Episode 53: Flexible Job Options for Teachers

Teachers often feel “stuck” with their options when wanting to move beyond the classroom. However, there are so many things you can do while still working in education. I want to give you an overview and expand your ideas of what it can mean to work as an educator outside the classroom or in a typical school setting. So, in today’s episode, I’m sharing six flexible jobs for educators and why they can be a good fit for you.

I say this all the time because it continues to be true - your skills and experiences are needed and an asset to jobs beyond the classroom. With each of the six alternative jobs I share, I discuss the benefits of each, what each job entails, and where you can work. Ultimately, I want you to know there are options for you out there. So, if you stay true to yourself and what path is best for you, you will find a variety of flexible jobs for educators that are right for you!

 
 
 
 
 

Read the transcript for this episode:

Today, I want to talk to you about flexible job options for educators. And I know I talk about this all the time in various capacities. But today's purpose is really to give you an overview, and expand your ideas of what it can mean to work as an educator beyond the classroom.

Folks come to me all the time thinking like I want to not be a teacher anymore, but I think I could only be an administrator or maybe there's one possible curriculum position in my district. We start thinking about things in such a narrow way based on our circumstances.

And if you learn nothing else through today's episode, I want you to learn that there's a whole world of ways to to work flexibly in education. So let's talk about what some of those jobs can look like.

I'm just gonna go through six alternative job options for teachers working beyond the classroom. These can be done on the side, while you're classroom teaching, they can be done full time outside of the classroom that can be done part time, you get to choose your own adventure here.

But I want you to start thinking about how your particular skills and experiences are such an asset in each of these jobs. And of course, also, we don't all have to choose the same things, you get to choose your own adventure, you get to choose which options you want to explore.

So first off, but let's think about education consulting. Education consulting basically means sharing your education expertise to improve education and to collaborate with folks who might not have that same expertise.

I often give an example of a woman who is building an eighth grade math app, maybe she's an amazing programmer, and she knows all of these tech skills, and she knows how to build an app, things that I definitely don't know how to do. But she may have never taught eighth grade math before. So she needs to consult with somebody who knows about eighth grade math right, and she needs an education consultant.

Education consultants often work with school districts so or they work with companies to consult on specific areas of education. You can advise on educational products or services and think about what kinds of activities people should include in these products and services.

You could weigh in on even the idea phase of possible educational products, sharing your feedback about developmentally appropriateness or pedagogical approaches, or how this would actually look in the classroom.

You can give input or feedback to a nonprofit or other organization on educational content, you can provide professional development on specific subjects or approaches.

When you are an education consultant, you can pick a specific area to focus on or you can be more broad. It's a pretty helpful though to have a specific area or at least a kind of specific area to focus on.

So for example, maybe your passion is social and emotional learning. And maybe you'll lean into social and emotional consulting. You could consult on different products and services, you could lead PD sessions for teachers, all around social and emotional learning. So think about where your passion and experience lies. And then think about how you can consult and who you could consult with around that area.

The next potential flexible job that I want you to consider is kind of a two parter of online teaching and online tutoring. And I say is a two parter because tutoring I think of as more small group and online teaching I think of as bigger groups, but the terms are kind of used interchangeably.

But online teaching can be a great way to keep teaching, but with more flexibility. So you could work with an established company someplace like outschool, maybe and set up online classes on any subject area. And then they help to fill people into your classes. They helped you set up on the tech side and do the marketing.

They also take a percentage of what you make. So you could also set up your own online teaching or even in person tutoring company. And then you have to do all the marketing and finding the people and the tech setup and the curriculum but you get to keep what you make and you get to be in charge of the trajectory of your business.

Neither answer is right or wrong, you know is really thinking about do you want to work for an established company? Do you want to start your own tutoring business? Do you want to work one on one with students? Do you want to Work in small groups? Do you want to work in bigger groups? Do you want to work only online? Or do you want to do some work after school?

You know, when I was classroom teaching, I did tutoring one on one after school for years. And it was a great way to kind of hone my skills make some extra money in a much more relaxed environment.

The third option that you can consider is education coaching. And by that I mean instructional coaching, virtual instructional coaching is blowing up. There are so many organizations and companies providing virtual coaches to teachers all over the country.

And generally, this is a lot like in person coaching. But you get to collaborate with people all over. So you get to really support teachers in their instructional practices. And also, some of these coaching organizations are focused on teacher wellbeing.

So do some research into organizations you might want to coach with and consider which might be the best fit for you.

You'll notice a theme with all of these options. I'm asking you to think about what the best fit is for you right now. There are so many options. And it's really about figuring out what feels like the best thing to explore for you right now.

So in the spirit of more options, let's get into some more. The next one is writing and designing curriculum. This is my favorite. This is the area I've been working in for gosh, more than 15 years now. I started creating curriculum on the side while a classroom teacher and now I run a large curriculum agency where we take on big curriculum projects for edtech companies, school districts, nonprofits, and more.

And curriculum development I love because it allows me a chance to be creative, and really create the learning experiences I hope to see outside in the world. Curriculum development can be done on the side, while you're classroom teaching, it can be done full time, it can be done part time.

And you can think about if you want to work with textbook companies, or ed tech companies, or nonprofit organizations, or school districts, or even statewide educational agencies, so many options here. Start thinking about all the learning experiences that you come in contact with.

Those were made by curriculum developers, curriculum, developers wrote the questions, wrote the passages, wrote the worksheets, wrote the homework, all those things. So start seeing those things through new eyes and start thinking about what I want to create these things.

Another thing you can start seeing through different eyes and and my next option for you flexible work for educators is education writing. This basically means writing blogs, or articles around education topics. We have so many come across our social media feeds and our emails every day, right?

So start thinking about, Oh, someone wrote this article, would I want to? Likely they're getting paid a couple $100 to write these articles. And you can see this as a way to make some extra money, but also establish your expertise.

So going back to that education consulting example, maybe you want to be known as a social and emotional education consultant. That involves establishing your expertise, right. So one way to do this is to write some blogs or articles for established websites.

Let's say Edutopia, maybe you pitch Edutopia, an article about social and emotional learning. You get paid for that article. But you can also share that article on social media on LinkedIn while you pitch places your services. And that helps to establish your expertise. And bonus through writing, we often get much clearer on what our key messages are.

And then last but not least, you can start your own education business. This can be through any of the options that I've talked about, or really anything else. But really thinking about creating an education business is a way to help people. And as teachers, you are an expert at helping people.

Creating an education business can really be a way to create positive change in the education system. So think about maybe you want to start an online teaching business, or an education consulting business or a tutoring business, or maybe you want to create products for teachers or students. Or maybe you want to lead PD series for teachers or students.

Whatever it is you want to create, you can do it, you just need a plan, some key instruction and some support to move forward.

There are so many things that you can do in education, to build more flexibility and to build a better landscape in education; really creating the change that you want to see out there.

And so to review the options I went over as just a starting point, there's education consulting, tutoring and teaching, which can be done virtually, education coaching, writing and designing curriculum, education writing, starting your own education business.

The list truly does go on and on. But I want you to think about what feels the most interesting to you and how you can go forward and explore that option.

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