Brittany Bennett

Megan Malcolm-Morgan
English 220
12/8/15

Cover Letter

To whom it may concern:

This semester in my English 220 class revolved around a theme of monsters I have
learned more than I had hoped. Both the student learning outcomes and the department outcomes
were addressed in this class in various ways, so without further or do, I will explain both
outcomes starting with my favorite the personal outcomes then moving to the department
outcomes.
Personal Outcomes:
1. To expose students to cultural issues relating to horror and the monstrous and to foster an
appreciation for artistic endeavors in these areas.
The first personal outcome to me means that we read stories that come from other
countries and cultures that express their norms and their fears. Stories that reflect this culture and
their history. We accomplished this by reading short stories from Edgar Ellen Poe or longer
novels like Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. These works were from different centuries and different
time periods as well as culture. Reading these stories gave us a snap shot of what it was like
during that time and in that particular place. Every piece of writing served a purpose whether it
was to persuade someone or talk about a touchy issue. We as a class would analyze this and that
would tell us something about the time period, the culture, the history, and the author.
2. To hone critical thinking skills by examining patterns of thought in artistic works that have
shaped or that reflect our own culture's attitudes towards the monstrous.
Personal outcome number two means that we read stories that have helped to shape our
own culture and how we tend to view the "monsters" in our culture. As a class we read a lot of
stories like Hop Frog or Goober Grapevine which tend to reflect the times before the civil war
where blacks were seen as monster like creatures that we had to keep locked up because if we
did not they would kill us or worse. It is because of these stories that we saw the blacks as we did
and it reflects a time period in our culture that we need to remember.

3. To increase intellectual maturation and clarification of our own values through examination of
ideas and attitudes in literary, filmic, and cultural contexts.
The third personal outcome means that we looked at the ideas being expressed in the
reading and films in order to explore them and use our own values to gage them. Every time we
read someone else's writing or watch a film we do this whether it be an someone well known or
just a class mate. Every class period we had we would do this through discussions and writing
our weekly reading responses.
4. To foster an ability to move beyond paraphrases to analysis of difficult texts; to encourage
students to interact with these texts, to think critically about them, and to see connections
between them, using writing as a tool.
Learning outcome four means to me that when we read these stories it is not just for
surface level stuff like being able to regurgitate what we read but to be able find the purpose for
it being written. Every week in this class we had to not only read the assigned readings for each
class, but we were also responsible for a weekly reading response. In the response, we had to
give a summary of the reading, but we also had to break it down. In doing so, we looked beyond
what was written and tried to find the hidden message or what the author was really trying to say.
In other words why the author wrote it.
5. To encourage students to be active participants in their own educational experiences by
promoting teamwork, presentations, creative engagement with material, and class.
Learning outcome number five means each individual student active in their learning and
this was achieved every class because not only did we have group discussions but we also had to
prepare for that by doing the reading. We all came with our own interpretations and
understandings of what the reading was about and what it meant. It was only through group
discussions did we finally get to the bottom of it.
Department Outcomes:
1. Analyze Rhetorical Situation: Students will analyze the subject, purpose, audience, and
constraints that influence and determine what kind of document (genre) they will write.
The first department outcome means that we are able to analyze the rhetorical situation
we are writing for, and we achieved this as a class by writing a literary analysis and a research
paper. Both very different rhetorical situations that involve different subjects, purposes,
audiences, and genre.
2. Find and Evaluate Information: Students will develop research strategies for their rhetorical
situation, and then gather information form primary and secondary sources; they will evaluate
the sources for quality, validity, and appropriateness for the rhetorical situation.

This department outcome means that we know how to do research and evaluate whether
it is not only a good source but what kind of source is it. We did this when we did our ten page
research paper on something monster related. In the paper, we had to have at least five different
sources primary and secondary.
3. Compose Documents: Students will develop strategies for generating content, organizing it
into a logical structure, and otherwise shaping it to address the needs of their audience within
particular disciplines.
Outcome number three means that we are able to come up with and tailor our information
to fit the genre and audience. This was done in both papers written for the class. Each paper had
different content and audiences, causing us to shape it in different ways.
4. Present Documents: Students will edit and revise their writing to provide clear meaning and
coherent structure; they will use effective document and paragraph structure, documentation and
genre conventions, and document design to create a rhetorically complete presentation.
Student learning outcome four means that we know how to edit and revise our papers to
make sense and turn it into a finished product. As a class, we were paired up for our research
papers and when we completed the rough draft, we sent it into our partners for editing. We then
took that and revised it into the finished product that went to our teacher.
5. Reflection: In reflecting on major writing assignments, students will be able to explain course
outcomes and how they have achieved them.
The last department outcome means that we know how to reflect on whether or not we
have achieved the student outcomes and can we explain it. We accomplished this outcome by
writing this cover letter which in itself is a type of reflection.