing situations. Every week when
completing my five-hundred words slip that would connect to my inquiry project I would have to
find two websites or sources that also connected to my inquiry topic. It sounds simple until your
topic is on wizards or food stamps for college students. Due to the various creative challenge
topics that were also given over the semester I was able to become more flexible in the way that I
write my papers. Learning to use my rhetorical knowledge helped me to develop how to
differentiate the tone of a paper about wizards that can not be compared to a paper that is about
the end of the world which had to include an ending that connected to the beginning of the story.
This is just one of the many examples that demonstrate my mastery in the particular SLO.
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According to the syllabus, formatted by UNCCs Office of Legal Affairs and First Year
Writing Office, reading critically is the ability to analyze, synthesize, interpret, and evaluate
ideas, information and texts. Critical Reading was very important when choosing sources for
every slip assignment. If you did not read through various articles and search through images,
then you would end up with sources that did not connect to your topic. After reading through
websites I was able to choose two that I thought connected the most to the points and questions I
posed throughout my slip. The online sources played a great role in helping me to understand and
learn more about my inquiry topic. Reading is a source of learning which led me to easily find
new ways to teach others by interpreting what I have learned about my topic of technology.

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This ties hand in hand with Composing Processes, the numerous strategies used to
finalize the work done throughout the semester. Everyday in class we were expected to bring our
sketchbooks which was used to take notes and to jot down anything that comes to mind that can
help you with your next writing assignment or inquiry project. I thought that I was wasting my
money at the beginning of the semester when we were told to purchase a sketchbook. Believe it
or not, my sketchbook is almost full and I dont think I could have made it this far in my class
nor my other courses without the help of my sketchbook. I am able to take my thoughts and put
them all over the paper and then I go back over what I wrote to decide what I want to take out
and put in my stories. Above is a picture of a page in my sketchbook which is an example of how
I would use a variety of colors and write my ideas for my creative challenges. Taking walks
which was once an assignment for class has also helped me to clear my mind and come up with
new ideas for how I would go about creating and teaching others about my inquiry project.
Knowledge of conventions was seen a lot in our Creative challenges. I dreaded having to
follow the never-ending list of rules and expectations for each creative challenge. At the end of
the challenge as I wrote my cover letter, I always seemed to be satisfied with what I wrote. I
guess I had a love hate relationship with this particular SLO. After a few challenges I gained a
better understanding of how to interpret rules in my
own way and how to make a story flow while sticking
to the guidelines. For example, the movement of
images in a slideshow on my portfolio will serve as
movement for my project. Proper citations had to be
used every week when citing our sources for every SLIP that we had. Throughout the semester
we were expected to bring copies of our creative challenges to class so that we could receive

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feedback from our peers. By having at least three to four other people listen, and help critique
your writing students were able to grow as writers. Peer editing was very helpful for me
especially when Dr. Crickenberger would come to each student group and input her tips to revise
each paper.
I would say that this entire semester has been about Critical Reflection, which is the
ability to articulate what you are thinking and why, according to the syllabus. After every paper
we have to share our writing process. As writers we are reflecting on our writing and our
progress by sharing the process we went through in our last assignment. This final inquiry
project will also demonstrate how well I have learned to critically reflect on my papers as a
writer throughout the slips, videos, and creative challenges that are exhibited. This class has
taught me to write my feelings and ideas in
my sketchbook then go back to reflect and
analyze what I am thinking. By planning in
my sketchbook I am able to set a clear path
for my writing and have a more organized
paper. Organizing my paper helps me to
incorporate my student learning outcomes in
unique ways. The goal of my e-portfolio is to use all of the aspects of the SLOs to illustrate how
much they have helped me to learn about my topic, think as a writer, and teach others through
technology.

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