This project is inspired by my upcoming unit on “The Phantom Tollbooth” by Norton Juster. In this unit, students will be learning about different forms and uses of wordplay, including puns and idioms. The lesson for this project is to choose an idiom and depict its literal and figurative meaning using paint as the primary medium. Students will either be assigned or choose an idiom, such as “fish out of water”, “under the weather”, “a perfect storm”, etc. This assignment will help them make sense of these idioms while coming to understand how words can have multiple meanings in different situations. 

 

In my example, I depicted the phrase “cry for help” by painting the word “help” in a speech bubble and attaching tissues to the other end. It was definitely fun and I would enjoy a process of brainstorming, defining and drafting for this assignment with my students. I think it would give students a fun and engaging opportunity to think critically about phrases we use in common language and how to play with words. It can be done with a fairly low budget as long as we have paint, and students could use household items to amplify their designs.