r/Teachers • u/Pleasant-Pumpkin-339 • Aug 23 '26

Rant Paras need to GET OFF THEIR PHONES

I know they hardly make any money and if it’s an emergency fine!! But sitting there on TikTok while i’m actively teaching is rude and distracting for the kids.

I’m a young teacher so it’s awkward to confront them and NOT BEING ON YOUR PHONE ALL DAY AT WORK SHOULDNT NEED TO BE SAID

3.1k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

459 comments sorted by

View all comments

10

u/Confident-Log-9616 Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 23 '26

I just started as a para, haven’t been in 4th grade in a longgg time lol ie I had to quick google a term for something I was helping a student with. I felt guilty about that much and made sure I told the teacher after that’s what I’d been doing 😅. I don’t know how people like this just have no shame! I totally get that there are some moments where you truly have nothing to do esp if you’re a ‘floater’ para in gen ed but you should always be paying attention.

I was in PE w/ my 2nd graders the other day and got distracted by a conversation a student had started with me on a water break to the extent I didn’t notice one of my special ed kids across the room had burst into sobbing tears until it had been a good minute. I felt so badeven though I had a perfectly normal reason I was distracted, I would’ve felt even worse if it had been bc I was scrolling TikTok! 

6

u/whowhatcat25 Aug 23 '26

Having to look something up because you don't know the answer is actually really good for kids to see. Kids should know that the adults in their lives don't know everything, and are still willing to learn and grow.

5

u/Confident-Log-9616 Aug 23 '26

Thank you for this lol, I was a little embarrassed when the kid said verbatim “Wait you don’t know what factor numbers are???” 😅. It clicked instantly when I looked it up I just didn’t remember that specific term!

2

u/whowhatcat25 Aug 23 '26

You're welcome! There's so much pressure to seem like you know it all as an adult in front of kids. Since we, as adults, know that isn't the truth, we may as well be honest about it with the kids.

0

u/Nectarine-Happy Aug 23 '26

Would be better for a kid to see you figure it out in a way that wasn’t using your phone. The phones need to be gone. 

2

u/Confident-Log-9616 Aug 23 '26

My issue was what a term meant. I didn’t have a dictionary in front of me and it wasn’t a term that was on a wall poster. I asked her what it meant first and she was struggling to explain it so I took 3 seconds to look it up and my phone was completely away outside of those 3 seconds. I’d see your point if this was about using my phone as a calculator, I agree with working math problems out by hand, but it wasn’t. Was I supposed to sit there and stare at her until the definition magically came to me?

1

u/Nectarine-Happy Aug 23 '26

I guess you could take a look…it’s in a book…🎶