The Ins And Outs Of Teaching On Outschool

What it’s like to teach on Outschool as a full-time classroom teacher

After teaching online for my school district last year and absolutely loving it, I knew I wanted to continue teaching online.  My school district wasn’t going to keep the online program, so it was up to me to figure out how I was going to continue teaching virtually as I headed back to the classroom to teach first grade.  Teaching online from home gave me the headspace to know what it was like to teach online and I realized it was a great way to make more money and supplement my teaching income.  I also was tutoring online from home and knew that adding an online class would be a great way to continue making money from home.  I’m not trying to leave the classroom, so I figured there has to be other teachers just like me who want to make more money by creating their own online course and to find out if teaching on Outschool is worth it.  

I kept hearing about Outschool on social media and finally decided to look into it. It seemed overwhelming at first, so in today’s blog post, I’m going to break down for you the ins and outs of teaching on Outschool whether you want to do it full time or just a few classes here and there like me.

Align your favorite subject to teach in the classroom with your Outschool course

Align your favorite subject to teach in the classroom with your Outschool course

It’s really important when you’re thinking about what you want to teach on Outschool to align your favorite subject to teach in the classroom with your Outschool course.  I teach you this with your tutoring business and clearly defining your tutoring niche and the same principles apply to your online courses.  You want to have passion for what you’re teaching and a high interest in what you’re teaching as well.  If you’re creating something you think people will like but it’s not something you’re knowledgeable about, it will come across in your class and your class won’t be a popular listing.  

Here’s how I aligned one of my favorite subjects to teach with my Outschool course: I created a course on handwriting called Handwriting Fundamentals and tested it out with a beta student (more on that later) who was also a former kindergarten and first grade student of mine.  I decided to teach handwriting because it’s a skill I teach in first grade and I think it’s so important to teach.    

Schedule your Outschool class when it works best for you

Schedule your class when it works best for you

Just because you’re teaching full-time doesn’t mean your Outschool class won’t work.  Obviously you can’t teach on Outschool during the school day if you’re a classroom teacher like me, but after school is a great time to teach online.  There are tons of homeschool students on Outschool and you’ll be shocked how many kids are waiting to take your class.  When I teach my handwriting course on Outschool, I come home from school and give myself enough time to decompress from the day.  I take my dog, Woobie, on a walk and grab a snack.  Then I head down to my office and teach for just a half hour!  I taught just one class at a time to get my feet wet with the process and not overwhelm myself.  You can certainly offer more classes if you have the time in the evening.  I also tutor so I needed to make sure I wasn’t filling up all my free time after school. 

Teaching on Outschool can help grow your tutoring business

Teaching on Outschool can help grow your tutoring business

Teaching on Outschool is a great way to grow your tutoring business.  I learned this first hand while teaching on Outschool because a few of my online students requested tutoring once their parents found out I was a tutor by following me on Instagram!  This is why I’m always telling you to talk about your tutoring business every day on social media.  When I was shifting my tutoring business to online tutoring only, this worked perfectly because my Outschool students were used to the online format.  You’ve built the like, know, and trust factor in your class, so transitioning them from your course to online tutoring is a great way to keep a good thing going.  I wouldn’t recommend talking about your online tutoring business during an Outschool class, but if a parent reaches out to you on social media or email that’s perfectly fine.  

Create your own online course and test it out on Outschool first to see how successful it is

Create your own online course and test it out on Outschool first to see how successful it is

I mentioned this briefly above that you can take your own couse idea and build it, test it out in a beta group, and see if it works.  Of course you can do this just on Outschool, especially if you’re just starting out.  I like the idea of having a separate online course and teaching it on Outschool.  Two streams of income for the win!  I talked a lot about this in this blog post: 5 Ways For Teachers To Make More Money.

Here’s what I did: I created the class inside of Kajabi (that’s where all of my online courses are housed) and she went through all of the modules and tested it out for me.  With her and her mom’s feedback I knew I had a viable product.  Her mom would send me her results and this turned into a testimonial I could then use to market my course.  

I do recommend testing your course at first if you have students at your fingertips like I do as a classroom teacher or tutor.  It’s okay if you don’t have students you can test it out with though!  

Use a successful product from your TPT store to help guide your class

Use a successful product from your TPT store to help guide your class

You might have noticed I’m weaving everything in to show you exactly how I created my Outschool course so I could maximize my earning potential.  If you’ve been wondering “how to use my TPT resources to make more money” - then you’re going to love this tip.  My course idea started with handwriting worksheets for my first grade students.  When the handwriting bundle was successful, I thought I could create a handwriting course.  Once that was successful, I decided to teach the same course on Outschool.  

Make passive income using skills you already have as a teacher

Learning how to create resources that sell on Teachers Pay Teachers isn’t as hard as you’re making it.  Click here to learn more about maximizing your income by creating TPT products that actually sell.

This isn’t an overnight process but the teacherpreneurs who stick with their idea and keep going are the ones who make it.  You can be that teacher!  You have to be in it for the long game, not the short game.

So there you have it, a look into what it’s like to teach on Outschool as a full time classroom teacher.  Let me know what questions you have in the comments below.

If you’re interested in teaching on Outschool, you can check it out here!