Online Resources Recommended by AP Teachers
We surveyed AP English Literature and Composition teachers about what online resources they recommend, and the list below comes directly from their responses. The list also includes teacher descriptions of the resources. This is not a comprehensive list, nor is it an endorsement of any of these resources by the College Board.
- Online texts; self-directed student practice
- Provides close-reading practice of complex texts, short answer formative assessments, and student data. This resource serves as “a great surrogate for in-class guided reading” and protects instructional time in class by having students complete the close reading before meeting.
- Online performances; instructional resources for teachers
- Offers a collection of recorded theater performances and accompanying lesson plans. This virtual platform allows students to see live performances of the plays taught in class.
- Online texts; instructional resources for teachers
- Provides full scripts as PDFs for free downloads, lesson plans, and professional development for teachers. By downloading the texts for free, students can save money on books and also annotate the scripts with Google Keep or another digital annotation product.
Membean $
- Self-directed student practice
- Offers a self-paced, differentiated vocabulary-building program that “avoids the rote learning and forgetting of vocabulary lists” by teaching vocabulary through methods based on neuroscience research of word acquisition and long-term memory.
NoRedInk $
- Self-directed student practice
- Consolidates student writing, peer review, revision, and teacher evaluation in one place. “Students receive more feedback from their classmates throughout the drafting process without adding to the teacher’s workload.”
- Online instructional tool
- Facilitates asynchronous student discussions and annotations of a text uploaded by the teacher. A good virtual replacement for in- class discussions during remote learning.
The Oregon State Guide to English Literary Terms
- Instructional videos for students
- Offers short instructional videos from professors at Oregon State University about literary devices. The professors’ explanations “go far deeper than the definitions provided in textbooks” and explore how the devices are used in literature.
- Online texts
- Provides free PDFs of hundreds of novels. In this way, “students and teachers can still study a novel together if access to hardcopies of books is limited by school and library closures.”
- Online texts
- Provides access to a vast collection of poetry and audio recordings of poetry readings. Teachers and students can save poems as PDFs to compile into poetry packets to read and annotate.
Sir Patrick Stewart’s Daily Readings of Shakespearean Sonnets
- Online performances
- Provides poetry readings on YouTube by Sir Patrick Stewart of Shakespearean sonnets. Students can hear the inflection of Stewart’s voice as he reads a sonnet a day during quarantine. Hearing his readings aids students in their understanding of the poems.
- Online performances
- Provides a video collection of Shakespeare’s sonnets being recited in different locations throughout New York City and beyond. “These beautiful and diverse recordings” offer another way for students to connect with the richness of Shakespeare’s poetry.
- Online texts; instructional resources for teachers
- Celebrates the work of living poets and offers lesson plans that focus on contemporary poetry for both in-class and online learning. Created by an AP English Literature and Composition teacher.
- Self-directed student practice
- Facilitates teacher creation of word lists and self-directed student practice. The program “adapts to meet an individual student’s skill level,” and the student continues to practice until he or she masters the vocabulary words.
$ = May require a fee = Account creation needed