AP® English Literature & Composition – Part 3: Plays

By Mohamed On Feb 12, 2023

Enhance your reading and writing skills as you interpret and learn about plays in preparation for the AP® English Literature & Composition exam.

About this course

This course prepares you to read more deeply and write more clearly about works of literature. This course will focus on great pieces of drama and how we read and interpret them. We will discuss the works of William Shakespeare and Edmond Rostand. Through an engaging collection of videos, authentic readings, and support material from a variety of sources, you will learn to appreciate literature from different genres.

You will broaden your vocabulary while you sharpen your academic and creative writing skills. Interaction with other students will help you to refine your thinking about the reading and writing as well. You will learn to write under time pressure, and have the opportunity to complete practice assignments that are similar to those you will find on the AP examination.

There are no prerequisites; you don’t have to take the AP exam to join the course. If you want to learn about literature and writing, this course is for you.

Length:	7 Weeks
Effort:	4–5 hours per week
Price:	FREE Add a Verified Certificate for $49 USD
Institution:	BerkeleyX
Subject:	Humanities
Level:	Introductory
Language:	English
Video Transcript:	English
Course Type:	Self-paced on your time

Institution:

Free online courses from University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley was chartered in 1868, and its flagship campus — envisioned as a “City of Learning” — was established at Berkeley, on San Francisco Bay. Berkeley faculty consists of 1,582 full-time and 500 part-time faculty members dispersed among more than 130 academic departments and more than 80 interdisciplinary research units. Berkeley alumni have received 28 Nobel prizes, and there are eight Nobel Laureates, 32 MacArthur Fellows, and four Pulitzer Prize winners among the current faculty.

In September 2012, to mark Berkeley’s commitment to innovation in teaching and learning, The Berkeley Resource Center for Online Education (BRCOE) was formed. The Center is a resource hub and an operational catalyst for all internal campus-wide and external resources to advise, coordinate, and facilitate the University’s online education initiatives, ranging from credit and non-credit courses, to online degree programs and MOOC projects, including the MOOCLab initiative.

BRCOE’s new MOOCLab is a three-year research initiative to fund and develop Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as vehicles for pedagogical research in online education.

Berkeley is also working with edX to develop and foster adoption of Small Private Online Courses (SPOCs) on campuses around the world. SPOCs are designed to supplement and enhance the learning experience of on-campus students, while providing local faculty an opportunity for more interactive activities and more time for “high-touch” pedagogy.

What you’ll learn

How to read and interpret great pieces of drama
Cultural and historical background of Shakespeare,Rostand, and Albee
Academic writing skills
Test-taking strategies

Syllabus

Week 1: Introduction to Drama, Shakespeare 1
Overview of form and vocabulary
How can we understand plays?
Shakespeare: Moonlight Magic
Why do we still read Shakespeare?

Week 2: Shakespeare 2
Shakespeare’s Fairies: Puck and Oberon
What are some techniques for reading plays?
Practice Test 1: Multiple Choice

Week 3: Rostand 1
Practice Test 2: Essay/Free Response
Cyrano de Bergerac: The Man Behind the Nose

Week 4: Rostand 2
Cyrano: Themes and Motifs
How do we come up with writing ideas?
Practice Test 3: Multiple Choice

Week 5: Albee 1
Introduction to George and Martha
How can we refine our written ideas?
Practice Test 4: Multiple Choice

Week 6: Writing about Drama & Albee 2
Defending a thesis with evidence
How can you succeed on the AP exam?
Practice Test 5: Essay/Free Response

Week 7: Final Exam Part 3

Enroll Now