Minhkhang Truong — School and District Partnership Manager at Lalilo

Favorite Book: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
Favorite Animal: Cat
Favorite Travel Destination: HCMC, Vietnam

Minhkhang’s passion for education came from his early childhood experiences. At 3 years old, his parents moved to the states with him and his sisters: “they wanted us to have a great education”. As an ELL, Minhkhang has vivid memories of struggling with reading as a child, which almost led to him being held back a grade. However, his favorite teacher, Mr. Paulson changed everything by first conveying a sense of belief and belonging and secondly, introducing Minhkhang to an engaging computer game supporting literacy skills. “I loved being able to work at my own pace and getting to the next level”, Minhkhang recalls. “Soon I was reading several grade levels ahead of my peers”.

Minhkhang carried these memories with him as he later began his own career in the classroom teaching 1st and 2nd grade. He insisted on holding a high bar because “an unwavering commitment is essential for student centered outcomes”. Although his first year of teaching was far from easy, sometimes even a ‘hot mess’ Minhkhang admits, “Over time, I became more strategic about planning, differentiating, and most of all finding technology based tools to support students engagement, understanding, expression of the learning”.

His time in the classroom encouraged him to move into the role of Operations Manager, Academics & Digital Learning where a big part of his job was to ensure teachers and students had access to the tools they needed to be successful. Which is why he is now thrilled to be part of Lalilo’s mission to help schools get the tools they need. While teaching Minhkhang was very mastery driven and never moved on from a lesson unless he knew each child had reached a complete understanding. He admits though that “sometimes it’s difficult when you’re teaching 30 students the same lesson”. He’s excited to share how Lalilo serves this purpose for the critical subject of early literacy and the value of asynchronous learning from his classroom experience.

In his free time Minhkhang can be found at the park with his beagle shepherd Milu or in the kitchen working on his next dish. Lately he’s gotten into Indian curries, but hopes to work on experimenting with his airfryer recipes soon!