Jobs

7 Summer Job Ideas for Teachers

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Clark Howard Staff | April 19th, 2019

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While we all know it’s vitally important, teaching isn’t really one of the highest paying professions. So it’s no surprise that many of our nation’s educators want to supplement their income with summer jobs for teachers when school isn’t in session.

Check Out These Summertime Job Opportunities for Educators

Exact stats aren’t readily available, but one recent study from the Texas State Teachers Association found that 49% of teachers said they worked summer jobs when school was out.

With that in mind, here are some summer job opportunities teachers may want to consider…

1. Create Original Lesson Plans for Other Teachers

TeachersPayTeachers.com is a website that allows a teacher who is a content expert in one field to create lesson plans and share them with other teachers across the country for a price.

The site takes a 15% commission on all sales, but some “teacherpreneurs” earn $100,000 annually on this site from their lesson plans, according to reports!

2. Become an Online Tutor

Here’s another natural fit for teachers, particularly for high school educators who teach challenging material!

Websites like Chegg.com and Tutor.com allow you to do what you do best — help struggling students gain mastery of difficult subjects. You’ll virtually connect with students in need of lessons and do the teaching right from your home computer.

Pay rates start at $20+ an hour.

3. Get a Remote Job

A variety of companies like Amazon, American Express, Hilton, Williams-Sonoma and more regularly hire for remote positions.

Requirements vary, but in general, you need a dedicated telephone and internet service, among other things. Typical pay rates vary between $9 and $15 an hour.

You can see our list of legitimate work-at-home companies here.

4. Deliver for Shipt and Instacart

Instacart and Shipt are two leaders in grocery delivery. Someone sends in an order and you pull the items off the shelf and deliver them to the person’s doorstep.

You’ll get estimated hourly earnings of $11.86 – $12.15.

5. Join a Focus Group

Rather than offering steady work, being a focus group participant offers a little more work-life balance. Most focus groups can take up to two hours or more and tend to pay between $50 and $75 an hour. But it is possible to find hour-long focus groups.

Here’s how to find focus group opportunities in your area.

6. Become an MTurker

Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is an online platform where businesses post various micro-jobs that workers can complete for a small cash reward.

For example, you may be asked to complete surveys for academic research, identify objects in a photo or video or transcribe audio recordings, among other tasks.

You can expect to earn an average of $7.30 an hour doing MTurk, according to our own research.

7. Drive for Uber or Lyft

Some people make a living driving for ride-share services like Uber and Lyft. But teachers don’t need to dedicate their lives to either one; all it takes is one spare hour to make some dough!

You’ll make estimated hourly earnings of $15.68 to $17.50 an hour. Your actual earnings may vary by where, when and how often you drive.

Meanwhile, read about money expert Clark Howard’s experience of driving for both services.