Grace Holley

UWRT 1103-007
Professor Wertz-Orbaugh
WW 6
March 29, 2016
Sitting in class last Thursday, as we began our group work on the
SLOs, I came to the realization that in class we have been doing more
than just writing. While this class is not your traditional rhetoric based
writing class, I was shocked by how much we were learning other tasks
without even realizing it. Our weekly writing assignments keep our
writing skills active, while in class I can tell Professor Wertz-O is
focused on applying and developing our learning rather than just going
through the necessary motions. When hearing upon this assignment
and beginning to gather my thoughts for it, it is amazing to see how
much we have accomplished as a class in these few short months.
When we first started the class we began it with a writing into
the day assignment, so I will begin there. In these warn-ups, we
usually reflect on a past assignment or on a reading. These couple
minutes spent at the beginning and sometimes end of class helpful
because it was a moment to have with yourself to be fair about how
the week or past week had been going. Not having to turn these
assignments made it informal and easy to express. I found these to be
some of the most helpful things we have done all semester. The SLO

used for these assignments would be Critical Reading and at times,

Rhetorical Knowledge.
Looking back at our very first writing into the day on January 11,
2016, our prompt was to write down the definition of good writing. I
thought I knew exactly what that meant. I wrote, All good writing
should have a few common characteristics: a clear point, free of
grammar and spelling errors, use the correct language for the
audience, and capture the audiences attention. While all these things
have been proven to be correct I have found out writing is so much
more through our process of Critical Reflection.
In our weekly writing assignments we have had to use all SLOs at
times. Our Composing Processes and Rhetorical Knowledge were put
to the test as we prepared for the Multi Modal Remix Project. Over
several weeks, the task of researching and preparing our medium for
the project stressed these two certain SLOs for me personally, and in
class I found I was unconsciously using all of the SLOs when we were in
our groups sharing.
My Critical Reading was greatly strengthened when I began my
research. Towards the end of it, I found that it was fairly easy for me to
skim through an article to decide if it would be worthwhile or not for
my topic. At the beginning of my research I found that process took
much longer. Another use of this SLO was the poem, Bashert when we
had to decode what it was saying, without having previously seen it. I

have found that now these big scholarly articles do not intimidate me, I
now know how to properly look through them.
For Knowledge of Conventions, this SLO was used often in our
daybook entries. We learned to keep in mind the audience we were
aiming for and plan accordingly. Something as simple and fun as the
Toondo we created challenged our Knowledge of Conventions. To think
of an audience appropriate witty way of convey our writing was a
greater task than I had previously expected. While I was greatly
underwhelmed by the creativity with my Toondo, the talent of my peers
blew me away and it struck me how the best writers often have the
most creative minds.
In regards to the Composing Process, the main assignment that
comes to my mind is the Multi Modal project. While most of it was
piecing together my research and findings, several drafts of how I
wanted to convey my project occurred. With this certain project, I had
to grasp that this was not going to be a typically English paper. While
per usual, grammar and syntax was important to the project, this
project never had a specific formula we had to follow. We had to use
our SLO skills without even knowing exactly what they were.
Having a strong foundation in writing and English skills coming
from high school, I was surprised what challenges I have faced
throughout the semester so far. I have genuinely underestimated the
amount of time that I expected to spend on this class. While I am not

one to cut corners, having an extremely busy semester I have fallen

into the habit of sometimes waiting until the last minute for a few
assignments. These assignments take time and attention and some of
my Critical Reflections and Critical Reading skills have not been up to
par. Taking the time to sit down and work on the Multi Modal project, I
found that I was able to really focus these abilities that we were
growing everyday in class. Knowledge of Conventions and the
Composing Process were the two areas where I think I excelled. As I
look back on my UWRT 1103 career so far, I am proud of the progress I
have made and the new skills I have acquired.