Sandra Reid

 

Biograhpy

Sandra Reid attended Gallaudet University, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics and then continued onto to receive a Master of Education degree in Deaf Education from Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) in Westminster, Maryland.

Sandra has spent her entire professional career (33 years) as a teacher with the Edmonton Public School Board. She taught Math and ASL at Alberta School for the Deaf (ASD). She is the first person in Canada to teach ASL as a second language to hearing high school students, starting at Jasper Place High School and Queen Elizabeth High School in Edmonton, Alberta. She also taught ASL and Deaf Studies courses at MacEwan University and Lakeland College for 32 years. Since 2015 she has been teaching ASL courses at the University of Alberta, with the Modern Languages and Cultural Studies department. She has been involved in countless projects and events at ASD and in the Deaf Community, serving as a committee chair, event organizer, leader, fundraiser, counselor and professional advisor. She had been involved with the Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf (CCSD) in numerous capacities, with American Sign Language Instructors of Canada Evaluation (ASLICE) and American Sign Language Instructors of Canada (ASLIC) after she was one of the first two people to receive the ASLIC certificate in 1992. She is currently president of the Alberta Cultural Society of the Deaf in Edmonton (since 2008) and is very active in the Deaf Community. She was awarded CCSD's Deaf Person of the Year in 2014. She loves to spend time with her two sons, travelling and to do research her family ancestry.

What is your favourite thing about teaching?

I love to teach because I can see the process of students acquiring a language that has been so important to me and my community.

What's the last book you read and loved?

This book is not the last one I read, but it is my favourite: "Journey into Deaf World" by Harlan Lane, Robert Hoffmeister and Ben Bahan.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

I would like to travel again in Great Britain -- especially Scotland, so I could research more about my ancestry.

What three words best describe you as a teacher?

Passionate, determined, and humorous.

What do you wish people knew about the deaf community?

Just like most languages, American Sign Language (ASL) comes with its own culture. If more people understand more about what Audism is, the more access members of my community will have.