WATCH: Teacher Uses Band-Aids to Teach Kids a Valuable Lesson on ‘Fairness’

A teacher is going viral this week for the incredible way she teaches her students about “fairness.”

In a TikTok video that has now been viewed more than 3.8 million times, Aimee Scott, a third-grade teacher from Utah, explains how she uses Band-Aids to teach the kids in her classroom about “fairness.”

Aimee says that every year on the first day of school, she asks her students to raise their hand if they’ve ever scraped their elbow.

“As you can imagine, they all raise their hand,” she explains. “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,” she continues.

@aimeesedventures##howiteach fairness to my ##elementarystudents ##iteach ##backtoschool ##teachersoftiktok ##teachersontiktok ##teacher ##teachingontiktok ##classroom♬ original sound – Aimee | Elementary Teacher

“Next, I ask who’s ever bumped their head. More hands go up, I have someone tell me a story, and then I say, ‘I am so sorry you hurt your head. Here’s a Band-Aid for your elbow.’ The kids are a little bit confused at this point,” Aimee says.

“Next, I ask who’s ever scraped their knee. More hands go up, and I say, ‘I am so sorry you scraped your knee. Here’s a Band-Aid for your elbow.’ At this point, the kids are super confused,” Aimee laughs.

“I’ll stop my lesson, and we’ll have a conversation about how, even though I gave everyone the exact same thing, in the exact same way, it wasn’t helpful to them.”

She goes on to explain that “‘fair’ doesn’t mean everyone gets the same thing. ‘Fair’ means everyone gets what they need to be successful.”

“After this lesson, students are much more understanding when their friends with diabetes need an extra snack, when their friends with autism need noise-canceling headphones, when their friends with ADHD need a fidget spinner and they can’t have one. It helps with everything,” she says.

And THIS my friends, is why teachers are actually heroes.

TikTok users flooded the comments with praise and appreciation for Aimee’s simplification of a complex topic.

“YOU ARE EXACTLY what kind of teachers we need!!!” one user wrote.

“Slow clap! THANK. YOU. Thank you for teaching your students that we all have different needs to make us successful! Incredible,” wrote another.

“Where do we have to move to get you as a teacher?” asked one user, while hundreds of others joked about teaching this same lesson about equity versus equality to adults.

In an interview with Fox News, Aimee said she decided to create the video of her “Band-Aid lesson” after meeting with several parents worried for their children at the start of the school year.

“At the beginning of the year, parents come rushing in with their concerns about their children,” Aimee said. “They tell me all of the things that they are worried their children will be teased about. Type 1 diabetic children who need extra snacks to regulate their blood sugar and have beeping Dexcom monitors, students with ADHD who need flexible seating or fidget toys to help them concentrate, anxious students who need extra time on tests. The list is endless.”

Aimee says she references the lesson throughout the year, and her students remember it.

“Every time I hear, ‘Why does ______ get _____ ? That’s not fair!’ I just need to say, ‘Remember Band-Aids?’ They do. They remember this lesson all year.”


Bri Lamm
Bri Lamm
Bri Lamm is the Editor of foreverymom.com. An outgoing introvert with a heart that beats for adventure, she lives to serve the Lord, experience the world, and eat macaroni and cheese all while capturing life’s greatest moments on one of her favorite cameras. Follow her on Facebook.

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