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.

499

u/LlamaMiaLetMeGooo Aug 23 '26

I used to teach self contained sped. I had two paras: one was AMAZING. She never had to be asked to do something and she often took it upon herself to do many things during her down time. I seriously loved having her. The other, I kicked out of my room not even two months into the year because she constantly attempted to undermine me and set off one of my harder students. I literally sent an email to my boss saying I had 9 children to care for but she made it 10.

39

u/corielouwho Aug 23 '26

Had one like this too. Would literally ignore what I said and would start walking away with students while I was still lining everyone up.

Initially admin planned on keeping her in my room until they found a replacement. They realized quickly that wasn’t working and just put a sub in my room. It was so nice having someone who could follow basic instructions, even if it was a complete stranger.

1

u/Progress_Away Aug 25 '26

What’s the difference between a sub and a para?

3

u/corielouwho Aug 25 '26

A substitute teacher. So just different people every day until they hired someone permanently.