Third-Grade Teacher Shares Brilliant Band-Aid Lesson She Uses In Order To Teach Kids About Fairness

Sep 18, 2021 by apost team

When children are in elementary school, they begin to form their own ideas about justice and what is fair, especially in their classroom. When a child sees another student getting an extra snack, they may find it unfair, even though that student has diabetes and needs the snack to stay healthy. One brilliant teacher came up with a way to teach fairness, or equity over equality, to her 3rd-graders.

Aimee teaches elementary school and also makes videos on TikTok about her experiences and lessons. She gives tips and ideas for other teachers or parents to try in order to help their students succeed. Aimee shared a particular lesson in August 2021 about fairness that used band-aids as a learning tool.

“I asked my students to raise their hand if they’ve ever scraped their elbow," she says in the video. "As you can imagine, they all raised their hands. So I get a band-aid, I pick on one student to tell us a story of how they hurt their elbow, then I put the band-aid on their elbow.”

Next, she asked if they had ever bumped their heads, and many students said they had. However, this time Aimee offered a band-aid again, and the students were confused. Band-aids don’t help with a bump on the head, so why was this the solution offered?

The teacher showed her students that fairness is not everyone receiving the same type of help but giving everyone what they need to succeed. Now, whenever her students ask why another child received extra help while they did not, they are reminded of the band-aid lesson and understand. Keep reading to learn more about this incredible story.

Aimee summed up the moral of the lesson in her video. She said, "Fair doesn't mean everyone gets the same thing. Fair means that everyone gets what they need to be successful." In another video following the band-aid lesson, Aimee explained that the fairness lesson was really about equity. She used the term fairness because "not fair" is the terminology that kids use when they don't fully understand the concept.

The follow-up video also explained in detail why this lesson is important for children. A lot of the tools described in the video, like headphones, fidget spinners and extra treats, are helpful for those who need them but distracting for those who don’t. This is why it is important that the students understand the difference between equity and equality. 

Aimee’s band-aid video has over a million views and 7,000 comments. The majority of people loved the lesson and even wanted to share it with more than just elementary school students. “Quick, now teach all of the adults,” wrote one commenter.

Another person added, “This is extremely well explained. Thank you for doing this lesson.” A third person optimistically pointed out, “This next generation of teachers is going to completely change the world.” 

A lot of the reactions were people thanking Aimee for taking the time to emphasize important concepts, like fairness or equity, in her classroom. Many echoed the sentiment that they wished they had a teacher like her when they were young. Hopefully, more teachers will follow her lead, and we will get to see more incredible lessons like this in the future.

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