Often being the culminating English class for Vandegrift students, AP English Literature is taken by many seniors in order to gain college credit. One of the teachers helping guide students through the course is Amy Worob.

“I enjoy planning and trying to come up with creative assignments too,” Worob said. “But the best part is seeing how students approach the same assignment in different ways with different interpretations.”

Worob first got interested in English in elementary school when she read some of the books her friends were reading. She became further interested in high school.

“Other than liking ‘Harry Potter’ after my friends all read it in the 3rd grade, I didn’t really start liking reading until the 8th grade when I read ‘The Giver’ and Sarah Dessen’s books,” Worob said.

Eventually deciding that English was her passion, Worob attended the University of Arkansas and pursued a major in English.

“I applied to 10 different schools and ended up deciding to go to the University of Arkansas because when I looked at where English and creative writing professors at other schools got their degrees, Arkansas came up a lot,” Worob said. “I also got an emphasis in creative writing and minors in anthropology and medieval and renaissance studies.”

Worob eventually decided that she wanted to become a teacher during her senior year when she took a class that gave her the motivation to become an English teacher.

“My senior year of college I still didn’t know what I wanted to do after graduation and took a young adult literature class that was cross-sectioned as an education class,” Worob said. “ It was a fantastic class and the professor, Dr. Sean Connors, inspired me to pursue teaching and I never looked back.”

Like most teachers, Worob’s day usually begins early in the morning and ends in the afternoon, performing administrative tasks before class and helping students out during lessons.

“The mornings usually involve preparing for the day and remembering what I had planned for the day and responding to emails,” Worob said. “Throughout the day I could be doing anything from leading whole class discussions, giving instructions, observing and listening in while students work to make sure they’re understanding and digging deep enough into the text.”

In her spare time, Worob enjoys reading, watching tv and artistic activities.

“I definitely read a lot, particularly with audiobooks,” Worob said. “I also enjoy writing for fun on my own;mostly fiction, and I don’t enjoy letting people read what I write, and artsy activities like painting.”

For Worob, the best part of being an English teacher is being able to work with the students in her classroom and seeing what they are capable of.

“The best part is definitely the students,” Worob said. “I love listening in on the thoughtful discussions that happen during class and seeing the growth everyone makes in writing and complex thinking throughout the year.”