Wun Alfabet

At Angelí and Bach schools, the experiment is too young to conclusively prove whether or not i.t.a. children have more spelling problems than children taught by conventional methods. But Mrs. Charlotte Meyer, a first-grade teacher at Eberwhite who has taught i.t.a. for nearly two years now, says she sees no particular spelling problems among her pupils. The majority of the i.t.a. teachers interviewed by The News were very enthusiastic about the experiment. "I like it (i.t.a.) much better" than the traditional method of teaching reading, Mrs. Meyer said i emphatically. Mrs. Mary Helen Harrigan, a first-grade i.t.a. teacher at Angelí, also was extremely enthusiastic. She said she sees a "tremendous amount of difference" in the reading and writing abilities of i.t.a. and "regular" children. 'Tve never had a class before which is so interested in the library," Mrs. Harrigan commented. Miss Hazel Junquist, Angelí principal, declared: "I wish the whole (school) system could go into i.t.a." Miss Mary Newcomb, a veteran first-grade teacher at Angelí, along with Miss Reynolds, preferred to re,serve final judgment on i.t.a. until later. Miss Reynolds said she was taking an attitude of "dispassion" towards i.t.a., but she added she is "not confident" i.t.a. will reach the "less able" children any better than traditional reading methods. All the teachers interviewed agreed the i.t.a. children are much more creative and are able to write imaginative stories much easier than non-i.t.a. children. "The stories are done in a flash," Miss Newcomb says. "The i.t.a. children are much more creative," according to Mrs. Meyer. "They can write any words they want to." I.t.a. educators say this increased writing ability is the = iresult of fewer inhibitions among i.t.a.-trained children. They don't have to limit their writing to a few words they can spell- which is often a major stumbling block to a child's first efforts to write. Instead, they can sound out and spell any word they choose. Other advantages of i.t.a., according to the teachers, are that i.t.a. children often read faster and often are able to read more difficult material sooner; they read more; they are "more independent" in their "word attack," and they are able to read a more interesting variety of stories. Most parents whose children are learning i.t.a. appear to be enthusiastic about the program. A survey taken in March among Angelí parents with older children who learned to read by traditional methods and whose first graders now are learning i.t.a. had interesting results : Some 13 of the 19 parents who responded said their i.t.a. children "definitely" read more than their non-i.t.a. children; 11 said their i.t.a. children had more interest in learning to read; 11 saw a difference in the ability of their i.t.a. children to read independently. Mrs. Meyer says her Eberwhite parents are ' ' v e r y enthusiastic" a b o ut i.t.a. "Some parents who were skeptical in the fall now can't say enough for it," she commented. "They can't get over the way their children are reading."