Joseph Allegranza , Educational Assistant

 Joseph Allegranza brings 10 years of experience as an Educational Assistant working at the Toronto District School Board. During this time he has supported many students with various abilities and needs from Kindergarten to high school, but has specialized in working with deaf and hard of hearing students in the classroom.

Joseph received specialized training from Sheridan College where he received a diploma in Educational Anisettes  and currently holds his Level 3 American Sign Language (ASL) certificates from George Brown College, the Bob Rumball Canadian Center of Excellence for the Deaf and Canadian Hearing Services. He is incredibly passionate about supporting deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students with their language acquisition, reading, writing and math skills. 

As part of Joseph’s teaching philosophy, he believes in nurturing the whole student as such he believes in bringing to the class culturally relevant resources and programming that  reflect the life experiences of each student that he works with. He also works closely with students’ families to support language at home. He recently set up online ASL sessions for families where he works closely with each member to teach and practice every day signs and phrases to support family commutation.

Joseph brings a unique set of skills and expertise to Spark and looks forward to contributing to the Spark team. When not working with , Joseph enjoys painting and drawing. He is an avid lover of history and philosophy. He also enjoys  cooking and spending time with his family .