Part time jobs for teachers is something I’ve thought about a lot. I was actually a teacher before I started this blog, and side hustled like crazy to pay off my student loan debt.
Teachers having a part time gig isn’t uncommon at all these days. According to the Pew Research Center, one in six teachers hold a second job, and they aren’t just working summer jobs.
It can be a lot of work to hold a full-time teaching job and a side gig, which is why I’ve put together this list of the best part time jobs for teachers. There are a surprising number of flexible side hustles for teachers, weekend jobs for teachers, and some great summer gigs.
What are the best part time jobs for teachers? Here are 17 Side Jobs for Teachers
Second jobs for teachers
This first section includes part time jobs for teachers that can be done year-round. These are jobs you can realistically work after your teaching day is over and on the weekends. They’re a good way to bring in a steady stream of additional income through the entire year.
1. Tutor
Tutoring is one of the most obvious second jobs for teachers, and it’s a really great way for teachers to make extra cash. As a teacher, you already have the necessary experience and skills to tutor, and many families look for after school or weekend tutoring for their kids.
What a lot of teachers like about this side job is that it pays pretty well – tutors can make anywhere from $20-$40/hour.
It’s best to specialize in a specific subject and age group. It will help you market your services, especially if you can talk about your experience or history teaching in that niche.
I highly recommend Wyzant if you’re looking for a tutoring platform. It’s free to sign up, and you’ll create a profile that details your services and experience. Wyzant tutors set their own rates and can work in-person or tutor remotely. Wyzant tutors keep 75% of their rates.
Another option is to list your services on social media and ask your network to pass along your information. You can also list your services on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, or NextDoor.
2. Test-prep tutor
Test-prep tutors help students prepare for college and graduate school admittance exams. You’re not only helping students learn the material, but you’re also teaching test-taking skills and strategies.
This is one of the highest paying tutoring jobs for teachers, and you can make upwards of $60/hour.
Princeton Review is one of the most well-known test-prep sites. They offer tutoring for the ACT, AP, MCAT, LSAT, ISEE, and many other tests. Princeton Review has a 6 step application process that includes two paid 5-week training sessions.
Varsity Tutors is a growing company that offers one-on-one tutoring for college admittance exams and other K-12 subjects.
3. AP Reader
AP Readers evaluate and score Advanced Placement exams for high school students. AP exams are college-level exams that show how well high school students have learned their AP coursework.
You must be a high school teacher who is AP course authorized or college faculty to qualify for this side job. And there are specific dates throughout the year that exams are read. For example, the 2021 reading dates for AP biology exams is June 18-24.
AP readers make an average of $25/hour, and you can also earn professional development hours and continuing education credits for your time.
4. Freelance writer
In my experience, teachers make great freelance writers. You’re an excellent communicator, you know how to do research, and you can logically piece together an argument.
There are lots of different kinds of freelance writing work you can do on the side, too. Bloggers are often looking for freelance writers to help fill out their content calendar. You can write sales pages, emails, stock web content, and much more.
Freelance writing work is known for being really flexible, and it’s scalable – so the work fits in easily with your teaching schedule and you can grow your writing business on the side.
Read How to Become a Freelance Writer: The Ultimate Guide to learn how to get started.
5. Virtual assistant
Virtual assistants (VAs) are a huge asset to business owners like myself. They are responsible for all kinds of behind the scenes work, and they also keep business owners on task.
Because teachers have to be extremely organized and able to juggle several things at a time, working as a virtual assistant is one of the best part time jobs for teachers.
Here’s a better idea of what virtual assistants do:
- Email inbox management
- Project management
- Publishing blog posts
- Maintaining and publishing to social media accounts
- Making travel arrangements
- Scheduling
- Bookkeeping
- Customer service
- Pinterest account management
Your exact responsibilities can vary from client to client, but this is a fast-paced and flexible option.
There are companies that hire virtual assistants for business owners, and others that match VAs with one-off tasks. But if you want to make the most money, I highly recommend going into business for yourself.
The article How to Become a Virtual Assistant in 2020 explains everything from finding a niche, courses, and starting your own VA side hustle.
6. Pet sitting
Working with pets might just be the break you need after a long day of working with kids. This is a very flexible side job for teachers, and the sense of responsibility you need to have as a teacher translates into a valuable pet sitting skill.
There are different kinds of pet sitting gigs depending on your availability and interests. You can board pets in your house – they come and live with you while the pet owner is out of town. You can stay at the pet owner’s house, or go and check on their pets from time to time.
Pet sitters can earn anywhere from $30-$50/day depending on where you live and the kinds of services you need to perform, like administering medication or grooming, for example.
If you’re interested in this great side hustle for teachers, I highly recommend using Rover. It’s free to create an account and list your services, and Rover takes a 30% service fee per booking.
7. Teach an online course
The kind of online courses I’m talking about are very different from the kind of remote, virtual learning you’ve gotten familiar with in 2020. Still, as a teacher, you know how to break down large concepts and explaining them in bite-sized nuggets – which is just what online course instructors do.
I’ve been creating and selling online courses for a few years now, and my wife jokes that I never really got away from teaching.
I genuinely loved the teaching part of my job, but it was all of the paperwork, administration, and dealing with angry parents that I didn’t love. I bet you know about all of that.
Teaching online courses can become a really good source of extra income for teachers. The hardest part is creating the course itself. Here’s what you’ll need to do to create an online course:
- Decide on a topic: The most in-demand topics are ones that help people solve a problem. Think about your areas of expertise, what people know you for, what people in your community want to know more about, etc.
- Start building your course: Start by listing out 5-8 things that people need to know about the topic. These will be your course modules or lessons. Break each one down into several smaller lessons. You want the content to be easy-to-digest.
- Create your lessons: You’ll want to film 5-10 minute long videos. You can use a screen recording app like Loom. I prefer video-based courses, but there are some really successful text-based courses too.
- Price your course: Look at comparable courses in your niche. Adding coaching components is a good way to add more value and increase prices.
- Pick a course platform: There are lots of online course platforms, some include built-in marketing tools and others are more of a marketplace. You can check out the top options in 8 of the Best Online Course Platforms for 2020.
One of my readers started teaching online graphic design courses on the side of her job a few years ago, and she’s been sharing her progress. She’s gone from earning a few thousand dollars a month to making over $80,000 selling her courses on a couple of different platforms. She sells her courses on Udemy and Skillshare.
8. Sell your lesson plans
If you haven’t already purchased worksheets, packets, or some other kind of printable from Teachers Pay Teachers, then you probably know someone who has.
Teachers Pay Teachers is an online marketplace where teachers can share their resources with other teachers across the country. There have already been more than 1 billion resources downloaded from TpT, including things like:
- Homeschool curriculums
- Rubrics
- Flashcards
- Unit plans
- PowerPoint and Prezi presentations
- Bundled and individual lesson plans
- Study guides
- Social/emotional learning
- Teacher manuals
The way Teachers Pay Teachers works is that you sign up for a Basic or Premium Seller account – Premium is $59.95/year.
Basic sellers earn 55% of every sale and pay a $0.30 transaction fee per sale. Premium Sellers keep 80% of all sales and pay a transaction fee of $0.15 for orders that are less than $3.
One of the reasons this is one of the best part time jobs for teachers is because it’s fairly passive income. You can upload files you already have, and they can sell almost indefinitely – as long as the material is up-to-date.
The top seller on Teachers Pay Teachers has made over $2 million, and most teachers earn a few hundred dollars a year selling on the site.
Read more at 11 Best Side Hustles for Teachers to Make More Money at Home.
9. Facebook ads
After I quit my teaching job to run this site full time, I started running Facebook ads for small businesses in my area. My first client was the jeweler who sold me my wife’s engagement ring, and after a couple of months, I was out-earning what I made as a teacher.
Here’s the craziest part: I wasn’t working nearly as many hours as I was teaching.
The flexibility and amount of time it takes to run Facebook ads (only about 2-3 hours a week once your ad system is set up) are a big part of why this is one of the best part time jobs for teachers.
Running Facebook ads is offering digital marketing services to small businesses. These can be local, online, or businesses on the other side of the country. You’re creating ads, maintaining them, developing leads, and sometimes helping clients manage those leads.
You’re working 100% online, you’re in charge of the hours you work, and you can make around $1,000-$1,500/month per client.
Check out the Facebook Side Hustle Course to learn more. This course outlines the exact system I used to start running ads, and it includes access to a really active coaching and support community.
10. Blogger
I can’t talk about side jobs for teachers without mentioning this one. I created this site on the side of my teaching job and eventually left teaching to blog full time.
Blogging is a slow business model overall, but it has the highest overall earning potential for a part-time job. It took me a few months to make anything from this site, but now I’m making a 7-figure income five years later.
Not every blogger will have the same trajectory – a lot of bloggers comfortably make $1,000-$5,000 extra each month.
What I like so much about blogging is that you can build it at your own pace. You’re also in complete control of what you write about and how you monetize your site.
If you’re interested in starting a blog, check out my free, step-by-step guide: How to Start a Blog in 2020.
11. Deliver food
Food delivery is one of the most in-demand part time jobs that I’m seeing right now. Some of the busiest times for food delivery are evening hours and weekends, which fits really well with a teaching schedule.
Below are two companies I recommend checking out:
Postmates has been around since 2011 and is known for delivering anything you can think of – and not always food. Drivers have delivered everything from PlayStations, candy bars, toilet paper, and Chinese takeout.
There are sign-on bonuses for new drivers that vary by market, and you’ll need to complete a certain number of deliveries by a specified date to earn the bonus.
Postmates also offers incentives, like Blitz pricing (orders with higher than average payouts) and Hot Spots (in-demand delivery areas).
DoorDash was founded in 2013 and partners with more than 300,000 restaurants nationwide. They focus pretty much exclusively on restaurant and food delivery – that’s the main difference between these two companies.
There are also DoorDash promotions to help you earn more, including Peak Pay, when areas of the DoorDash app light-up red because there’s a higher need for drivers in those areas. You can also complete Challenges where you complete so many orders in a set amount of time.
Delivery drivers for DoorDash and Postmates average $15-$20/hour, and you keep 100% of your tips. The work is really flexible, and I already know a few teachers who deliver for these services. They log into the app after they get off work, and drive for a couple of hours before going home.
To make the most money, you can sign up for more than one delivery service. Lots of drivers are signed up for 2 or more apps, and keep more than one open at a time. You can pick the highest paying orders and have more opportunities to earn.
12. Instacart shopper
Another food delivery option is delivering groceries for Instacart. Instacart was founded in 2012 and now operates in all 50 states and parts of Canada.
There are two options for Instacart shoppers:
- Full-service shoppers: You shop for customers orders and deliver them – you’re technically an independent contractor
- In-store shoppers: You take customer orders and shop for them, but someone else delivers them – you are considered a part-time employee
Working as a full-service Instacart shopper will probably be the most flexible option for teachers. You pick the area you deliver for and choose your hours, which are scheduled in the app.
Instacart shoppers average $12-$20/hour and keep 100% of their tips.
Like all food delivery services, the sign-up process involves a background check and a clean driving record. It typically takes drivers around a week to start driving after they’ve signed up.
13. Flip stuff online
Flipping stuff to sell is buying things at thrift stores, garage sales, online marketplaces, etc., and selling them at a higher price to earn a profit. Melissa and Doug of Flea Market Flipper have made a serious living flipping things – they made over $130,000 in side income one year.
This could be a really fun part time job for a teacher who wants something that’s more hands-on and doesn’t involve spending their spare time sitting at a computer or staring at an app. A lot of your time is shopping around to find things to flip.
Doug and Melissa explain how to get started in their free Intro to Flipping Workshop.
14. Proofreader
If you cringe watching your students misplace commas or constantly mix up they/their/they’re, proofreading could be a really good part time job for you. Proofreaders are detail-oriented freelancers who help writers and business owners produce professional-looking content.
Because proofreaders are freelancers, proofreading is a really flexible part time job for teachers. And if you’re interested in learning more, the free Proofreading Framework Masterclass explains what skills you need to become a proofreader and how to find ideal clients.
Summer jobs for teachers
Don’t want to teach summer school? Below are great summer jobs for teachers who want a low-commitment gig for the summer months.
15. Work at a museum or zoo
Most museums and zoos have educational centers that look for people with teaching experience. There are also jobs for tour guides, front desk staff, gallery staff, and more.
They may also run summer camps and need teachers to work as counselors. I knew a biology teacher at the school I worked at whose summer job was as a camp counselor at the zoo. He always looked forward to the summers when he could start his “fun job” again.
16. Bartender/server
Bartenders and servers make pretty good money once you include tips, and what a lot of teachers like about this job is that you’re completely removed from any of the stress of teaching.
Besides obvious places like working at a restaurant or bar, you can also check out local breweries or wineries – I would love this one! Catering companies and wedding or reception venues may also be hiring.
Food trucks are ideal to check out, too. We have food trucks going all year round in Texas, but you can find them at even more festivals and events during the summer.
17. Housesitter
I’ve always thought that house sitting would be one of the best summer jobs for teachers because it’s something you can easily do in addition to another side hustle.
Rover (the pet sitting website) is also for lists house sitting services, or you can find house sitting jobs on Care.com.
Another option, while it doesn’t pay, is looking for out-of-town house sitting jobs on TrustedHouseSitter.com. Homeowners list houses in the U.S. and different parts of the world, and in exchange for a free stay in a beautiful part of the world, you take care of their house.
The final word on part-time jobs for teachers
I have so much respect for teachers. Not only did I teach, but my wife was also a teacher, and my mom spent decades working in schools. Sometimes it’s a tough job that extends well beyond the school day.
So when you want a side job, you need legitimate options that pay well and work with your busy schedule.
Running Facebook ads and starting a blog are my favorite picks – it’s what I have experience with and I know many other teachers who have been successful in these areas.
There’s a lot of growth in food delivery, plus it’s not too difficult. Last week I got an email from Postmates saying they have a crazy high need for new drivers now.
Selling online courses and Teachers Pay Teachers can turn into passive sources of income, and you could put in a lot of the work during the summer to have a stream of income ready once school starts. Just a thought.
There are lots of great part-time jobs for teachers available. Think about what kind of things you’re interested in doing, your timeline for earning money, and what your end goals are. This will help you pick the best option.
About Millennial Money Man
Bobby Hoyt is a former band director who paid off $40,000 of student loan debt in 18 months on his teaching salary and then left his job to run Millennial Money Man full-time. He helps other Millennials earn more through side hustles, save more through budgeting tools and apps, and pay off debt. He is a personal finance expert who has been seen on Forbes, Reuters, MarketWatch, CNBC, International Business Times, Business Insider, US News, Yahoo Finance, and many other personal finance and entrepreneurship media outlets.
