Are you a teacher? If so, you probably enjoy the benefits of lots of vacation time and leading a fulfilling career helping children learn. You can make decent money as a teacher (especially considering you get an average of 12 weeks off every year), but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t use some extra money.
One of the best money making ideas for teachers is becoming a tutor. You have the skills and expertise to teach. Use those skills to help struggling students. A certified teacher can charge anywhere from $15 to $100 an hour depending on the needs of the student, the qualifications of the teacher, and the location.
You don’t have to be a teacher to make money as a tutor. If you have strong knowledge of any subject, you can tutor. Unqualified tutors won’t get paid as much and may only be able to help older students more because they don’t have the expertise to teach kids reading, comprehension, math basics, etc., but they can still do well with middle school and high school students.
If you’re in college, you could tutor for classes you already took and excelled in. Some universities hire tutors for each of the professors so they can offer tutoring services for their students, or you can tutor on your own.
Become an Expert
In order to be a successful tutor, you need to be an expert in your subject or subjects. For example, if you flunked algebra in high school (the last time you looked at the stuff), you have no business teaching it and helping others who are struggling. You might do more bad than good. However, if you were a math whiz and math problems have always come easy to you, it could be a good choice.
If you are a teacher, search for tutoring in your area of expertise. For example, if you’re a reading teacher, tutor in reading. You have the expertise and know-how to teach reading. You will be better able to actually make a difference for students struggling in reading and comprehension.
Qualifications
Qualifications help you land jobs, make more money and do a good job. If you want to tutor in math, it’s best to be certified to teach math whether you’re an elementary school teacher or a high school math teacher.
If you aren’t a teacher, look for ways to show other qualifications. For example, if you’re an engineering student in college, you can tutor other engineering students and you can tutor math in high school. If you’re good at engineering, it is assumed you must be good at math. The few years of college is enough qualification for many struggling students to learn from you.
Finding Tutor Jobs
The best way to find tutoring jobs is through local schools. If you’re a teacher, let all the other teachers know you can tutor. Parents are always asking teacher for tutors. If you’re a teacher and everyone knows you offer good tutoring services, you’ll be the first one to know.
If you aren’t a teacher, find out if there are any programs at schools that hire tutors, or speak with local schools about opportunities. Put up fliers, and spread the work. If you’re tutoring at college, tell your professors you’re available and they can refer students to you if they feel you are a strong enough tutor.
For general tutoring, you can try tutor.com. You can sign up and take exams to qualify yourself in different subjects. Plus, it’s online tutoring which means you won’t have to commute anywhere.
How to Tutor
In order to tutor successfully, you need to tutor regularly and make progress. Students won’t make progress if you tutor sporadically. This must be made known to the student and student’s parents (if they are younger).
For example, if you plan to help a student improve their reading comprehension, meeting with them once a week once or twice a month and frequently cancelling won’t cut it. You should be meeting with them for at least an hour every week on a regular basis. If the parent is constantly cancelling, make sure they know that their child isn’t benefiting from it.
Another problem that often comes with tutoring is the inconsistency. People tend to cancel last minute or just don’t show up. This tends to happen more often with parents seeking out tutoring for their children. Their kids don’t usually care about tutoring and the burden falls on the parent. If they aren’t committed, they won’t be consistent.
Adult students tend to be better about this. They are the ones asking for tutoring because they want to do better in their class. Of course, this isn’t always the case.
The problem with this is that you lose money whenever they don’t show up. If this is money you depend on, or you have cleared your schedule for it only to have it cancelled wasting your time, it can be frustrating and financially problematic.
To deal with this, tell the students or parents that they have to pay whether they come or not, even if they cancel. You could have them pay one month up front. This way you’ll get paid either way and they will motivated to come. You might allow one or two cancellations a year, such as for vacation or other emergencies and plans. Work this out with them before you start.
If you have someone who is chronically late, tell them if they are more than 10 minutes late, tutoring will be cancelled but there will be no refund. Only do this if they are constantly late by 30 minutes or more. Give them an option to change the time and work with them first.
What to Teach
It’s usually easier to start with older students because they usually just need help with their homework, problems explained, etc. If they need help with English, you can work with them step by step writing essays and picking analyzing literature.
Younger kids usually need help with learning skills such as reading, comprehension or math. You need to come up with a curriculum. Look for a book course or instruction materials online, or build your own curriculum to follow.
What Happens if the Students aren’t Progressing?
A big worry among tutors is the student lacking progress. If you’re tutoring regularly for a year and they can’t read any better than before, you probably need to find some new techniques. Speak with their classroom teacher or reading teacher about what you can do specifically to help them read better.
For older students, progress will show with better grades. If they aren’t getting better grades, you might need to speak with their teacher about what you can do with them to help them improve their grades.
Tutoring is taking a student’s education into your hands. It’s very important to tutor right and do a good job. For more information on how to be a successful tutor, I recommend How to Tutor. This book will teach someone how to tutor other kids, and it is also helpful for parents tutoring their own children. Pick up a copy here: