Aimee Scott Teaches "Fairness" With Band-aids

Aimee Scott

""fair does not mean everyone gets the same thing, fair means that everyone gets what they need to be successful," They remember this lesson all year," 

Aimee Scott told FOX News

Teacher's viral 'Band-Aid lesson' is the simple way to teach kids fairness

By Genevieve Shaw Brown, Fox News, August 26, 2021

 A third-grade teacher from Utah has gone viral with a simple lesson she uses in her classroom. 

Aimee Scott told FOX News 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. The idea was to share it with other teachers so they could use it in their classrooms too.

"At the beginning of the year, parents come rushing in with their concerns about their children," Scott 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." 

On the first day of school, she asks her students who has ever scraped their elbow in the class. She lets one kid tell their story of how their elbow got hurt and then calls them up and puts a bandage on their elbow. 

Next, she asks who has ever bumped their head. She calls on one student to tell the story of the bumped head and then calls them to the front where she puts a bandage on . . . their elbow.

Repeat for a scraped knee. 

By this time, the kids are confused. She stops the lesson and has a conversation about how she gave everyone the "exact same thing in the exact same way, it wasn't helpful to them." That "fair does not mean everyone gets the same thing, fair means that everyone gets what they need to be successful," Scott said in her TikTok video, which has been liked nearly 800,000 times.

"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," she said.

Scott told FOX News her kids "love this lesson." 

"Before I started my teaching career, another teacher told me that there would be days I would need to pretend I was an underpaid actress," she said. "I make a big deal when I give students a band-aid in the lesson, it's more engaging and fun that way. When I tell students, 'I am so sorry you bumped your head! Here's a Band-Aid for your elbow!' the whole classroom giggles. 

"I love the conversations we have at the end of the lesson to talk about how fair doesn't mean we all get the same things," Scott told FOX News. "One example I give is, 'Sometimes you might see a friend using a timer to help them complete an assignment, but that stresses you out, so you don't have to use a timer.' 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."

 It's helpful for worried parents, too. 

"It calms their fears about sending their children to school," she said. They know they are going to be accepted by their peers if they need something extra in the classroom. Many parents have shown their child's teacher my video to help introduce them to the class. Those [comments][ make me the happiest because that is why I created the video."