One thing that I was thinking of that Dr. Turner mentioned in class relating to all these things we have been talking about was in our classrooms, how can we still make good decisions even when circumstances are bad, or just plain different?

When circumstances are bad or different I think as a teacher and a human being you are taught to go with your gut. Evaluate the circumstance and talk to someone you trust. Don't do something that you feel may test your integrity or you aren't able to sleep well at night. If the decision you make has a bad outcome or costs some people to look upon you differently that's a chance you may have to take in order to stay true to yourself and to do your job the best that you can.

I think just to add to Casey's idea, there is no way that every decision you make will work out as you plan. I think that is a large reason why most of us want to teach though. The advantage of a profession like this is that your not a robot. While EOC's and everything give guidelines in which to follow, in the end, it is still your classroom, your students and you have final say in how that all plays out. If it works out, then that is awesome, but there will always be times when it doesn't, and there will be other times when something that had worked in the past doesn't work in the present. Don't dwell too long and simply move to the next obsticle.

I asked one of my favorite teachers one time about how she made all the hard decisions that come with the job. She told me not to be afraid of making mistakes, as long as I always was humble and did what was best for the student. She also reminded me that as a first year teacher mistakes are going to happen and not to be afraid or too proud to ask for help from a trusted friend or experienced teacher, though in the end the decision is still ours.

To add on not being afraid to ask for help, I always need to talk to a bias person, if for any reason but to hear my thoughts aloud. Tough decisions are tough for a reason and, as humans, we shouldn't make them on our own. Talking to fellow teachers can be helpful but sometimes, rather than listening/helping you, they just want to share their opinions about the situation with you. When teaching, it's hard not to get emotionally attached and therefore hard not to take your work home with you. Talking to a family member, roommate, or spouse could really help you evaluate the situation without the influence of colleagues.

I agree. I think we as (almost) first-year teachers have the both blessing and curse of being able to make mistakes. Our administration and other teachers in our school will know that we're just starting out and will probably remember how it feels to be brand new to teaching. Asking teachers who have lots of experience is probably the best thing we can do for both ourselves and our students. I don't think we really have to worry (as much, or to the extent some of us have talked about in class) about getting fired/not getting a paycheck. I believe we're getting the education that we need now to make the best decisions we can. I plan on making my band room the most enjoyable place to learn and make music that I can, and I'm going to try to always keep the student's interest first. After all, we ARE going to be teachers, our first concern should be about our students.
That might of been a little off topic. hah sorry.

I agree with everyone above! Good decisions are hard to make when one id in a stressful situation and has to make a decision right on the spot. I fell that a good question to ask yourself before responding ot any decision that one makes is "How much will this matter in a year?" My mom always use to ask me this question and i have always asked myself this question when it came to decision I had to make that I was not sure about.
In the end, we are all humans, we are going to make good and bad decisions and we are just going ot have to learn how to live with them. Hopefully all of us will have the strength and knowledge to make the right ones.