AP English Literature

Online for the 2025-2026 School Year

Teacher: Maya Inspektor

Email: minspektor@gmail.com

As of March 24th, 2025, this class is now FULL for the 2025-2026 school year.  You can submit an application to be placed on the waiting list should space open up. The 2025-26 application can be found at the following Google Form: https://forms.gle/DRPSWiUAdSgJdjdCA 

Course description: This highly interactive college-level course is designed to prepare students for the AP English Literature and Composition exam in May. It will push students to read imaginative literature (novels, poetry, and plays) closely and deeply. We will explore literary techniques and seek to recognize the way that historical and social context impacts writing. We will actively engage with literature on every level and tease apart its complexity, considering (for example) diction, style, theme, imagery, symbolism, and tone.

I have selected books that I feel can be appreciated even more upon rereading and that can be used fruitfully in literary argument questions on the AP^® exam. These range from 16th century to 20th century works and involve some mature situations and themes, although I have tried to avoid works with explicit content or vulgarity. We will also study a range of poetry and short stories, using Perrine's Literature as well as online sources. In addition, students will form independent book clubs to discuss high-quality literature they select in informal discussion groups.

Students should anticipate reading 50-80 pages each week and writing one essay (or the equivalent) weekly, as well as numerous shorter responses. Students will also participate in interactive discussions of their readings throughout the week, composing responses to discussion questions and commenting on their classmates' responses, and they will generally write a short reply to a "Morning Message" each day. Finally, they will engage in targeted test preparation for the AP^® English Literature and Composition exam. I also want students to come to understand what college literature study might involve, so we'll study "real" literary criticism about the works that we read, entering this way into the broader literary conversation occurring all over the world. 

The writing assignments students will complete during this course vary. They will include informal journal entries, discussion question responses, formal analytic essays, poetry, and even parody. I will also emphasize peer review and the writing process, as students bring their essays through multiple drafts and hone their ability to write organized, creative analysis. During the fall semester, students will write original short stories inspired by stories they studied, and during the spring semester, they will write an entry into the Jane Austen Society of North America Essay Contest (read my students' 2015 winning entries here, the 2017 winning entries here, the 2018 winning entries here, the 2019 winning entries here (first and third place), the 2020 winning entries here (second and third place), the 2021 winning entries here (second place) and the 2022 winning entries here (first and third place) and the 2023 winning entries here (first and second place)) and compose an extended novel comparison paper drawing upon literary criticism and expressing their own analysis. Of course, a major focus of our study involves writing exam-style essays, and I help students develop their own mature, complex, and non-formulaic (but organized) essay style.

While our primary focus will be on the analysis of literature, this course is well suited to students who also love to write creatively. Throughout the year, I will draw connections to creative writing and help students come to understand the process of professional writers, and I'll even ask students to write an original short story and some original works of poetry. 

Ultimately, I hope students leave this course with a zest for uncovering the many layers of meaning in the fiction they read and an appreciation for the music and meaning of poetry. They will gain not only an arsenal of literary terms, but also a sense for the patterns that underlie the books they read. Literature throughout the ages is an interwoven web, and I look forward to exploring this web with my students.

My teaching philosophy is rooted in the idea that classwork should have a purpose, and I am happy to accommodate students whose needs are better served by alterations to the class workload.

I also hope my students do well on the AP^® exam, and in the past this has certainly been the case-- in most of my past classes, fully 90% of students have received grades of 4 or 5 on the AP exam. 

Course structure:  This course is primarily asynchronous, which means that work can be completed on students' own schedules with no required live meetings. Primary instruction will come in the form of Morning Messages (usually at least 2000 words) that students will read each weekday. Students will interact asynchronously by writing extensive responses to each others' discussion questions and essays as well as through responses to the daily Morning Messages.

This course does involve a few flexible live components. 

1) Starting in the 2025-26 school year, I will host regular optional Zoom sessions (most likely, once every two weeks) to complement class instruction. The timing of these Zoom sessions will be determined by polling the class about availability at the start of the year, and the timing will vary so that all students who wish to attend will be able to attend at least some of the sessions. The most likely time default for this meeting will be 11 AM to 12 PM US Eastern US Eastern Standard Time on Tuesdays, but not every session will be at this time. I will share a video recording of every meeting for students who could not attend. 

2) I encourage students to hold their small-group "Book Club" meetings via video chat, though students will have written options for these discussions as well. In-person spoken discussion is a valuable skill to practice! 

I am happy to accommodate students who need to work ahead, students who live in international time zones, or students who face particularly busy times during their school year. However, I do not recommend the class to students with extensive travel plans or time constraints during the school year. 

Who should apply: Students with a love for literature who would like to invest time and energy into pondering the deeper meaning and construction of the texts they read. Students should come in with the ability to write with few grammatical errors, but they do not need to have had extensive prior formal literature study or extensive experience writing formal essays. They should, however, come in with extensive experience as avid readers! 

I do not recommend this course for students who are seeking remedial instruction in reading or writing. While I do provide some grammatical instruction, this course is not appropriate for students who struggle with extensive grammatical errors or who have great difficulty with the writing skills section of the SAT. (I recommend an SAT score in both the English and writing sections of the SAT of at least 600 as a pre-requisite. You do not need to have taken the SATs to apply, however.) This is a challenging, high-level course designed to take students who have mastered high-school-level work to an even more advanced level.

Students who are self-disciplined and internally motivated tend to excel in this class, while students who have trouble managing their time and the abstract demands of an online class would better served by a more conventional class setting.

I strongly discourage students from taking this class concurrently with another formal English class. This class involves a great deal of reading and writing, and I find that the quality of student work (and the amount that they learn from EITHER class) decreases if students are overloaded. 

This course is open to 11^th and 12^th graders as well as 10^th graders who can present excellent credentials, such as previous AP exam or SAT scores. (I recommend English SAT scores of at least 600 as a prerequisite for the class.) I will only consider AP English Literature applications from 9^th grade students after consultation by e-mail to determine whether this course is a good fit.

Required Texts:

• Summer Reading: How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines, Thomas C. Foster. ISBN: 006000942X
• Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound and Sense. Essentially any edition will be fine, but all of the page numbers I supply will be from the 9^th edition. I also referred to the 4^th and 6^th editions in crafting my syllabus. Students using other editions may need to rely on web texts (which I am usually able to provide) for more of the readings. Used editions are usually available quite cheaply! Note: we will start the start the year with an intensive, month-long unit of short stories drawn from Perrine's Literature, so please buy this anthology before the course begins.
• Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (any edition; free e-texts are available online) 
• The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (any edition)
• The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams-- No need to purchase! This play should be included in the drama section of Perrine's Literature.
• A novel by Jane Austen, to be determined-- I'll announce this one after the 2026 JASNA essay contest has been released. Most likely, we will study Northanger Abbey or Persuasion. 
• Othello, the Moor of Venice, by William Shakespeare No need to purchase! This play should be included in the drama section of Perrine's Literature.
• Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad (any edition; free e-texts are available online.)
• In addition, students will read five other AP-level works of their choice, discussing these works with small groups of classmates. Parents are welcome to excuse students from this aspect of the course if the students conduct enough high-level reading outside the class.

Registration deadline: Applications will be accepted through August 1st or until the class fills up. (Typically my class fills up much sooner, so don't delay applying.) 

Tech needs: Full web and printer access (broadband Internet recommended but not required). Students must be able to view Adobe PDF files. It is useful but not essential for students to own a digital camera or scanner.

This course has no set meeting times! Instead, students will interact asynchronously by reading daily instructional messages and writing extensive responses to each others' work. Students will have assignments due every weekday, though, so the course is ideal for students who have fairly consistent availability throughout the week. We are happy to accommodate students who need to work ahead, students who live in international time zones, or students who face particularly busy times during their school year. 

Course fee: $850 if payment is received before July 1st; $900 after July 1st.

Length of course: Tuesday, September 2, 2025 to Friday, May 8, 2026 (assuming the College Board sticks with the expected exam administration schedule).

Breaks: There will be no assignments due on most U.S. National Holidays. In addition, students will have one week off for fall break, one week off for Thanksgiving break, two weeks off for Christmas / New Years, and one week off for spring break.

Instructor:

Note: This year, Mrs. Inspektor will be the sole instructor for this section of AP English Language, so she will not have a co-teacher responsible for grading a portion of student work as in past years. This means that the class will be smaller and will fill up sooner, so apply early! 

Mrs. Inspektor has been teaching online AP English for almost two decades and is excited to continue. In the 1990s, she was one of the first student participants in the AP Homeschoolers online courses herself and has fond memories of her own online classes! She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh in 2004, majoring in English Writing and Psychology. She earned a Masters of Education in Secondary English from Carlow University, researching homeschooling English programs for her master's thesis. She taught at a private school for two years and has taught AP^® English Language and AP English Literature through AP Homeschoolers since 2007. She also enjoys teaching summer classes on writing college application essays (when she's not running marathons, gardening, or renovating her 600-year-old house). An expat since her early 20s, she lived in Israel for 12 years and since 2019 has lived in the Czech Republic with her husband, daughter, son, and unruly German Shepherd.