User:Msannakoval
About me
[edit]Hi. :) I'm Anna Koval. My students called me Ms. Koval. Hence my super-clever user name: Msannakoval. :)
I've been an educator for more than a decade, at every level from middle school through graduate school, but mostly high school.
As a teacher, I taught English and Education. As a teacher-librarian, I taught information literacy.
I was a Walt Disney Teacher of the Year nominee, an American Library Association Emerging Leader, and one of the writers of the California Department of Education's Model School Library Standards for California Public Schools. I was once on the cover of California Teacher magazine.
For 3 years, I worked at the Wikimedia Foundation. I was a Community Advocate from July 2013 through March 2014. I was a manager of the Wikipedia Education Program from April 2014 through February 2016.
About my work in the wiki world
[edit]If you need assistance here on Outreach wiki, please write to me on my talk page.
I created my Wikipedia account in 2011. I was a high school teacher-librarian, and there were no textbooks for students who were studying Mandarin. So I taught them to contribute to Chinese Wikipedia instead. :)
I hope to help spread the good word about Wikipedia in academia and to help educators who use it reach and teach their students.
Wikipedia is a miracle, a monument to altruism. It is vital to the internet ecosystem, and it is vital to the education system. I hope that more young people especially will find their way to Wikipedia and help out. And when they do, I hope that they are met with wise mentorship from veteran community members, just as I was. I love Wikipedia. I am proud to be part of the largest encyclopedia in human history.