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9-12: Heaven or Groundhog Day?

Learning outcomes

• “Enlightenment is infinite acceptance of all things past, infinite responsibility for all things present, and infinite service for all things future.” —Zen definition of Nirvana

Students will:

demonstrate accurate analysis of audience through appropriate choices in diction, motive support, point support, and non-print textual support.

demonstrate knowledge of the concept of character qualities and reflect positive values. The content of the presentation must be persuasive and make connections between literary elements (plot development and dynamic characterization) and another discipline (psychology, science, vocational arts, or music).

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

2-3 weeks

Materials/resources

“Patriotism” a poem by Sir Walter Scott

“Trees” a poem by Sergeant Joyce Kilmer

Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development (Wikipedia)

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Wikipedia)

Groundhog Day, 1993 video rated PG (Rent the movie under your school’s name which will obviate copyright infringement.)

Rachmaninoff: “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini,” 18th Variation (Background information on this piece)

Technology resources

1. VCR

2. Monitor

3. Video tapes of Groundhog Day and School to Work

4. Computer with internet connectivity

5. Overhead Projector with transparencies and/or opaque projector and/or digital projector (computer screen display)

6. CD or tape player

Pre-activities

Pre-Viewing Activities:

Pre-Viewing Tools

The Hook

The Bad Guy vs. The Good Guy.

Present lines 11-16 from the poem “Patriotism” by Sir Walter Scott. Ask the students to name characters from literature or real life who fit this description. The following day collect and display the students’ choices to discuss what evidence of “wretched” self-centeredness there is for each. Explain that the class will examine such a “wretch” and discover what it might take to change such a person. Ask what qualities are essential for such a person to be transformed from selfishness to caring for others. Contrast and share a real life story of someone who found joy in life, particularly through service to others, but not through his/her own selfish pursuits. (The example we used came from a news article by Amanda Dagnino, entitled “Russell Set to Lead Habitat,” from the Carteret News-Times, March 8, 2000, which described how a successful, wealthy businessman found happiness and fulfillment in working on a Habitat for Humanity project.

What is Right and What is Wrong?

Use the Opinionnaire as a “pre-test” and “post-test” if you wish to measure any affective changes in students as a result of your unit. Also, the Opinionnaire can be used as an essential “hook” in this lesson to evoke student interest based on varying statements. (See Larry Johannessen’s “Revenge May Not Be So Sweet: Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘The Cask of Amontillado,’” Classroom Notes Plus, January 2000.)

What’s in a Word?

Use the Pre-Viewing Worksheet to help you introduce the vocabulary of the movie to the students. Include the connotations of the words, e.g., “prima donna,” which alludes to a self-important, arrogant performer who is dismissive of others.

The Lines

If Music be the Food of Love, Play On. Play the Rachmaninoff piece, asking the class to think of a “crush,” an infatuation, or of a present love. Discuss instances that the students offered. Ask students to consider the melody whenever the person’s name or memory arose.

Right vs. Motive & Morals.

Present Maslow’s and Kohlberg’s models of needs and moral development. Give or ask for a moral dilemma and what a person operating on a particular level would do and what motivations would be behind the choices.

Groundhogs, Squirrels, and Turkey Meteorology.

Use the cartoon of weather myths to introduce the concept of Groundhog Day. (Available in Ranger Rick’s Nature Scope: Wild About the Weather.) Earth Science teachers may implement vertical practices in the meteorology unit.

People Skills.

Ask students what communication skills would be needed in productive work environments. The VOCATS video Part III of interpersonal skills in the work place presents real world applications of essential communication skills. Show this segment to the students to show how the concepts that emerged from discussion are applied in the work place.

Perfect Man, Perfect Society.

For lower levels, the cloze exercise is useful for listening, writing, and comprehension. Cloze answers are on a separate page.

Snap Shot.

For lower levels, the synopsis is useful for the students to understand the events in the movie.

Plot Puzzle.

For lower levels, select five or more elements of the plot and print them on paper. Cut them apart and have students assemble them in sequence. (Be careful to cut them uniformly, or else, some students will merely fit shapes of paper together, rather than look for the cause and the effect patterns.)

The Sinker

The Task.

Introduce Student Role Simulation Performance Task at a point that works with your planning. There are many opportunities you can create for this moment depending on your teaching style and the skill level of the class.

The Movie Viewing Worksheet.

The Student Viewing Worksheet is designed to help the student look for specific elements for terms, plot development, and theme; and asks the student to identify the Mazlow level at which the protagonist is operating at key moments in the plot.

Also for lower levels that have not yet passed the computer competency test, see the Computer Editing Exercise and the Edit Exercise. For this exercise, print out a copy of the Computer Editing Exercise, a copy of the Edit Exercise, and a copy of what the final version looks like. See below (where Groundhog Day is italicized, replace with underlining). Save a copy of the Computer Editing Exercise on student computers and have students edit according to the Edit Exercise, which contains Computer Skills Curriculum Word Processing Editing marks, and the final version of the synopsis.

Synopsis of Groundhog Day.

Set in contemporary Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on February 2nd, Groundhog Day, an arrogant Pittsburgh weatherman Phil Conners goes with his producer Rita and cameraman Larry to report the prediction of Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog. Phil Conners is a self-centered, egotistical prima donna who thinks only of fulfilling his own pleasures of life. After the news event is over, a blizzard prevents Phil and his team from leaving town, Phil wakes up the next morning to discover that the day is repeating itself. In fact, he finds he must relive February 2nd repeatedly for what seems like an eternity, at first satisfying his own desires in life, next realizing that he cannot gain acceptance from mainstream society as a phony (someone who only pretends to be “nice”), then seeing that there is an external Force in life, and finally becoming a man who puts the needs of others first. Once Phil reaches the stage of self-actualization, he is able to move on to the future.

The story of Groundhog Day presents the theme that through persistence, a person can improve his character and values to become a person of responsibility, goodness, and service to others. The rewards of such attitudes are happiness and fulfillment.

Activities

Teacher:

1. In private, view the movie Groundhog Day, first for personal enjoyment and a second time using the Viewing Worksheet. The movie is rich in detail, literary elements, and dialogue; multiple viewings will reveal teachable moments and highlights to you.

2. Prepare visuals and/or copies to support the Pre-Activities using the attachments found throughout this lesson plan.

3. According to the skill level of your class, select activities from the list below that will best support the Performance Task for your students.

4. You can make this unit as long or as short as you wish based on the number or supporting activities you require from the students. Please note that not all students need to do all of the activities from other disciplines. Because the audience for the student performance is the entire class, all students will observe the final products and experience. You may wish to assign particular tasks to certain students.

5. Network with teachers from other the disciplines to coordinate or to enlist support in common competency goals.

Student

Student Performance Task.

You are a parent of a wayward ninth grader who depends solely on TV and movies for entertainment and “literature.” He does not get along well with others, and he is not doing well in school. You find a comedy that has potential for lessons in life as well as possible springboards for discussion of school subjects. Your task is to present the movie to your child with commentary that will help him understand positive values and literary elements.

Activities to Support Your “Talk”. Use the Activity Sheet for Students.

1. Write a short feature article describing the movie Groundhog Day to be in at least two different types of TV guides, e.g., for adolescents who only dress in black, for adolescents who have a special interest or no interests at all, for A&E or The Learning Channel, for Sports Illustrated, for a fraternity house, or for a special audience of your choice.

2. Design and produce a visual aid, e.g., a mobile, poster, or collage to explain Maslov’s Hierarchy or Kolhberg’s Stages of Moral Development. View a student sample.

3. Create and draw a movie poster of the significant symbols from the movie depicting two or three conflicts. View a student sample.

4. Gather and arrange pictures that illustrate “Good Guy” qualities for a bulletin board, PowerPoint, Hyperstudio, or Slide Show presentation. View a view sample.

5. Collect the poems mentioned in the movie, “Patriotism,” “Trees,” a Baudelaire, including, “Winter slumbering in the open air wears on his smiling face a dream of spring,” and select pictures from magazines that enhance the message of each.

6. Produce the movie’s poems on transparencies for scansion, analysis of literary devices, and themes. View sample.

7. Research, collect, and create a scrapbook of stories of heroes from real life who have found joy in service to others. View sample.

8. Write a Christmas “wish” list of qualities you would like to possess and what specific behavior or decision would demonstrate that quality. You may include pictures. For example, “consideration for others” might be demonstrated by choosing no-name brand clothing to spare your parents’ hard-earned money and might be illustrated by a red “no” sign on a designer label. Alongside that, you may write a list of qualities you hope to find in a best friend or in a person of your dreams. View sample.

9. Add a musical component to any of the above by choosing a song as a theme for the main idea you are presenting. Play the tape or CD and display a transcript of lyrics on an overhead or on the computer monitor as a background to your presentation. View picture of students who used this activity.

10. Use a recording of Rachmaninoff’s “18th Variation of a Theme by Paganini” as appropriate background music to present a visual and/or poem of and about someone or something beloved and cherished.

11. Transcribe the words from “You Don’t Know Me” by Eddie Arnold and Cindy Walker, sung by Ray Charles, and/or “Almost Like Being in Love” by Lerner and Lowe, sung by Nat King Cole and describe the irony and understatement of either or each song.

12. Re-write and enact a scene from the movie with the protagonist or secondary character operating from a different level of Maslow’s Hierarchy or Kohlberg’s Moral Stages.

13. Research philosophies that instruct and develop good character qualities. Your research may involve other cultures. Display your findings with magazine picture clippings on posterboard. Be sure to cite your sources correctly using MLA format.

14. Along with weather prediction myths, assemble other myths that misguide people about character, e.g., ““Good guys finish last,” etc. Another work group should assemble the reverse doctrines which may include meteorology.

15. Interview your parent or guardian about the interpersonal skills they use or observe at work. Refer to the principles of interpersonal skills from the VOCATS video: teamwork, negotiation (respect for others, forgiveness, admitting wrong), diversity, serving the community, exercising leadership, teaching new skills (which helps whoever teaches master the skills, too). What does each term mean? How did your parent or guardian learn the skill? How does the skill make the job easier to do? Ask your parent or guardian what experiences would enable you to acquire some of those skills.

16. Arrange to visit one of the local TV broadcasting studios to report back some of the job-specific skills that must be used in programming, e.g., split-second timing and cues, lighting and makeup, close community ties, etc. Based on your findings, comment on the production techniques seen in the movie.

17. Bill Murray, the actor playing the protagonist in Groundhog Day has starred in two other movies that feature transitions, Scrooged and Razor’s Edge. Write a movie review comparing the dynamic characterizations.

18. Write an argument that attacks the existential positions of one, two, or all three of the above movies. (You may include “The Myth of Sisyphus.”)

Final Product.

You and your partner(s) will decide the roles you will take: parent(s) or teenage offspring(s). You or your teacher will select your activities to support your dialogue. Develop your roles through the experiences you would like your children to have some day to better understand values that will help them find contentment in life and to find better achievement in their academics. The class and the teacher will be the evaluators for effectiveness.

The grading criteria will be:

• Time and effort shown to make an effective presentation using some visual aid

• Content that successfully encourages courage, good judgment, integrity, kindness, perseverance, respect, responsibility, and self-discipline

• Delivery that is focused on the audience effectively receiving the message (good voice, eye contact with other actors, communicativeness, body control, timing)

Assessment

The student should demonstrate accurate analysis of audience through appropriate choices in diction, motive support, point support, and non-textual support. The student’s presentation should demonstrate knowledge of the concept of character qualities and reflect positive values. The content of the presentation must be persuasive and make connections between literary elements (plot development and dynamic characterization) and another discipline (psychology, science, vocational arts, or music).

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