About the Teacher

Ms. Laura McKinnon

My name is Laura McKinnon, and I teach dual enrollment U.S. history, American/Arizona history here at Sandra Day O'Connor.  I LOVE my job!  I enjoy learning about history, geography, and culture, especially by travelling to different historic sites around the country and the world. Our optional trip for the summer of 2022 will be to London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Brussels. For the summer of 2023, we will be going to Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark. I also sponsor the World Explorers Club, which is a great way to learn more about places you may want to learn about or see. 

This is my 23rd year teaching. Before moving on to teaching high school, I taught preschool, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades, and I have loved each grade level I have taught.  I also love to lead educational travel, which allows us to bring our learning outside of the classroom to historic sites.

I grew up in Ontario, Canada, and I moved to Arizona after I finished high school.  I became a respiratory therapist, and worked at Good Samaritan Hospital, and Phoenix Children's Hospital for 13 years, but... I always knew I wanted to be a teacher, so back to school I went. After earning a bachelor's degree in elementary education, I continued on with a master's degree in education through Northern Arizona University, and a master's degree in U.S. history through Pace University. I feel fortunate to have found a career that I truly love, and I am happy to be teaching at O'Connor this year.