Some schools want you to mail a cover letter and a resume.
Some schools want you to fill out an online application that demands to know, credit hour by credit hour, teaching hour by teaching hour, your every single move since graduating from the college of education! Additionally, they would like you to add documentation of everything you have typed into the application, plus your blood type.
I was kidding about the blood type.
My brother-in-law tells me that the Japanese have an astrology-type belief that your blood type determines your personality, so it all makes sense.