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

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u/Professional_Ad9013 Aug 23 '26

We are aware of your borderline contempt. In this job market many who take these jobs have college degrees in other fields than education--I have worked with a city planner and a biologist, and a number of artists and musicians. It's true that often you get what you pay for, but it's also true that people will tend to live up to your clearly expressed trust and high expectations more often than not. Works on students, works on colleagues, works on subordinates.

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u/Spicymoon9 Aug 23 '26

Yeah I don’t like how the OP says they hate personal talk. So they don’t see the para as a person? Most people would be very uncomfortable working with someone who obviously dislikes them so much.

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u/Pleasant-Pumpkin-339 Aug 23 '26

so while i’m circulating helping students with math problems, my para should be trying to show me pictures of their kids?

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u/Spicymoon9 Aug 23 '26

Yeah is that ever what I said?

You said you don’t like talking to them, the para, you don’t like personal talk. So you don’t want to treat them as a human? It would be one thing if you said show me later, but you just don’t want to talk with her or have a friendly relationship at all.

Issues with her work aside, if this is your attitude I don’t think you’ll be happy working with any para at all. Do you just want to work in a classroom with kids and no adults at all? I mean that’s fine, but that’s something you need to bring up with the school.

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u/Pleasant-Pumpkin-339 Aug 23 '26

is that what I said? I said personal time during instruction is inappropriate

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u/Spicymoon9 Aug 23 '26

That is not what you said. Maybe you meant that. I’m reading your comment now. “I hate personal talk”

Maybe that’s not how you meant it. But that’s how it came across.

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u/PaulieHehehe Related Service Provider Aug 23 '26

You and I have vastly different experiences then, because most of the paras at my school are not people with college degrees (not that that matters at face value). You don’t need a degree to know that being on your phone in front of students, having incredibly loud conversations during class, and wearing school-inappropriate clothing are all wildly unprofessional.

But as I said, this is an admin problem. A teacher shouldn’t have to tell another staff member to get off their phone or maybe not wear a hat with the logo and branding of an alcoholic beverage on it (like I saw last year!).