Thread: Teacher who quit would like to try again

If I understand you correctly, you did not complete your first year of teaching.

I am sorry this happened to you.

Depending upon where you live - this could make it difficult for you to resume work as a teacher.

You will basically need to work at restoring your credibility and reliability.

You may have to work at a less desirable school in a less than desirable location. For example, inner city schools typically have staffing problems and a two year stint at such a school would certainly go a long way towards restoring your professional reputation.

Regardless of where you wind up, you will need to demonstrate your reliability by not only finishing the school year - but probably working at this school for a minimum of two years.

With two solid years of experience under your belt and at least a satisfactory recommendation from your building administrator, you should be able to move on with your teaching career.

As an alternate route, you could consider working as a full time substitute. Working as a full time substitute would give you more hands-on experience with a variety of grade levels and schools. In time, as a school administration got to know you, they might consider offering you employment as a classroom teacher.

You could also beef up your resume and demonstrate enthusiasm for teaching by: volunteering your services as a tutor and/or taking additional education classes.

In terms of the stress you encountered as an elementary teacher - one question you will more than likely encounter at any interview will be how you anticipate handling job related stress this next time around.

I hope you are prepared to answer this question because nobody but you really knows your frame of mind.

If I were a building administrator, I must admit that it would be very difficult for me to consider employing you. Having failed to finish your first year of teaching, what guarantees could you give me that you would actually finish the next school year?

The more you can demonstrate your emotional stability and professional reliability, the better off you'll be.

What have you done in the interim to prepare yourself for going back into the classroom?

Have you taken any self-help classes? Have you had sessions with a counselor? Do you belong to a support group?

The more you can show a potential employer that you're reliable and enthusiastic about teaching, the better your chances will be of eventually finding employment.

What you MUST NOT DO is to waffle on this question.

"I will try to do better" is not an answer that would fill me with confidence in your abilities as a teacher. It's a bit like that sequence between Yoda and Luke Skywalker where Yoda bangs his stick on the ground and says, "There is no try. There is do or do not."

Best wishes,

David

I think that you can't lose anything by trying. You really won't know if you could be hired unless you apply for some positions. You need to prepare your answer for why you left, and be clear that you are doubly determined not to quit this time. Make it clear that with a good mentoring program, you are sure you can do it, that your students liked you and parents were happy with you - you just weren't getting the support you need. With the right support, I'm sure you can do it too!

Good luck.

David has some good advice. Most importantly, you will need to sell yourself. I mean really sell the fact that you can do it this time around.

I saw that you did not feel supported by the admin. It has only been two years, is the admin the same, or are you looking in a different school/district. If the admin is the same then you might want to look else where.

Good luck.

One other thing that may help you is if you had a high undergraduate GPA and a glowing letter of recommendation from the teacher who supervised your student teaching.

It is always possible that you were simply not a good match for the school you were in. Experienced educators know that different schools have different climates and some climates may not be conducive to certain personalities.

With this being said - unless you have something to offset your prior experience i.e. employment at a tutoring center, volunteer tutoring, substitute teaching, continuing education courses or courses taken towards an advanced degree in education etc. you will essentially be forcing a potential employer to take a "leap of faith" regarding your ability to successfully complete a school year.

Given a choice, most schools will go for a "sure thing" and hire a teacher with a proven track record of success instead of someone who broke contract during the first year.

The two exceptions to this would be the sympathetic administrator who sees potential in you ... and administrators like these are few and far between. The other alternative is to go someplace where teachers are always in short supply i.e. the inner city schools. Successful completion of a school year in one of these schools would certainly go a long way in restoring your professional credibility.

Having taught at the inner city school for five years, I can assure you that the potential for stress at such a school will most likely be higher than anything you experienced at your previous school.

thank you all for the great advice, I really appreciate you all taking the time to respond.