About Professor McKennon

Professor McKennon's Background
& Interests
      After working in the business management field of dentistry for over twenty-five years, I decided to do a career change when I was in my fifties. I had always wanted to teach and enjoyed working with high school and college age people. I also had the opportunity to open my home to teenagers from many different countries for an American "home-stay" experience. My home was host to teenagers from over thirteen different countries. It was an especially enriching experience for my two children, Paul and Alicia, who developed a well-rounded world view and appreciation for many cultures and ethnicities.
    When my two children were in college, I also returned to school. I finished my Associate of Arts degree in Business Management and transferred to CSU Sacramento, where I earned a Graduate degree in TESOL and a Bachelor's degree, Magna Cum Laude, in English. I went on to complete coursework at the College of Education for a Single Subject Credential, as well as a Masters degree in English Pedagogy and Rhetoric. I was honored to be granted a lifetime membership in the International English Honor Society.
     My next step was moving to Southern California, where I have been teaching at both Fullerton College and Mt. San Antonio College for over fourteen years. I have also taught individual classes at Cal Poly Pomona and was excited to spend a summer in Dongguan, China as a group leader and Master teacher for their Real English Teaching Abroad Program. I had a wonderful team of Master students and furthered my appreciation of the Chinese culture and people.
      My two children are grown now and both completed degrees at California colleges. My daughter has a BA degree from CSUFullerton, and my son has a degree from UCLA. They both are successfully pursuing active careers in their chosen fields.
     My personal passion is American cocker spaniels, and I bred and exhibited under the kennel name Bayserenade Cockers. I no longer breed but am happy and proud to see beautiful cockers from my line show in many different countries and across the United States. I currently live with and love two of them, Mitze and Tempo.
     I love teaching, and I love guiding my students to success in life and society.

Professor Anna Lee McKennon, M. A.

Teaching Philosophy

In American colleges, the demographics of the average classroom are increasingly multicultural, reflecting a wide range of English language literacy levels. Students come from a mixed cultural/ethnic background, giving our classrooms a richness and diversity which truly defines our American culture. Reading and responding critically to a variety of texts that represent diverse American ethnic and cultural groups, as well as relevant sociopolitical issues, can help students in our classrooms build a bridge of understanding between the groups that make up our expanding global community. If students are encouraged to explore relevant social and cultural issues from a personal cross-cultural perspective, they will be more inclined to write responses that are stimulated by open dialogue.

The following definition of higher education, published in 1995 by the National Council of English Teachers, reflects greater emphasis on the needs of a culturally and linguistically diverse student population:

                        A view of education that envisions and encourages a curriculum reflective

                        of the society and the world in which we live. It embraces and accepts the

interdependence of the many cultural ethnic groups within our society and the world. It recognizes that individuals do not divest themselves of their heritage, and values similarities and differences in all persons.

Teachers of writing often find themselves in the uncomfortable position of balancing between holding students accountable to a specific set of American rhetorical rules and structure, while still allowing them to express a personal creative and critical thinking process, stimulated by their own cultural modes of written expression. As a teacher of college composition, I try to integrate new teaching strategies into my curriculum, while incorporating more choice regarding multi-cultural texts and rhetorical approaches in composition assignments – making composition classrooms both student-centered and student-directed.

My sStrategies for teaching writing seek to stimulate students to seek understanding and learn to communicate within a multi-cultural environment, while incorporating their own ideas about social and cultural issues in their individual writing. The diversity of a true multi-cultural classroom should be a positive stimulant for the writing process. All students should feel welcome and empowered in this type of classroom, regardless of socioeconomic or cultural background level. Members of a true multicultural class possess equal value, without power divisions between “us” and “them.”

My hope is that my students will be able to progress to a more mature level of writing when they are taught in a student-centered classroom where they are able to participate more openly in smaller peer groups. I seek to understand the rhetorical obstacles faced by both native and non-native speakers of English, while developing strategies and activities that will engage and validate all students in stimulating interaction, as well as bridge communication styles and patterns, rather than emphasize differences. Teaching American academic structure can be a positive experience, as long as we educators recognize that it is not the only model for academic excellence. Non-native language groups, such as our many Asian and Hispanic college students, face many challenges in the English classroom, including rhetorical and grammar differences. They should not have to face the added stress of feeling that they are the inferior "other" cultural groups, especially in relation to a dominant Eurocentric tradition.