The_Poetry_Competition

Kathleen Riley TE 150 November 23, 2010 The Poetry Competition Theresa Randall awoke on a Tuesday morning feeling groggy. She could barely sleep the night before due to her worry. The big poetry competition was that day. Mr. Moran, Theresa’s English teacher, had caught her writing poetry in her notebook instead of taking notes on the lecture, so he confiscated it. After reading it, Mr. Moran decided that Theresa had a real talent. So, instead of punishing her for not paying attention, he entered Theresa into the annual poetry competition. Theresa did not want to participate, but it was either that or deal with a detention. Explaining that would be out of the question, so Theresa had to compete. When entering the ninth grade, all Theresa wanted to do was blend in with the other students. In middle school, she was always the center of attention, due to the fact that her father was the principal. Everyone called her the teacher’s pet, because the teachers would treat Theresa differently, not wanting to be fired. Moving up to high school, Theresa just wanted to be normal. Now she was being shoved into the spotlight again. Was it too much to ask to just let her be a normal kid' Theresa finally rolled out of bed and got into the shower. Getting dressed, Theresa thought, “I bet all of the other contestants are those artsy kids who dress funny and speak only in iambic pentameter.” While eating breakfast, Theresa sighed while looking over her poem. It needed to be memorized, so she thought of certain images in her head to help her remember. She had practiced it over and over in front of her mirror the night before, and felt pretty confident. She still didn’t want to participate, but if she had to, she would try her best. Once at school, Theresa started to get nervous. She wanted to do well in this competition, because she didn’t know if Mr. Moran would be watching. Throughout all of her morning classes, Theresa could barely sit still. She just wanted the day to be over. At lunch, Theresa sat with her friends, Nicole and Jennifer. Both girls were worried for their friend, because she wouldn’t eat anything. Nicole asked what was wrong, but Theresa wouldn’t talk. She now seemed petrified by the idea of standing in front of an audience of people and reciting her own work to them. Her classmates would be there, and so would her parents. Suddenly, Theresa blurted out, “What if I screw up'” “You won’t screw up,” replied Jennifer, “You will be fine. You just need to take a deep breath and calm down.” “Yeah,” said Nicole, “It’s like when I’m getting ready to start a race at a swim meet. I am so scared until I get onto the diving block. Then, when the official blows the whistle, I just dive in, and I’m fine. You just need to dive.” The girls’ kind words did not seem to help Theresa. She was so afraid that she would screw up that during fifth period; she ended up in the bathroom getting sick. Her math teacher, Mrs. LaFave, came into the bathroom just as Theresa was coming out of a stall. Mrs. LaFave asked what was wrong, so Theresa explained the situation, almost in tears. “I see,” said Mrs. LaFave ONCE Theresa was finished, “you are afraid that you will mess up and Mr. Moran will punish you more.” Theresa nodded, and Mrs. LaFave continued, “You know he just wanted an excuse to get you out there, right'” Theresa looked at her, confused. “Mr. Moran has seen your other poetry that you’ve turned in, and he has been raving about it. He really thinks that you will do well.” Mrs. LaFave told Theresa about how much Mr. Moran talks about how great his students are, and that he may be very tall and scary looking, but he really is a softy inside. Theresa felt a bit better after her conversation with Mrs. LaFave, and left the bathroom just as the bell rang for sixth period. It was time for English. Theresa sat in her normal seat toward the middle of the classroom and tried to stay quiet during class. Everything was fine right up until the bell rang, when Mr. Moran called Theresa up to his desk. He looked at her and simply said, “I will be in the front row, so don’t mess up.” And after that she was freaked out again. “There’s no hope,” she thought, “I am doomed to fail.” She changed into the dress she brought for the competition and headed for the auditorium. Once in the auditorium, Theresa went backstage where the other contestants were standing. At first, Theresa was confused. There were five other contestants, but none of them looked like the people from the arty cliques that she saw hanging around. They were just random people, not looking to put her down or make her feel like she was horrible, and that made Theresa fell a lot better. She smiled to herself, thinking, “I guess you don’t have to be one of those artsy kids to be good at poetry.” Suddenly, there was clapping out on stage. It was time for the contestants to walk out. Theresa sat quietly in one of the chairs, thinking again of her pictures that reminded her of her poem. She was set to go third, after a senior boy who tried to re-write twinkle, twinkle little star as a poem about death. Theresa stood up, walked to the microphone, and stared into the first row. Sure enough, there was Mr. Moran, and sitting right next to him were her friends. Theresa smiled and proceeded to recite her poem without mistake. There was uproarious applause when she finished, and she sat down feeling very confident. The other three contestants each had their turn, and then the judges, who sat in the back of the auditorium, deliberated. After a few minutes, one stood up, and the room went silent. The judge was given a microphone, and he said, “We have come to the conclusion that the winner is… Theresa Randall!” There was more applause, but Theresa just sat there. When it finally registered to her that she had won, all she could do was smile. She had made her teacher proud, and given herself some confidence in the process. Review – The Poetry Competition In review of the previous short story, it is noticeable that there are quite a few TE 150 concepts hidden throughout the plot. The basic learning mechanism that Theresa experiences is a part of adaptation. Before the competition, Theresa believes that all of the other students that will be participating will be the kids who take all art classes or walk around doing things like reading Earnest Hemingway for fun. Once arriving at the competition and seeing her competitors, Theresa falls into a state of disequilibrium. She quickly adapts to her environment and the people in it, and the story moves on. Theresa used a pretty clever way to memorize her poem. She used a type of encoding called “constructing images” to remember her poem more easily. These images were encoded into her memory for an easier retrieval in the future. As displayed in the story, Theresa used her images during the competition to remember her poem and eventually winning the competition. Theresa saw this competition in a bit of an immature way. When viewing her options and the consequences of those options, Theresa decided that she should just participate in the competition as to not upset her teacher. She was in fear of being punished more, and according to Kohlberg’s Moral Reasoning, Theresa was viewing her moral state in a pre-conventional way. This sort of moral view is usually only seen until about the age of nine, but since Theresa was coddled in middle school because of her father’s position of authority, she didn’t have the opportunity to advance past that stage. She may have thought of it in a conventional way, where she did it just to follow the rules of society and not lash out, but pre-conventional fits better. Finally, Theresa displayed a sort of change in her motivation throughout the story. At the beginning, all she wanted to do was avoid Mr. Moran’s punishment, making her motivation completely extrinsic. As the story went along, Theresa started noticing that she liked the poetry and it gave her confidence, and so this shift occurred right at the end from extrinsic to intrinsic, making it easier for her to be proud of what she was doing. All she wanted was for that day to be over, and by the end, she was glad that it was. However, she was also glad that she had gained some confidence for herself, and not just let it be handed to her.