Shawn P.

McCauley
123 Main St.
Woodstock, GA 30188
(555) 555-5555
smccauley@chattahoocheetech.edu
4 May, 2009

Wilma Barker
Human Resources Director
Chattahoochee Technical College
980 South Cobb Dr.
Marietta, GA 30060

Dear Mrs. Barker:

Please consider my application for the position of English Instructor, beginning in the Summer
(or Fall) of 2009. I believe that my extensive teaching experience, formal training as a literary
scholar, and proficiency in the use of instructional technologies make me an excellent candidate
to join your faculty.

I have taught a total of twenty-two sections of seven undergraduate courses at three different
schools from across the entire spectrum of higher education, including a community college
(North Metro Technical College), a large public university (East Carolina University), and a
small private institution (Emory University). The students whom I have had the pleasure of
instructing have represented a wide range of ages, classes, ethnic backgrounds, and academic
programs. This diversity in both educational settings and student populations has led me to
develop a teaching philosophy that focuses on portability and adaptability, one that can be easily
altered to suit the requirements of a particular institution’s curriculum and the specific needs of
its students.

As is perhaps unsurprising for a graduate student, my teaching experience has consisted

primarily of composition courses. In ENGL 1100 and 1200 at ECU (the equivalent of your ENG
1101), ENG 101 and 181 at Emory (~ENG 1101 and 1102, respectively), and ENG 191 at North
Metro Tech (~ENG 1101), I have consistently employed a central focus on rhetoric as a means of
teaching the critical thinking, reading, writing, and research skills that all students need to
possess, regardless of what school they are attending or what program they are pursuing. My
lesson plans and writing assignments are designed to encourage students to converse in
meaningful ways with texts (whether they are written, visual, or even auditory), with one
another, and with the world around them. My main goal in the composition classroom is to
demystify the processes of reading and writing by showing students how these things are critical,
concrete parts of their everyday lives, rather than amorphous abstractions or seemingly
meaningless busywork.

In addition to being qualified to teach your traditional composition courses and remedial classes,
I am also capable of teaching ENG 2130. Although my own doctoral study has focused on the
poetry, prose, and drama of Renaissance England, the literature courses that I have taught have
 McCauley 2

been considerably broader in scope. The freshman-level Writing about Literature course that I
am currently teaching (ENG 181, the equivalent of your ENG 1102), for example, ranges across
history, geography, and genre to examine texts as diverse as William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus,
René Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, J.R.R. Tolkien’s
The Two Towers, William Gibson’s Neuromancer, and even the first Matrix film. I would greatly
enjoy being able to teach a course on American Literature, and I would easily be able to develop
a British Literature course if ever called upon to do so.

Even though my teaching has taken place in traditional, face-to-face courses, I have always
sought to incorporate technology both inside and outside of the classroom in order to maximize
both my effectiveness as an instructor and my students’ opportunities for learning and success.
Through my participation in the 2006 Technology, Literacy, and Curriculum (TLC, now known
as TPC – Technology, Pedagogy, and Curriculum) seminar offered by Emory’s Center for
Interactive Teaching (ECIT), I am certified in teaching and the use of technology. This pilot
program covered a wide array of instructional technologies, including Blackboard, interactive
syllabi, podcasting, wikis, blogs, “clickers,” and methods of incorporating images, sounds, and
video into classroom activities. In recognition of my application of these technologies in the
classroom, I was asked to return the following year as a guest speaker and give a presentation on
my use of student blogs, and I was formally employed as a graduate student assistant for this past
fall’s seminar. I am confident that, if called upon, I could easily adapt my pedagogy to an
entirely online learning environment.

If you have any questions or require more information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Thank you for your time and consideration, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Shawn P. McCauley