My interest in teaching English
began when I landed a part time English tutoring job at Contra
Costa College in San Pablo, California. At the time, I was an
undeclared business major, but my love for literature blossomed
soon after I enrolled in my first college-level literature courses. In these classes, I was transported to worlds I had never known and discovered that I not only enjoyed reading, interpreting,
and discussing literature, but that I was also actually good at
writing about it. Not long after this "epiphay" of sorts, I
declared myself an English/literature major and transferred to U. C. Berkeley, eventually earning my B.A. in English and M.A.T. in Education/English degrees as well as a high school English
teaching credential.
I began teaching full-time at Skyline
College in the Spring of 1991
after serving as an adjunct instructor at several other Bay Area
community colleges (San Jose City, Ohlone, and Diablo Valley). The
courses I teach range from developmental writing and transfer-level
composition to literature. In my courses, I tend to rely heavily
on student centered discussions and collaboration in order to
foster independent thinking and to help students discover and
develop their "voices" (oral and written ideas, styles, and so
forth). Some of my favorite authors include Milan Kundera, William Shakespeare, Robert Frost, Li-Young Lee, and Toni Morrison. A couple of my ongoing professional interests are reading Asian American
literature and researching special issues surrounding Asian
American culture. As far as literary themes and issues go, I don't like to box myself in, but do find myself often honing in on socio-cultural as well as gender-related concerns.
Outside of teaching, you will most often
find me spending time withmy family (along with my dog, Skipper,) in the East Bay, commuting in my car across the Bay Bridge, hiking in the woods,
sitting near a body of water (ocean, river, lake), rooting for my
favorite teams, the Oakland
A's and Cal Bears, or working in the darkroom
on black and white photography. I also enjoy traveling, playing
in the Hawaiian
sun, listening to music
(traditional
jazz, classic rock, Latin jazz, R
& B/soul, oldies, classical ), watching movies and plays, fishing, camping, reading, going for rides in my old Miata, day dreaming, and eating
different types of foods at different types of places. When you see me, be sure to ask me what I did over my vacation, how the Oakland A's are doing,
and/or what type of food I last ate!
Athabasca Glacier, Alberta, Canada (7/08)
Nina L. Floro - 
