Five years ago, when I taught art at a school in Seattle, I used Tinker toys（积木）as a test at the beginning of a term to find out something about my students. I put a small set of Tinker toys in front of each student, and said,” Make something out of the Tinker toys. You have 45 minutes today — and 45 minutes each day for the rest of the week.”
A few students hesitated to start. They waited to see what the rest of the class would do. Several others checked the instructions and made something according to one of the model plans provided. Another group built something out of their own imaginations.
Once I had a boy who worked experimentally with Tinker toys in his free time. His creations filled a shelf in the art classroom and a good part of his bedroom at home. I was delighted at the presence of such a student. Here was an exceptionally creative mind at work. His presence meant that I had an unexpected teaching assistant in class whose creativity would affect other students.
Encouraging this kind of thinking has a downside, for I might lose those students who had a different style of thinking. Without fail one would declare. “But I’m just not creative.”
“Do you dream at night when you’re asleep?”
“Oh, sure.”
“So tell me one of your most interesting dreams.” The student would tell something wildly imaginative. Flying in the sky or in a time machine or growing three heads. “That’s pretty creative. Who does that for you?”
“Nobody. I do it.”
“Really — at night, when you’re asleep?”
“Sure.”
“Try doing it in the daytime, in class, okay?”
【小题1】The teacher used Tinker toys in class in order to .| A．make the lessons more exciting | B．know more about the student |
| C．raise the students’ interest in art | D．teach the students about toy design |
| A．He was imaginative. | B．He was active in class. |
| C．He preferred to study alone. | D．He liked to help his teacher. |
| A．choice | B．difficulty | C．fault | D．power |
| A．most students just made something according to the model plans |
| B．the boy spent 45 minutes every day making a lot of creations |
| C．the boy’s creativity would affect other students forever |
| D．the student dreaming at night was also very creative. |
| A．An Art Class | B．An Encouraging Teacher |
| C．Tinker Toys | D．An Unexpected Teaching Assistant |
