Rhetorical Awareness

Course Goals and Student Learning Outcomes for ENGL 107:

 

Goal 1: Rhetorical Awareness

Learn strategies for analyzing texts’ audiences, purposes, and contexts as a means of developing facility in reading and writing.

 

Student Learning Outcomes:

• 1A. identify the purposes of, intended audiences for, and arguments in a text, as situated within particular cultural, economic, and political contexts.
• 1C. analyze how genres shape reading and composing practices.
• 1D. read in ways that contribute to their rhetorical knowledge as writers.

 

Goal 2: Critical Thinking and Composing

Use reading and writing for purposes of critical thinking, research, problem solving, action, and participation in conversations within and across different communities.

 

Student Learning Outcomes:

• 2C. incorporate evidence, such as through summaries, paraphrases, quotations, and visuals.
• 2E. support ideas or positions with compelling discussion of evidence from multiple sources.

 

Goal 3: Reflection and Revision

Understand composing processes as flexible and collaborative, drawing upon multiple strategies and informed by reflection.

 

Student Learning Outcomes:

• 3B. produce multiple revisions on global and local levels.
• 3C. suggest useful global and local revisions to other writers.
• 3E. evaluate and act on peer and instructor feedback to revise their texts.
• 3F. reflect on their progress as academic writers.

 

Goal 4: Conventions

Understand conventions as related to purpose, audience, and genre, including such areas as mechanics, usage, citation practices, as well as structure, style, graphics, and design.

 

Student Learning Outcomes:

• 4A. follow appropriate conventions for grammar, punctuation, and spelling, through practice in composing and revising.
• 4E. apply citation conventions systematically in their own work.

 

Portfolio Drafting

 

1. Reflecting on the semester: Without looking at any of the reflections or assignments you completed this semester just yet, what are 3 things that you learned (about writing, you as a writer, concepts, etc), and what are 3 things that you struggled with? Write them down below.

 

Things you learned   1.

Things you struggled with   1.

 

***As you answer the remaining questions in this worksheet, keep in mind the course goals and learning outcomes when discussing your learning (reminder: you need to discuss all 4 major course goals in the portfolio).

 

2. Now look at all the reflections you completed this semester (unit reflections, journal entries) and read through the discussion posts you wrote on D2L. Then complete the table below by including the most important things you learned or realized this semester, and the struggles you experienced:

 

What did you learn this semester? What knowledge and skills did you acquire? What challenges did you face?	What parts from your reflections, journals, or discussion posts could you recycle in the portfolio? Paste them here:	What assignments or projects that you completed this semester could you use to illustrate your learning or the challenges you faced?

 

3. Key terms and concepts: What are some major terms and concepts that you learned in this course. Complete the table below:

 

What central terms and concepts from the course do you recall or were particularly useful/relevant/interesting to you (these can be terms that you mentioned in #1 or #2 above)?	Please explain how your understanding of the concept has evolved and how you have used it in your writing. You may also focus on how concepts and terms will be helpful in future writing tasks.	What assignments or projects that you completed this semester could you use to illustrate the importance of concepts and terms? What assignments can illustrate how your understanding of concepts and terms has shaped as you were working through them?

 

4. What in-class activities and assignments (e.g., peer review, group work, lectures, worksheets, etc) helped you learn? Focus on at least three that illustrate your progress or that posed a challenge in your learning:

 

Activity/assignment	Describe what you had to do	Why was it helpful or challenging?

 

5. Major projects: Describe at least one major project in more detail regarding your progress and challenges. Complete the table below.

 

Project	Describe what you had to do	What was challenging	What did you learn	What knowledge or skills that you acquired could you apply in future writing tasks?

 

6. If you had to give yourself a grade for your performance in 107, what would it be and why? Take into account the reflection you’ve done in this worksheet.