Student Work

Student work on this page illustrates each of the ITA spelling/writing protocols:

1. Spelling by Sound (Using ITA to represent sounds in all words, even those that students already know)
2. Writing in TO (Traditional Orthography), with ITA for unknown words

Spelling by Sound

At this level, students dictate stories to their tutor, then write them word by word in ITA to master phonemic awareness, essential for development of decoding and spelling skills. All students start with the ITA-only writing protocol, whether they are in first or 12th grade when they begin at the clinic. The following stories were written by primary-grade students new to the ITA writing protocol.

The Snowman

This delightful “chapter book” was written by a fifth grade girl whose visual images are as imaginative as her written story. In “About the Author” she tells of her journey from Haiti to high school in the U.S.

The Crazy Bus Driver

This story was written by a 7th grader who was reading at the beginning of first grade when he first came to the ITA Literacy Clinic for help.

The following collection of poems, written by a 16-year-old student with a second-grade reading level, demonstrates a powerful creative voice that would have never found expression if not for the help she received in a high school ITA program sponsored by the Foundation.

Kenidee I Wanna Be

Our high school poet also wrote a delightful children’s book about finding yourself.

Traditional Orthography with ITA for Unknown Words

Once students can match all the sounds in words to the symbols that represent those sounds, they are ready to write stories with a mix of ITA and TO (traditional orthography). At this level, they write all the words that they know how to spell in traditional orthography, using ITA for unknown words.