On page 22, Tomlinson says, “The truth is, we will never really do all each child needs us to do.” Later on this page she says, “The point is not to entertain guilt. The point is to relentlessly seize the remarkable opportunity of a teacher to shape lives – to do the best we can to ensure that we are better at reaching children today than yesterday, better at it this year than last.”
As a preservice teacher, I have an idea of what my future classroom will look and feel like. I foresee myself as a teacher, with my own class, my own style of teaching, and my own connection with my students. My education has succeeded in filling my brain with incredible ideas and my heart with powerful ideals. As a preservice teacher, my greatest fear is that my visions won't become reality.
What Tomlinson says however, reassures me. He is telling me that what I can control is all I can control. Or in other words, me giving it 100% is what I can do. At the end of the day, if I can say I gave it all the effort and heart that I could, and then learn from the day and be better the next, then I will be working for my ideals. I will not see what I didn't do, but all that I did. Every student may not leave my class at the end of the year a math expert, but they will have felt my influence for good. Because I will have tried.
With that permission, you really can give it all the energy you have each day and then go home and recharge with your family and other interests.
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