Moniqa & Magic Unicorn

 

CHAPTER 6

LEARNING STYLES

Moniqa found her friends at lunch and sat down. Mary and Sandy were talking about boys.

"Oh, isn't he cute?" Sandy asked Mary about the boy walking by.

Mary watched him, then replied, "Oh, I guess he's OK. He's got nice buns. But there goes Fredie Glazzier. I think he's a Dream!"

"He's good looking, and knows it. But, I just can't get past his name. Every time I hear the name Fredie, I think of a frog. I can't help it. I'm afraid if I ever had to talk to him or introduce him, I'd laugh." Both girls giggled at the thought.

Moniqa tuned them out and thought of her dream last night. It had seemed so real. She sat staring at her sandwich thinking about Magic.

"Moniqa...Moniqa, are you alright?" Becky asked, touching her arm. Moniqa jumped, startled.

"Sorry, But you were scowling at your sandwich. Are you OK?" Becky said, concern for Moniqa in her voice.

"Oh, I'm fine. I didn't mean to worry you." Moniqa apologized, then made an excuse for her behavior. "I was preoccupied. I have a history test next period and I never can remember how it goes. It's not that I don't study, because I do. I just never get my answers right. I wish for once I could do good on my history test." With that, Moniqa bit viciously into her sandwich.

"Mr. Thornton always phases his test questions in such a way that no body knows how to answer. Even the smart kids have a hard time keeping their A's and B's in his class."
"Thanks, Becky, I know you meant to console me, but your choice of words leave much to be desired. It's not that I'm not as smart as anybody else. Just because I'm a kinetic-global-learner and the school system doesn't try to teach me that way, even though they know how; because the teachers would have to use a little imagination, I guess. I'm labeled "slow, mentally handicapped, dyslexic, or developmentally disabled". I'm not any of those thing. I have to be twice as smart and imaginative as the visual and audio learners to learn anything in this stupid school system!" Moniqa ended vehemently, and nearly in tears at her emotional speech.

"You tell 'em, Moniqa!" Becky said.

"Here," Amber said, handing her a piece of notebook paper. "Your speech was so inspiring I took notes on it. Now you can re-write it and send copies to the P.T.A., counselors, principle and the school board. You're not alone in your plight. It's high time something was done, and you're just the one to start it. We'll all stand with you. There's lots of perfectly good experiential ways of teaching that we could all benefit from. So, lets DO something instead of just griping and feeling sorry for ourselves!"

Moniqa was instantly sorry for her outburst, but, somehow Amber and Becky made her feel like something really could be done about the problem. It just needed Someone to DO it. If her friends would stand with her, Moniqa didn't mind being a leader and instigator.

The rest of lunch was spent in writing letters and planning a course of action. All too soon the bell rang to go to class.

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(c) 1991, 2001, Sharri Lorraine~