About This Site

About Wanda

Thirty-year educator Dr. Wanda Terral is the Director of Technology for the Lakeland School System (TN). A former band director, Wanda is constantly seeking information relating to techniques & practices related to the use of tech to empower students and educators. A Google Certified Innovator & Trainer, she is known for widely sharing useful resources and lesson ideas on Twitter and Facebook. She earned her Doctor of Education from the University of Memphis, focusing her research on the topic of self-directed professional learning of educators. Wanda is a member of CoSN, ISTE, TETA, CUE, and TCEA as well being an organizer of EdCamp Memphis. In 2019, she was named Outstanding TN CTO by the Tennessee Educational Technology Association and in 2025 she received her CETL® certification from CoSN.

 Additional certifications and recognitions include:

Certified Education
Technology Leader
Certified Education Technology Leader Badge
View badge		Professional ChromeOS Administrator

View certificate		Professional Chrome
Enterprise Administrator
Google Certified ChromeOS Administrator
View certificate
FRS Advisor
View more info		PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovator 2016
View more info

When not spending time with her cats, she is coding, listening to audiobooks, or sketchnoting.

Find Wanda online:

Wanda’s Furry Babies

Miscellaneous Photos

gie-summit
at-gta
glass-pres
at-google
glass
outside-of-google

KernCUE 2020
ISTE Google Playground 2019

ISTE Google Playground 2019

 

News

Free EdTech Goodies for You and You and You!

Once a month I assemble and distribute a Technology Newsletter to the teachers at my school. I shared the recent edition on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook and it was so well-received that I’ve decided to post them on this blog as well. Some have been edited to remove school-specific login information but most are exactly the same.

All the newsletters are posted on a page under the Resources menu on the navigation bar of this site. I hope you find these, and the information they contain, helpful.

 

Newsletters
 

Site Design

As I continue to tweak this new website, here are some elements of the design I am settling upon.

I am using a self-hosted WordPress installation on HostGator (this is an affiliate link).

The theme is my own theme using Headway as the base. I find this framework easy to work with even though I am comfortable digging into the CSS manually.

Here are the colors and fonts you will spot here and there:

site design

Lighting The Fire

Why Another Site?

Those in my PLN know I have authored several websites over the years. I have a poor track record of maintenance and this one is likely to follow the same path but I’m giving it a go regardless. While it lives it will serve as an online home base for an assortment of items.

I have a very active presence on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ and will highlight the favorites I share there on this website as well. As opposed to past blogs I’ve launched, my goal is to not share a resource unless I actually provide additional commentary which could range from information about how I personally use the resource, how some of my teachers or friends use it, or even just some ideas I might have for utilizing the tool.

I am currently pursuing my EdD at The University of Memphis, focusing on Instructional Design and Technology, so expect posts related to that along with items related to the topic of my dissertation.

As the Instructional Technology Specialist for the Lakeland School School System (Lakeland, TN) I am gaining much new experience and will share that here for those who may benefit from my mistakes and successes. We currently have one school in the new municipal school district, Lakeland Elementary, but are in the very early stages of planning a middle/high school, Lakeland Prep. I have learned so much this year about all things related to elementary education and will use this blog to reflect and share on those experiences. We have chosen to go Google Apps for Education in our new district so you will get some GAFE reflections as well.

Speaking of Googley stuff, I recently returned from the Google Teacher Academy (Austin, TX) and may finally have a minute to share some reflections and experiences related to #GTAATX and that is REALLY how this blog idea came into being. The last several year as I have moved from novice Google Apps user into Google Educator, Google Education Trainer, and now Google Certified Teacher and GAFE Administrator of our district domain, I have learned so much. I am usually crazy busy and have used that as an excuse to not reflect on the experience. After #GTAATX I know that is not acceptable. I will always have more to learn but I have learned so much from so many great people, it is my responsibility to share what I know and so I shall.

For those who followed previous blogs I authored, expect to see some of those resources revisited here, with updates. Those items will serve as kindling for this new bonfire I am setting alight. If you do take a spark and spread the light of eduGoodness, please let me know. I would love to have other authors on this site sharing similar content especially anything that was given fuel from a post of mine.

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