The 8 Best Summer Jobs for Teachers

More educators are looking for summer jobs for teachers than ever before. Teachers work hard throughout the school year, often grading papers late into the evening and preparing lesson plans for the next day. Some work throughout the summer, too, making changes to their classrooms or preparing materials for the upcoming year. Depending on how their pay is setup with their school district, however, teachers may not actually be getting a paycheck through the summer break.

According to the NEA Ranking of the States 2018 and Estimates of School Statistics 2019, the estimated national average salary for classroom teachers for the 2018-2019 school year is $61,730, while the estimated national average instructional staff salary is $64,143. Adjusted for inflation, the national average teacher salary has decreased 4.5% and the average salary for instructional staff has decreased by 3.6% over the past decade.

These pressures, coupled with a rising cost of living in most areas, leads many teachers in search of summer jobs and side gigs to make ends meet. Fortunately, teachers have a lot of skills that they can put to good use. Here’s a look at a few of the best summer jobs for teachers.

1. Tutoring

Summer tutoring jobs are a practical choice for teachers. Why not continue doing what you do throughout the school year, but on a smaller scale, helping students master subjects like math and ELA in small groups or in one-to-one settings? There are also a number of online tutoring platforms that connect students with qualified tutors, such as TutorMe, Wyzant, Chegg Tutors, and Skooli, which is dedicated to math tutoring. While some platforms allow anyone with demonstrated proficiency in their subject of choice to become a tutor, with your teaching credentials, you’re a shoe-in for tutoring jobs.

2. Test Prep Instructor

Another summer job option that capitalizes on your teaching skills, test prep instructors help students prepare for exams like the SAT, LSAT, MCAT and GRE. Companies like Kaplan hire test prep instructors to teach their programs and offer full training, as well as opportunities to teach both in the classroom and online.

3. Delivery Driver

If you’re looking for a summer job that’s relatively stress-free and you can find your way around any part of town, consider working as a delivery driver. There are opportunities to deliver for florists and restaurants, package delivery jobs, and even general delivery driver jobs who are tasked with delivering tools and supplies to job sites for construction, landscaping, and similar types of companies.

4. Customer Service Representative

If there’s one skill that most teachers have reluctantly mastered, it’s dealing with difficult people. From students who simply won’t follow instructions to parents who are upset about their child’s grades, teachers have to deal with grief from multiple generations. If you’re not ready to hibernate in seclusion and avoid all social interaction at the end of the school year, that skill translates well to customer service jobs. Not all customer service interactions require making angry customers less angry, so in some ways, customer service jobs can be a nice change of pace.

5. Event Staffing

If you’re looking for fast-paced job with opportunities to meet new people, event staffing jobs are abundant during the summer months. You can work as security staff for local concerts, as a server for an outdoor wedding, register guests at a conference, or even work in food prep to prepare menus for different types of events.

6. Camp Counselor

If you’re tired of being cooped up indoors after a long, nine-month school year, a camp counselor job might be just what you’re looking for. You’ll get to spend time with kids or teens, mentor them, and take part in adventures like field trips or camping in the great outdoors. Camps of all kinds happen over the summer months when kids are out of school, so depending on your interests, you might even find an opportunity doing something you love, like playing basketball, horseback riding, or even revisiting your Boy Scout or Girl Scout days.

7. Merchandising

If you’re looking for something totally different from your usual classroom environment, merchandising is a great job for teachers who want to stay active throughout the summer while earning extra cash. As a teacher, you’re naturally detail-oriented, so a job in merchandising might be a good fit. Merchandising jobs for merchandising services agencies involve ensuring that merchandise is displayed properly, setting up new shelves and displays, and processing packouts, restocks, and reorders. If you’re looking for a job with plenty of social interaction, consider a brand ambassador job. You’ll work in stores to share information with customers, offer samples, and distribute brochures and promotional materials.

8. Data Entry

Put your typing proficiency and great attention to detail to good use as a data entry clerk this summer. You’ll help companies organize information, manage records, input data into software databases, review data for errors,
generate reports, and maybe even get to perform a bit of data analysis. Data entry is often a great fit for math and technical subject teachers, but it’s a good opportunity for any teacher to earn extra money during the summer.

Whether you need a summer job to make ends meet or you’re just looking for a productive way to pass the time over summer break, these summer jobs make good use of the skills you’ve acquired throughout your career. Sign up with Wonolo to get access to jobs near you in industries like merchandising, warehousing, general labor, event staffing, data entry, and more. When you find a job that’s the right fit, accept it with a simple click. Wonolo gives you the flexibility to work around your schedule by working only when and where you want this summer.