Has anyone else been terminated and then found another position.

I was fired about a month ago. Administration was horrible, unsupportive, would say negative things about me in front of my face, to my co-workers, and even once to my husband. I honestly felt they had been trying to get me to quit for months. It was having a horrible effect on my mental health. It was causing me to have panic attacks and anxiety. I had already informed the school, I would not be renewing my contract back in March, so I effectively had already resigned. I wrote something on Instagram that I felt unsupported and unliked by my admin (I was having a bad day and went about venting the wrong way), admin found out. I was put on unpaid leave for a week and was fired the same day my lawyer was drafting a letter to ask them to release me from my contract.

It sucks because it was so close to the end of the school year and I really wanted to finish the year with my class. I took some time to just like wallow in my sadness, but now I'm ready to start looking for a new position for next year.

I'm really starting to stress out because nearly single application asks if I have been terminated or asked to resign. I feel like this is going to be a huge black mark. I don't want to lie, but I also don't want to say "yes" if this is going to cause my application to not even be looked at. I'm sending myself into a spiral and making myself sick with anxiety.

I have learned from this experience. I wasn't a bad teacher, I just was stuck in a bad situation and made a mistake. Has anyone else been terminated and then able to get another teaching position?

 

I'm going to say that posting on Instagram was a huge mistake, especially if people could figure out, or you stated, what district or school you were at. Since I don't go on Instagram, I'm "out of the loop" when it comes to the unmasking effect that posts have there. I have been using this forum for so long, with helpful and useful moderators that can remind us or steer us away from over-sharing, that I have not sought another forum.

Yes, you can get another job, but may need to sub for a while to get really good current references. Not what you want to hear, to be sure, but it is a source of income while gaining more experience and contact with varied administrations, which may give you an in when the right job comes along. Did you ever ask why the negative remarks as opposed to a more formal evaluation that is just between you and your supervisor/s? That is where you are open to be critiqued, which is what makes these meetings important, especially for new hires and/or novice teachers just starting their careers. The advantages of such meetings is that you can set attainable goals with admin, and they can often get you teamed up with an experienced teacher to somewhat mentor you. This is the norm for new teachers.

As to what to put on the application, be truthful. There is always somewhere on an application that is submitted online to "share". Without bad mouthing your former employers, it would be the best place to state that you welcome an environment where you can continue to learn and enhance your effectiveness as a teacher. If you are offered full time employment as an aide, consider it. The more you can observe good teachers and varied administrations in action with real students, the better you will become at managing your students, realistic expectations, and your coping skills. Best of luck.