(Photo by Art Hanson) MRS. MARGE BROWN,1527 N. Jefferson, has been taping “The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn”for use in American literature classes at New Ulm High School.

One youngster at New Ulm High School can’t read for more than five minutes without the words going out of focus.

Many students in special education and mainstream classes have trouble comprehending what they read.

They all may find help in a new project which has volunteers recording books on tape. This will let the students listen to the word-for-word rendition while they read along.

WINELLE CARPENTER, special education teachers, has used tapes with short stories from “Readers Digest” for some time, but she has never an entire taped book.

She says people have many channels of learning -eyes, ears, sense of touch-and some students need to use more than the visual channel to comprehend.

“When a student uses both auditory and visual it clicks in,” she says of some students. For some the double dose works; for others it doesn’t.

The first book to be tape recorded in the new project – “BermudaTriangle” -is now complete and Ms. Carpenter plans to use it in a unit starting this week. She can play the tape recording as students read along, then stop the cassette if there are any questions.

A RECORDING of “Huck Finn”‘ is partly finished. The partial recording was used last quarter by an American Literature student while reading that required classic.

Still in the works are recordings of books on ancient, medieval and Minnesota history, world religion, production and trade, and biology.

If a teacher requests it, the person recording can explain difficult words as they are recorded.

FOR A STUDENT with reading ability at the fourth grade level the heavy reading required in high school social studies and literature classes can lead to frustration, according to Mary Webb, counselor at New Ulm High.

Failure to comprehend or complete the required reading leads to failure on tests, Ms. Webb says. Some students have failed courses time and time again in their 10-or 11-year school careers.

“Some kids, their frustration level gets to where they can’t take it any more,” she says.

The taped books “can’t be viewed as a cure-all,” Ms. Webb says,”but in some instances it will help kids achieve some success in school. You have to presume they would be encouraged and less frustrated by this. Even if it was just for those few, it would be worth it.”

THE PROJECT was first suggested to the New Ulm chapter of AAUW (American Association of University Women) in late September by Ms. Webb.

She got the idea at an AAUW meeting last year when someone said the club had offered volunteer services to the school for tutoring or taping material a few years back, but the offer had never been taken up.

The volunteers include AAUW members plus a senior citizen from Sleepy Eye. The school provides recorders and some cassettes, other cassettes are donated. “Bermuda Triangle” took four cassettes.

THE PROJECT is modest so far, the main problem being finding time for teachers and counselors to organize which books need taping.

But “eventually it would be great to build up a library so any book past a certain grade level 7 as available,” Ms. Webb says.

The project will fill a gap in New Ulm. The public library has a few tape-recorded books but they are selections from classics and moderns, not the complete book, according to Christine Dawson, librarian. The 100 or so cassettes at the library include books, old radio programs and songs.

New Ulm Daily Journal

Nov. 24, 1975