Daniel Rivas

04/29/2015
English 120
Student Learning Outcomes Reflection
Throughout the semester in English 120, I had an opportunity to develop myself as a
writer and acquire new skills that could be use in my future career as a paramedic or in any other
direction that I may choose. Specific assignments that I had to do were to analyze an
advertisement, construct a persuasive speech, and offer a proposal to a certain issue in
Albuquerque. Each assignment allowed me become more creative and develop my attention to
detail. Most importantly, I was able to learn the skills specified by the curriculum in the Student
learning Outcomes, which could become skills of a lifetime.
Student Learning Outcome A:
For SLO A, we had to analyze the content of a source and reflect on the argument of the
document that we were analyzing. This is a task that we had to do throughout most assignments
by trying to analyze the message that the author is trying to convey. The best example of the
development of this SLO is the first Major Writing Assignment, where we had to analyze the
content of an advertisement and identify their use of ethos, pathos, and logos and present a
proposal to a student committee. For example, in this proposal of a potential university of
interest, Roger Williams University I included The EMT course is a one semester long course,
and including 160 hours of experience as a way to exemplify the use of logos within the
advertisement. This was a very important part of the ad since it contained information that
potential students would look for if they considered attending the Roger Williams University.
Much like this assignment, throughout the semester we had to reflect on the message that the

author of different documents as a way to analyze whether they had a specific position or
information that would work well in my own work.
This SLO doesnt have to be on paper in order for it to be exercised, but instead happens
naturally in our everyday life. On the other hand, if someone isnt aware of the message that
someone is trying to convey to their audience, the message could be changed in that persons
mind. This is why it is important to reflect and analyze what others are trying to communicate. It
is a skill that I could use when sitting through a class and a professor is lecturing, or when trying
to choose a company that I would like to work for as long as 20 years or more. It is important to
understand what the companys beliefs are and their procedures to make sure that they are as
close as possible to your own ideals.
Student Learning Outcome F:
SLO F is the development of my writing skills on its own through different genres and
reflecting on my own growth as a writer. As a writer, it is important to reflect on your own
progress to become more in tune with yourself. Through these reflections I became more familiar
with my own writing styles, my strong skills, and my weak ones that need further developing as
well. In every assignment I reflected on which points I felt were my weakest points and asked for
further feedback as ways to improve those skills. On every assignment we had to reflect on our
own progress and certain aspects of our assignment that we wanted further feedback. For
example, on my second Major Writing Assignment cover letter I wrote, For this major writing
assignment I would like for you to pay special attention to my citations that I used for this
proposition paper. This is a way that I communicated with the teacher that I was still not
completely sure on how to include in text citation. It shows that I put an effort into that portion of
the assignment but could still use further practice. I constantly self-evaluated myself throughout

the semester, even in different genres of writing, whether it was a memo, a position paper, or a
proposal.
The ability to self-evaluate yourself could be a tough task, but a very useful skill. I will
continue to use this in any class that I attend here at UNM. It is a great way to consciously make
an effort to improve on any task or assignment that I may have to do for any other class in the
future. It is a way to make sure that I am integrating what I previously learned into new
assignments to create self-progress. This is a skill that doesnt need to be on paper, but could be
applied to any task in life. If I become a paramedic I could use this skill to reassess whether I am
performing my job to the best of my ability or if there is something I could change to improve
the quality of care that I will be providing to patients in an emergency.
Student Learning Outcome C:
The Student Learning Outcome C is the process of how we prepare, organize, and revise
our own writing. This was a huge aspect of the class since we were constantly preparing our
documents and allowing others to peer review our work and provide feedback. Every low stakes
assignment was used to prepare for the major writing assignment. The best example of us doing
this was in the second Low Stakes assignment where we created an annotated bibliography as a
way to both conduct our research that would go into the proposition paper, and have the practical
use that I would the citations from other documents. In this assignment I was arguing that we
needed to send troops to the Middle East and had to review the original proposal. After analyzing
the document, I decided the use of the source and decided that the quote I would use would
Help argue the counter-arguments by providing a solution for the financial problems that could
come from another long war.

Preparing for any assignment is a great idea since it improves the quality of the work
going into the assignment. I will use this student learning outcome throughout college in every
class that I take as a way to become a more interactive student. I will do this by using my time
wisely and have a great deal of preparation and revision go into my work. This way I could make
sure that my full effort goes into all my assignments. Half of the struggle goes into the
preparation of the assignment.
Student Learning Outcome H:
The Student Learning Outcome H is where we integrate the work of other people in your
own work. When doing this it is important to give the credit to the original owner of the idea and
present their idea with the intention that they originally had without creating a straw man fallacy.
This SLO is one that we practiced well throughout the semester whenever we had to include
outside sources into our work even if it could be difficult to integrate their work with your own.
The best example of a struggle that I had when including the work of someone else was in the
third Major Writing Assignment when trying to identify the cause of poverty, since there is no
actual way to measure poverty. Therefore it was difficult to include the ideas of a professor of the
University of Minnesota who said, The minimum wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards
act of 1938 have been repealed by inflation. Through close analyzing of his work I concluded
that he was only offering more of an educated opinion based on other work that he analyzed and
wasnt guaranteed the cause of poverty.
The practical use of this skill outside of English 120 could still be used in any other class
and even in my future career. In a class, it is a great idea to integrate the work of someone who
has credibility into my own argument. Also this teaches you to evaluate the arguments of others
since you are able to evaluate how sound the other persons argument is. It is important to make

sure to fully understand the arguments of others and to not twist their ideas, which is practiced
through this SLO. In the workplace this will help to understand the orders of superiors and the
reasoning behind it. It gives you an opportunity to think in a more critical way.
Attending English 120 was a great learning process for myself. Through the student
learning outcomes I learned new skills that will be used throughout the life. Through the student
learning outcomes, I am able to better prepare, self- myself, analyze the work of others, and
integrate their work into my own in an ethical way. These are just a few of many skills that I
have gained through English 120 with Ms. Diaz.