Smart and satisfying side gigs for teachers during the summer

Summer is coming and that means teachers will have a few blissful months of needed rest. But, what if two months without pay is a luxury you can’t afford? Teachers make an average of $47,989 annually according to a study published by Zippia, with new teachers earning as little as $32,000. Side gigs for teachers use your intellect, skills and, often, your classroom resources to pad your budget in the summer and the rest of the year.

Tutor

Tutoring is one of the most common side gigs for teachers. And while some school districts offer a stipend for tutoring after school, you don’t need to rely on your district to earn money this way.

Dozens of tutoring platforms enlist teachers — and, sometimes, subject matter experts who have no formal teaching experience — to share their wisdom both in person and online.

The best of these platforms allow tutors to set their own rates and simply help them market their services. Our favorite of these sites is Wyzant, a well-established tutoring platform that connects students with tutors in over 300 subjects. This popular platform draws more than 6 million customers per month and allows tutors to set their own rates, schedule and core subject areas.

Tutors create a profile, explaining their experience, subject areas and specialties. Students can search by ZIP code and subject matter or by a wide array of other factors, including tutoring rates and people willing to tutor in person.

Other tutoring sites that are worth considering: Chelsea International Education , TutorOcean , Juni Learning and Varsity Tutors. And for those who tutor music or dance, consider LessonFace.

Teach through Outschool

Do you have a particularly engaging lesson that you use in your regular classroom? Could you turn this into a one-hour class or a series of classes? If so, you may want to sign up with Outschool.

Outschool is an online teaching platform for kids ages 3 to 18. Teachers propose classes that can be heavily academic or whimsical. As a side gig for teachers, Outschool offers potentially generous pay and a level of artistic freedom that you normally don’t get in a classroom.

For instance, “ Mr. Matt’s Math Masters, ” uses games, puzzles and quests to teach 6th-grade mathematics. There’s a Spanish Conversation Club for kids ages 10 to 15. And a Drawing Summer Camp. There’s also a seemingly endless variety of lessons to teach early learners to read, write or speak a foreign language, as well as classes on dealing with anger, life skills and coding.

Teachers decide what classes to offer; how much to charge; and how many students can attend any given session. You also decide whether or not to test students on their progress.

You’re paid based on what you charge for each lesson and how many students sign up for your class. Popular classes can net tens of thousands of dollars for educators. Outschool simply charges a 30 percent commission on bookings.

Sell your lesson plans

When you’ve developed a lesson plan that’s particularly effective, you have two options. Gloat in the knowledge that no one will ever be as clever as you, or monetize that lesson by selling it to other teachers. To be sure, gloating can be fun. But, selling the lesson plan is both lucrative and good for students.

A site called TeachersPayTeacher allows educators to sell lesson plans, workbooks, classroom decorations, Powerpoint presentations and clip art. The one catch with this site is that it charges fairly high fees. Specifically, to sell here, you have two membership options.

The first is a Basic Seller account which costs $29 to set up and then charges a 45 percent commission on all sales, plus a 30-cent transaction fee. The Premium Seller account has a $59 yearly fee but offers an 80 percent payout rate on all sales. A Premium Seller account also limits transaction fees to 15 cents on products that cost $3 and less.

To maximize sales, describe your lesson plans as thoroughly as possible and include the subject area along with the core competency you’re teaching. Also share where you teach, since states often have different requirements and standards.

Create printables

Another way to take advantage of your lesson plans is to sell worksheets and other study tools as printables on Etsy.

The great thing about printables is you have no costs. You simply upload your design, which is downloaded by customers, who print it out on their own machines. You don’t need to print and mail products yourself.

Feel like your artistic sense isn’t up to creating a printable? Consider enlisting help from free software like Canva . This helps you import the information you have in another format, like Google Docs, and make it engaging and graphic. To be sure, Canva has a paid version with more bells and whistles. But even the free product is good enough to help your sales.

Notably, Etsy sales are driven by keywords and affinity groups. So, even though your classroom materials may not appeal to millions of the site’s followers, you can make great money by simply appealing to your niche.

Take your show online

Are there lessons that your students have so much trouble with that they could use additional help? Or do you have an engaging way of teaching any core subject that may help students succeed?

Consider putting those lessons online, where students can buy access to your online classroom and study materials. Three sites — Teachable , Thinkific and Udemy — all allow educators to create online classes for free. They even provide training materials to help you do it.

You pay nothing to develop the class and post it online. The sites merely take a commission when your classes sell.

Kristof is the editor of SideHusl.com, an independent website that reviews moneymaking opportunities in the gig economy.

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune .