How These Public School Teachers Made $4.4 Million Selling Lesson Plans Online

Courtesy of Deanna Jump Deanna Jump, the top seller

Teaching is by no means a very financially rewarding profession.

Even though teachers are doing one of the most important jobs in society, full-time public school teachers make a mere $56,069 per year on average.

That's where Teachers Pay Teachers comes in.

The online marketplace for course materials and lesson plans has attracted 1.8 million teachers, whom have collectively sold more $30 million worth of materials online.

The top 10 sellers on the platform have generated more than $5 million in sales, netting around $4.4 million in total.

Teachers Pay Teachers features course materials for grades ranging from preschool to the collegiate level. But Teachers Pay Teachers Head of Product John Yoo says they have seen the strongest interest in the K-12 sector.

On the high school level, Yoo says Tracee Orman's material on how to integrate "The Hunger Games" into the classroom has been widely popular.

"She's not only become seen as the expert in using the Hunger Games in the classroom," Yoo says. "She's done what I think all good teachers do, which is marry the things that kids are interested in and turn it into really good curriculum. You know, use what they're interested in to draw them into the classroom."

Yoo notes that not all teachers have found the same success as the top 10 sellers. In order to be successful on the platform, Yoo says they encourage teachers to leverage social media to get their name out there.

"Teachers by nature need to share with each other," Yoo says. "That's part of what it means to be on the job. [...] Whether you're experiences or new, you need to figure out how to teach things in ways that resonate with kids."

Business Insider got in touch with many of Teachers Pay Teachers's most successful teachers to learn more about their experiences.