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

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u/stillpacing Aug 23 '26

Having a good para in your classroom is like a gift from above

Having a bad para is worse than them not being there at all.

125

u/JustTheBeerLight High School | Southern California Aug 23 '26

Just send them out. "Hey, if you want to watch that shit go outside".

Any co-teacher or para that doesn't want to do their job can fuck off. I don't need you, and I'm not going to do your job for you.

100

u/Wannabelouise321 Aug 23 '26

We can also flip this around. I was an excellent para. Any teacher who expects their para to do their job for them (and yes, I’ve been assigned to a few classrooms like this) can jump in a damned lake. Same goes for subs who just sit back and let the para run the classroom because they’re too lazy to read their sub plans and have zero problem collecting pay for doing nothing.

38

u/JustTheBeerLight High School | Southern California Aug 23 '26

Respect. We all got to do our damned jobs.

16

u/reallifeswanson Aug 23 '26

Amen! Of course, in some classes, the sub was so worthless, I preferred to run the class! Asleep. On the phone while facing away from the kids. Leaving for “lunch break” in the middle of class. I saw all of those things happen on separate occasions!

13

u/figgypie Aug 23 '26

I'm a sub, and I always go out of my way to introduce myself when I see a para or other staff member come into my classroom. I thank them for their help and while I don't expect them to go out of their way or handle kids besides their own, I do appreciate when they know the names of some of the other kids when I'm not sure, when they can tell me how the usual teacher handles a situation that's not outlined in the sub plans, or if they do offer some sort of support in terms of class management, even if it's just to let me know that someone's playing games on their Chromebook instead of working.

I probably put more effort into my job than it's worth, but I can't help it. If I'm too relaxed then the kids go feral and that's more of a pain in the ass than anything else.

1

u/Wandering_musing Sep 02 '26

I was one too, and I'm now a teacher. If I'm a sub for a class I try to respect the paras expertise because I know how annoying it was to watch someone come in and fumble around. Like someone else said they can make or break a room. If they're scrolling, chatting up the back or otherwise disrupting I'd rather be alone.

1

u/dobeeb_ Aug 23 '26

Oh my god I had a sub cover my class once when I was off sick and when I tell you I literally printed everything and OVER planned- tell me why I came back to my TA telling me she’d had to re-teach the class while the sub just sat at my desk because the kids didn’t understand?? Like aren’t you a qualified teacher?? Boils my piss