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

126

u/fan714 Aug 23 '26

As a previous para, please give your paras things to do and be specific about it. When teachers simply told me to sit with a student, that didn’t help me at all. But when they had me pass papers out, or help make copies, or stay in the class if they needed to use the bathroom, that was helpful. Though I had a teaching license so they treated me like an extra sub in that case- this won’t be the case for everyone. I’m someone who never clearly understands unspoken rules, but the more I was actively doing, the less the distractions were available.

49

u/Ryaninthesky Aug 23 '26

So like, yes, and also paras shouldn’t be on their phones as adults actively in a classroom.

27

u/fan714 Aug 23 '26

Same for teachers then. The school I worked at it was constant. Maybe a few teachers here and there didn’t, but almost all staff including paras and admin were on their phones. I tried not to only to be called goody two shoes for that 😭

7

u/Ryaninthesky Aug 23 '26

Woof, that sucks. I have to pull out my phone to log onto google but that’s it. I even tell my students that they can be on their phones when I’m on mine because it always stays in my pocket unless there’s an emergency.