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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

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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.
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.
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.

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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
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

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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.