First-Year Teacher Resignation

Yesterday was the last day of my first-year teaching. A couple of months ago, I was asked to resign due to an “inefficient use of instructional time”. My student teaching year was spent at a school with seven 50-minute periods a day, while my first year teaching was spent at a school with four 90-minute blocks a day, so there was a learning curve. Admin said to put them down on applications as a reference, as they still gave me an effective rating and said they would offer a positive recommendation to future employers.

However, literally every application I’ve started filling out has asked if I’ve ever been asked to resign from a position. I have already had one application closed on me without a response, and I feel it had everything to do with me checking that box. Some people tell me to lie on the application, but I just… can’t. I know I’d be found out, especially in this weird position where I have a positive recommendation provided by the same people who didn’t want me around anymore - there’s just no way the topic doesn’t come to light.

I feel so defeated. I feel like my teaching career is over. I don’t know what to do. Any advice is appreciated. I’m sure I’m not the only person to go through this experience, but it’s extremely scary since I feel like nobody will accept me after this.