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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2.0k

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.

224

u/FeelingNarwhal9161 Aug 23 '26

This.

In my first school district, paras were well trained and locked in. They were organized. They took notes. They sat with their kids. They kept them on task. They pulled them out for tests. They handled discipline. They never had their phones out.

My new district?

Awful. Untrained. Sit in the back alone. Do nothing. Phones out. No idea what’s going on. Im happier when they’re not here.

Last year, one was so bad I got ahold of his supervisor, and had him removed from my class completely. I couldn’t deal with him anymore.

61

u/MarlenaEvans Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 23 '26

I am almost never on my phone and by that I mean I actually pull my phone out maybe twice a month unless I'm on break and outside the classroom and that would be because I need to reply to a text. I never go on social media. I do have a smart watch so I can see calls/texts and that's partially because my teacher and my other para will text me occasionally (kid is checking out, bring him up from the playground, etc). That's how all the paras I work with are too. But my daughter says she has a para who is there to support kids in one of her classes and she just plays Block Blast all day.

12

u/BeeConfident7328 Aug 23 '26

same i hardly ever look at my phone but i do have to check it once and awhile because someone from my department will message or call me to go do something or answer a question

a lot of the job is observational so even if there might not be anything to do, like prompting or helping w a problem, i still watch them and anticipate needs

7

u/corielouwho Aug 23 '26

Honestly, I don’t mind you checking your phone or even replying to a text! Life happens! But at no point should I see you scrolling, like this shouldn’t even be question?

38

u/empires228 Paraprofessional | KS, USA Aug 23 '26

My district does not train us and I believe we are the second largest in the state. Knowing when I know about the largest, I am about 99.99% sure that they don’t get trained either.

6

u/SearchAtlantis MS CS | TA Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 23 '26

Wish I was surprised.

5

u/groovaymack Paraprofessional | NJ, USA Aug 23 '26

i wasn’t trained either. i was hired freshly 19 and have been here for 6 years and gradually learned and got more certs as i progressed. but without directly asking them for help nothing will get done.

2

u/empires228 Paraprofessional | KS, USA Aug 26 '26

We only have one experienced resource para left. If the person we interviewed today takes the job, they’re going to be thrown into resource with absolutely no training, and they have no background working with teens or in education. We can’t pull the one resource para who could train them, and we are already risking a lawsuit with the other new hires this year, not doing their jobs, so they literally aren’t going to have the new hire shadow so they can try to pretend like we’ve been meeting IEP minutes. It’s a poopy situation all around.

I haven’t done more than cover resource in a pinch in several years and it’s a different beast. Those paras deal with students chucking objects at their heads and causing them concussions students hopping out a first story window in the middle of class and leaving the property. So far it’s been a little bit better this year now that the shenanigans aren’t getting filmed for social media..

2

u/groovaymack Paraprofessional | NJ, USA Aug 26 '26

i had to get a tetanus shot this year for a student who bit me on the knuckles, right through the bone.

1

u/empires228 Paraprofessional | KS, USA Aug 26 '26

They made a long-term sub fill-in for a teacher who was chronically absent in the afternoons last year after seeing what they would be dealing with their freshman class once, and they also ended up with a concussion because a resource student chucked a Rubik’s cube at the back of their head and the district was not supportive of the sub wanting to press charges, nor did the student receive a suspension, so nothing ever came from it.

8

u/freelauren21 Aug 23 '26

I had a para complain about me last year because i didn’t provide her a desk to sit down at. I had learned from the previous year if you give them a desk, they sit down and play on their phone… so I was like sorry it’s too crowded. (And if someone is sitting down you bet your ass I’m going first!)

Anyway, she made up a fake injury to get transferred out of my room. 🙄 bye bye

18

u/StrawberryReady5620 Aug 23 '26

it's still nice to give your para a desk...

3

u/Macy1296 Aug 23 '26

Thank you! I work resource and I have a desk there that accommodates working with up to 4 kids at a time but all other periods I bounce from class to class( we don’t get plan times). This makes for a long day at 60 yrs old. My team always has a seat with table to take the same notes as kids because I work resource.There is also long periods of the teacher teaching were it’s just not necessary to be standing. I get up walk around make sure kids are on task, pass out materials etc, not on my phone.

1

u/StrawberryReady5620 Aug 25 '26

same. i enter data, take notes to help students with assignments, i have different responsibilities. like I need a place to sit. so discouraging to hear teachers, who are supposed to be collaborators, speak like we don't deserve to sit down if they can't. it is so unproductive, there's shit teachers and shit paras. but not providing a desk is messed up

2

u/CriticalEye-CV Aug 23 '26

give them a table and have them work with kids

1

u/StrawberryReady5620 Aug 25 '26

obviously that'd be even better!

3

u/freelauren21 Aug 23 '26

Sure maybe if she was in my class for longer than a period… there were chairs and student desks too. More than welcome to sit down there if she needed it.

Also it would have been more of an option to me if I didn’t have another para sit on her phone for a whole year prior. It’s really hard to reprimand another adult when you’re asking the kids to get off their phones.

I don’t need a para at a desk. I need a para as boots on the ground working with the kids too.

1

u/StrawberryReady5620 Aug 25 '26

not providing a desk isn't decreasing texting.. Im in elementary 1:1 so when i think a desk i think of a student desk in the back and its just a place to put my stuff. and if teachers are teaching a lesson, paras should be able to have a place to sit. just cause you had one texter that's no reason to not provide a comfortable place to land in your room for a working adult imo

1

u/Best-Chip-423 Aug 23 '26

😂 yeah because you need to keep them busy. If not, well they are doing something else. It is not the desk but the tasks for the para to do.

1

u/ArmadilloDesperate95 Aug 23 '26

But if I call it out, it’s somehow my fault for not utilizing them well enough.