About Me

I believe that education is essential for life but that there's a disconnect between schooling and education, and I am currently dealing with how I can educate and be educated in a way relevant to life today. If you want to redefine and rediscover what it means to both educate and be educated, partner with me by subscribing to our journey!

I'm Leon and I started out as a business teacher in China in 2016 and have since grown to love Asia. While teaching, I got my first taste of educational technology was 2018 when my principal let me into the backend of PowerSchool to assist in course selections and report cards. I eventually also started helping with Moodle accounts and course management because I needed access to revamp the graduation program to meet new Canadian government requirements. It was a program that was similar to CAS from IB.

While on the job, I learned that I had an interest in problem-solving, and building systems that make lives easier, and the learning and operational experience more effective for learners, educators, and leaders.

When I was hired as an academic scheduler at a brand new school in 2020, I became the first person with an educational background to test and get to know the new all-in-one student information, learning management, and extra-curricular management system that the company was building. I was blessed with the unique opportunity to represent the school and influence the software development direction. This new role required me to learn what integrating educational technology well really meant and was what prompted my pursuit of the ISTE certification and master's degree in educational technology.

Since then, I have had to constantly consider the technology needs of all stakeholders including parents, teachers, students, and administration in order to prioritize the design and rolling out of different functions. I have also helped set up and integrate IXL as a learning platform for our school and provided training to large and small groups of stakeholders on all things technology-related. These last two years, not only have I furthered my knowledge in how systems can support schools, but I've also gained insight into how systems can support classrooms.

On top of these responsibilities, I have not stopped teaching and my connection with the kids is what gets me in the door every morning. I enjoy the banter, the hidden curriculum, and teaching them content and skills that are practical to their lives.

Blending my background in finance, accounting, and business into my classes has made them practical and interesting. Being trilingual in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese, you can find me traveling to the best restaurants in each city in China, reading, buying stocks, writing a blog, or making a YouTube video.

This blog is a way for me to document my thoughts and plans on my career in education, or whatever pursuit I catch myself in at the moment and improve myself as an educator and communicator. I want to figure education out because I feel that most people that work for schools actually haven't got it figured out.

If you want to join a community passionate about exploring and doing great work in education, please do feel free to join me for the ride by subscribing!