Anthony Humetewa

Reflective Essay on Student Learning Outcomes

English 120 is designed for us students to improve our writing capabilities for the English
language during our time in college. It was our job to complete the assignments in class, which
were designed to familiarize ourselves with specific writing genres. They included: a rhetorical
analysis for an ad, a position paper that justifies our side of an argument, and a proposal to
address an issue in the Albuquerque area. Each of these assignments were designed in such a
way so that the Student Learning Outcomes (SLO's) would be prominent in our writing. Each
SLO is meant to illustrate writing skills that would accentuate our capabilities both in class and
in the future. The following SLO's that I would like to analyze include: A, C, F, and G.
SLO A
SLO A is meant to consider the audience that we are writing towards and being able to
convey our message in an appropriate way. It is our job to be familiar with the rhetorical
situation, including: the points that make the argument strong, and the points that make the
argument credible. It is our job present our information in a strategic manner and back up our
statements so that it flows to the audience in a logical way. SLO A has manifested itself in all
three of the major writing assignments this semester.
The first assignment involved us understanding the rhetorical situation of an ad (i.e. why
it is appealing, how credible it is, is it relevant to only that topic, etc.) and also how we have a
personal connection to it. The second assignment had us stand strongly in an argument that we
are passionate about. We searched and identified credible material that contained useful
information from outside sources. The sources were then synthesized to back up our messages
and accentuate our points. The last assignment had us work together to compose a proposal to

address a problem. We illustrated points to counter the current situation and had to address why it
will prove effective.
In MWA 1, we identified the ethos, logos, and pathos of the ad we were analyzing to
further explain why it is appealing to its intended audience. This ad effectively uses ethos
because it was created from people who belong to a university uses logos because it lists the
possible career fields that come from obtaining a degree in Computer Science. The ad finally
uses pathos because it is appealing directly to our interests.
SLO A has taught me to identify the supporting and opposing points of an argument, and
to make sure that such points are credible and prominent in what is being presented. This will
help me as a writer in the future because the majority of writing requires you to stand in a
position and deliver why you think it is important and needing to be addressed. It is a life-skill
because it opens your mind to the ideas presented and hopefully forms new ones.
SLO C
SLO C means that it is our job to write in a process in order to yield a clean,
understandable, and logical final product. It means to approach the assignment in many steps of
pre-writing in order for proficient, strong writing to occur. It is our job to understand the prompt,
or to ask questions to understand it more. All semester long, the students in the classroom and the
instructor got together and reviewed drafts of the assignments. The students provided feedback
and suggestions to make the writing more effective. We stated specifically what mistakes needed
to be corrected, or what needs to be explained into more detail.
We also wrote smaller assignments, known as Low-Stakes Assignments (LSAs) to
familiarize ourselves with the genre of writing we are writing for. This provided us with the prewriting steps to later be used in the more intensive MWA. Out LSA 1 was a proposal to justify

why the ad contains evidence for rhetorical analysis. LSA 2 was both a presentation and a
shortened prompt of the MWA to form our thesis statement, the supporting and opposing points,
and the annotated bibliography. LSA 3 was a memo to describe the problem that our group has
chosen to address, and state the solutions to illustrate what needs to be done to counter the issue.
SLO C has taught me to receive help from my peers and my instructor in order for me to
compose strongly worded works of writing and to make sure that all pieces of the prompt are
being addressed. It also taught me to write in smaller steps at a time to yield a greater piece of
writing.
SLO F
SLO F is meant to illustrate our development as a writer over the course of a semester
and how it will help us in our future. This SLO is the one that is the most prominent in all of our
writing because it applies to everything we have worked for in English 120. We wrote three
major assignments in three specific genres. We presented some of our pieces in front of the class
via Powerpoint; wrote our assignments in letter, essay, memo, and proposal format; and
constructed a website to conclude our learning over the semester.
This SLO will help me in the future because it shows me how spending one semester in
class increases your knowledge of the subject; in this case, English. It taught me how applying
writing is relevant to real-life situations. It teaches me to keep working hard in class to have good
grades of course, but to learn from whatever is being taught to us.
SLO G
SLO G means to write to discover where I stand my position in a piece of writing. It also
means why the writing affects you individually. This SLO was prominent in all of the
assignments. The majority of our writing required us to be passionate about the subject we are

writing for. In all of the assignments that I wrote this semester, they all contained subjects that I
cared for.
It was prominent in MWA 1 because we were given the task of analyzing an ad that
applies to our major and what it means to us as an individual. This is evident when I state, Like
I mentioned before, I am passionate in expanding my knowledge in technology. The ad seals a
promise of gain because it suggests the knowledge a student would pick up during their time
spent in college. In MWA 2 we wrote stood our side of a position and argued how effective the
results will be. This is evident when I state, As you can see, it would benefit us greatly if there
were more participation of Natives in the media for multiple reasons. Our perspectives can undo
negative stereotypes and generate positive emotions from audiences. The ultimate goal would be
for the non-native US population to at least give the many subjects of current Native people a
chance and hopefully try to relate with us. I wanted the world to know that we Native people
are more than an ethnicity, but we have unique stories to share that can help the people
understand the true meaning of what being Native means to us.
Conclusion
As mentioned earlier, our time in English 120 has prepared us as writers by providing the
tools for us to use in the future. Each of the SLOs that I mentioned were prominent in all of our
writing this semester. Now that we are familiar with different genres of writing, we can now
understand the situations our assignments represented outside of the classroom.