Posted2/24/2021 6:00 AM
In Megan O'Neill's English classes at Saint Viator High School, students are just as likely to study classics like "The Scarlet Letter" as they are Amanda Gorman's "The Hill We Climb."
It's where she weaves in the past with the present, and no daily lesson plan is ever the same.
"I think there's always lessons that can be learned from these classics, as long as you're keeping current events in mind," said O'Neill, who started a Literary Heroines course at the Arlington Heights Catholic high school in the fall. "If you just keep those books in the 1920s or 1600s, I don't think students are going to get as much out of it. But if you're bringing those events from those historical time periods and the values of those time periods, and comparing and contrasting them to present day and what students are actually going through today, that's what brings more merit."