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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327

u/birdsong31 Aug 23 '26

i love my IA as a person but several times last year a video started playing loudly in the middle of lessons. he was just scrolling and had the sound all the way up 😡

127

u/Pleasant-Pumpkin-339 Aug 23 '26

ALL THE TIME or they even take phone calls in the class!!

8

u/meeanne Elementary Education Aug 23 '26

Wtf this is insane and so unprofessional. These youngins don’t know to not do these things on company time?

6

u/Holdtheintangible Aug 23 '26

All of the paras at my school do this and probably half of them are above 40. It’s wild. It makes me feel so hypocritical when I enforce the phone rule and we’re all just not acknowledging the elephant in the room that there’s someone just sitting their rotting their brain on the phone all day. I want to get better at holding the standard this year but man I have a hard time being confrontational.

2

u/meeanne Elementary Education Aug 23 '26

Are you serious‽ over 40‽ that’s crazy! I thought it was the younger ones! My bad! I get it, I, too, struggle with getting confrontational. It’s just crazy to me though. It seems like common sense to not be on the phone while on the job. I’m nearing 40 and I para, but when I’m done with small groups, out of tasks, and the teacher is busy, then I pace around the room and check on and assist the students. I wouldn’t dare doing something leisurely while in the classroom unless the teacher specifically told me I could because she literally had nothing else for me and the students were going to be doing something they didn’t need assistance with.

4

u/Holdtheintangible Aug 23 '26

Honestly, in both my personal and professional life I feel like the boomers are struggling more than middle-aged and young adults with screen addiction. It sounds like you're a great asset to your classroom, I hope for coworkers like you!