The school year is coming to an end, and we are so excited about our summer holidays. Well, some of us. Others decide that they are going to teach summer school. They hustle around getting their resumes all fixed up so they can apply to teach summer school wherever they will get a job. The rest of us might have thought about teaching summer school, but somehow the idea of sweating it out in a classroom with students who do not want to be there doesn’t sound nearly as appealing as sipping on a drink with one of those little umbrellas in it while we sit by the pool or lie on the beach.
Some of you already may have taught summer school before because you were ‘in’ with a particular school, and you got the job again, leaving some other teachers jealous that they are not going to be making a couple thousand extra bucks in exchange for their holiday time. One question that you must ask yourself is if teaching summer school is worth it. Many justify doing it because they ‘need the extra money’ and say that “it’s only part of your summer”. I don’t know about the rest of you, but on summer vacation, August flies by. Wouldn’t you rather enjoy the couple of extra weeks in July?
I, like many other teachers initially thought the idea to teach summer school was great, because I’d be able to make some extra cash. It didn’t make sense to me to go out there and get a temp job that would pay me minimum wage. But then I evaluated my values, and realized that teaching 10 months of the year is enough for me. I didn’t want to teach summer school for the ‘fun’ it would give me, I was doing it for the extra money. This made me realize that it wasn’t that I wanted to teach summer school, rather I wanted to make more money as a teacher so I could to the things I wanted.
This put me into research mode. I began to search for different opportunities. If making money was what I wanted to do, teaching was not the way to do it. Sure, it’s a great secure pay cheque that comes religiously every two weeks, but I realized that it was never going to give me any drastic bonuses.
I also did not like the idea of going back to school to get another degree so I could make more money. I knew that with the skills I already had and some innovative thinking, I could make more money during the school year, so that when it came down to my summer holidays (And, I like to claim them as ‘mine’), I’d be able to spend that time with family, and friends doing things that I love.
If you are seriously considering teaching summer school- great. However, you really need to evaluate your reasons for doing it. If it is not for the love of teaching students who don’t care to be there on your time off, I strongly suggest using the skills you already have (and as teachers we have plenty) to make more money for yourself. Use your summer to build a second stream of income, not just a set wage. By combining your teaching skills, with some thinking outside the box, a little learning, and application, along with the power of the Internet, you will make way more money though out the whole year, so you can spend your summers doing what you want.
Do not forget to check out the link in the resource box below. I’ve got a great free report that details the mistakes I made before I started making money on my teaching skills outside of the classroom so you can learn from them.
