1st Grade
At PS 8 since 2009
Sandy Long began teaching as a New York City Teaching Fellow in 2001. Before coming to PS 8 in 2009, she taught at PS 54 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn – spending three years teaching kindergarten, three years teaching first grade, and two years working as a literacy coach.
Ms. Long became interested in teaching as a volunteer in her son’s classroom. She was “fascinated by how kids learn to read” and after noticing advertising for the city’s Fellows Program, she heeded the call. Now more than 10 years into her career as a teacher, she loves what she does. “I love getting to know the kids,” she explains – “what really engages them, what moves them, what excites them; I think that’s my favorite part.” She considers herself lucky to be a part of the PS 8 community because teachers, administrators and parents are all part of a vibrant school community: “everyone plays a vital role,” she says.
Ms. Long received a B.A. in Theater from Tufts University, an M.F.A. in Theater from the University of Washington, and (as part of the New York City Teaching Fellows Program) an M.Ed. from Long Island University. She came to New York as an actress, eventually finding her way into not-for-profit administration and working for 9 years with an organization that trained health and human services officials to be AIDS counselors. In her free time, Ms. Long likes to read (as she tells her first graders, she often falls asleep with her reading glasses on), hike in the Shawangunks, and watch her son play baseball.
