Post #26: Groundhog Day Lessons (February 3, 2023)

Murray plays Phil, a weatherman reluctantly covering the annual emergence of world-famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil. MacDowell plays his producer Rita, who accompanies Murray and the cameraman on the trip. After covering the annual February 2nd ceremony, a blizzard prevents the news team from leaving Punxsutawney and forces the news team to bed down for the night in town. Murray’s character awakes to find he is reliving February 2nd - and the next day he finds out the same, and so on…If you have not seen the movie, you can read more about the plot online.

The reason I draw the connection between school and what seems to be a film about a miserable man stuck in a time loop, is the happy ending. All educators, like Murray’s weatherman character, relive the same time period (a year instead of a day) over and over again. And good educators, like Murray’s character, try new things in hopes of the desired outcome of student success instead of love. And great educators, like Murray’s character, do take advantage of the repetitions to learn and figure it out in the end. Weatherman Phil acknowledges that a great day takes work…

When you have a chance, thank a teacher. They constantly live this movie script and they are working hard to perfect their craft each time around!