“All I Have To Do Is Say ‘Band-Aid’ And They Know”: Teacher Shares How She Explains To Her Students Why They Can’t Be Treated Equally
School is not only there to teach kids how to read, write or count things. It also teaches them social skills such as communication, understanding, and compassion. However, it is not easy to explain such concepts. Bored Panda already talked about how teachers find ways to present students with various social perceptions. 21-year-old third-grade teacher Aimee also has her own way of presenting and explaining the concept of fairness to her students using a very simple but widely used thing such as a band-aid.
More Info: TikTok
Teaching kids things related to morals can be a hard task
Image credits: aimeesedventures
The woman uploaded a TikTok video where she shared how she managed to explain to her students what fairness was all about. The woman asked the kids if they have ever bruised their elbow and a lot of kids raised their hands. She then asked one of them to share their story of what happened. After this, the teacher gave the students a band-aid.
This 3rd-grade teacher decided to teach her students about fairness by using band-aids
Image credits: aimeesedventures
The kids took some time to understand what the teacher wanted to say but at the end she succeeded in explaining what fairness, or equity, means
Image credits: aimeesedventures
She then proceeded to ask the kids if any of them had ever bumped their heads. Again, a bunch of kids raised their hands. She then asked one of the kids to share their experience. After they did, she also gave them a band-aid, also saying that she’s sorry this happened. The kids got a little bit confused, knowing that this is not how one treats a bump on a head.
Image credits: aimeesedventures
You can watch the full video down below
@aimeesedventures##howiteach fairness to my ##elementarystudents ##iteach ##backtoschool ##teachersoftiktok ##teachersontiktok ##teacher ##teachingontiktok ##classroom♬ original sound – Aimee | Elementary Teacher
In her follow-up video the teacher elaborates more on the lesson, telling that now the students are much more understanding and know how to help each other
Image credits: aimeesedventures
The teacher then asked who has ever scraped their knee. The same happened: some kids raised their hands, one of them got to share their story and after this, they received the same band-aid that the other kids got. This is when the teacher decided to share the moral of this situation: fairness is not when everyone gets the same things and the same treatment, but when everyone gets what they need in a certain situation.
Image credits: aimeesedventures
Image credits: aimeesedventures
Image credits: aimeesedventures
The teacher later made a follow-up video where she said that this was an equity lesson. It has helped kids to understand that fairness, or rather equity, doesn’t stem from providing people with the exact same means to help them when the problems they are dealing with are totally different. Because of this important lesson, now they know how to act when there is a classmate in need. She then provided some examples of what equity looks like in real life: a fidget spinner can help a kid with ADHD focus better and do their work more effectively while the same toy given to another kid can only distract them from their work. The teacher also emphasized that she agrees to let her students use any “accommodation” that can help them during their school day.
Image credits: aimeesedventures
She then demonstrates a few situations where this lesson helps students to perform better
Image credits: aimeesedventures
Image credits: aimeesedventures
The video of the band-aid lesson went viral with 5.8 million views. Aimee’s other videos also include tips and tricks on how to organize your work, prepare for classes and teach kids. This young teacher seems to really enjoy her job and share her discoveries with others.
What do you think about the band-aid lesson? Share your thoughts in the comments down below!
Image credits: aimeesedventures
Image credits: aimeesedventures
Image credits: aimeesedventures
Image credits: aimeesedventures
Image credits: aimeesedventures
Image credits: aimeesedventures
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As a student with ADHD I love this. This teacher seems to really care about helping each individual and not all teachers understand how to do that. Not only that but shes very open to helping each student try different things to help them achieve their best which teaches them to do this later in life instead of forcing themselves into methods that don't work for them. It normalizes accommodations and teaches these kids not to be ashamed of needing accommodations.
Helping people and equitable are the traits of a noble and kind person. I respect that.
I follow her on TikTok. She is amazing. She has great tips for helping students with everything from emotions to spelling. I wish she was my granddaughter's teacher, not that she doesn't have a wonderful teacher, but this woman is a whole new level.
I must not be as smart as a third grader because I didn't understand her bandaid lesson's point. After reading the comments, I think I get it.
I like the equal v fair/equitable meme with people standing on boxes. https://medium.com/@CRA1G/the-evolution-of-an-accidental-meme-ddc4e139e0e4
Looked it up because of your post. A great way of teaching the basics.
Load More Replies...
When I went to school, it was more like "you're different, you'll be punished!" - no matter what else. Ok, THAT teacher left not long after I changed school, as her antics weren't that popular among parents or children or anyone at all ... but, right until then, she had been a teacher for about 30 years ... 30 years of effing up children's experience in education, and maybe losing a lot on the way who could be, whatever, an engineer who has THAT one idea that gets fusion reactors from lab stuff that's cool to an indefinite source of energy for any and every purpose ... who got into special ed because he was different ... and got into drugs, because nothing else made his life enjoyable ... actually, I know one who maybe could have been that one. Well, know ... knew. He OD'ed when he was 16. Highly intelligent, very considerate, but quite different and triggerable ... would have needed something else than a system that is run to accomodate the laziest teachers.
She should put bandaids on everyone and say hey we all need help we all have broken hearts and boo boos and scrapes but you know what scientist say we are all related and all one family and that's what we do were family and we're going to be here for each other. To pick each other up when we fall down because no man left behind. Unify them not put them in their own categories. And teach them about all the possible disabilities because there's a lot a s**t ton half the population is disabled in some way and on assistance so make sure they are very aware because it's a scary world out here. And we're going to need a village to fix it.
This is fantastic. Teaching young children this valuable lesson will assist them later on in life just as much as in the present. Ah, one favor, please. Could you teach their parents this lesson. Since the 2020 US elections, I'm sick of hearing adults whining about how life isn't fair.
Yep and you make all those tools available regardless of skin colour or gender or religion right? So there is no discrimination and all races, genders and creeds are treated equally on an individual basis.
Yes, you do! But you don’t take someone else’s accommodation and give it to someone else.
Load More Replies...
This is why it irritates me when I hear someone say they treat all their children the same. That means someone is not getting what they need. Everyone, even identical twins, has different needs.
This is excellent! I work in a class with chilldren all with very different learning needs. What is helpful for one child is not helpful to another but it is important that all the children in the class get the level of help they need to achieve success and that they understand why that help looks different for each child!
What a stupid stupid analogy from the teacher. How does this teach kids to deal with genuine unfairness, such as the rich people stealing all our money and blaming that on the most disenfranchised in society. When a pupil is beaten at home, or lives in competitive poverty and cannot focus on lessons at school, how does the plaster analogy work then? To a child that doesn't have the disadvantage they will still see that the other has more attention than themselves. Less Tik Tok promotions for bad ideas would help the children
I thought she was going to bring up as to how bandaids are only in one color and not a variety for all shades. That's slowly changing, but I don't know if that covers the whole spectrum.
I like this, and also used this kind of idea in my class to teach fairness. We needed to revisit the lesson quite a few times as the year went on, as most first graders aren’t so good at remember things as third graders. It was a good lesson to use when there were students got accommodations they needed (and received) that the others did not need (and did not receive). In First grade this is ‘NOT FAIR!”. I loved the way they became more accepting and understanding towards their classmates. I think the use of the word ‘fairness’ is much better than the word ‘equity’ . Fairness refers to how each person is getting treated in ways that helps them succeed. The way equity is being used today comes across as taking from one group of people to provide a second group things that are seen, wanted, but not worked for. This teacher’s lesson would not have worked to the benefit of all the students had she taken a fancy notebook that parents sent in with one child and give it to another child.
Please excuse the grammatical and/or spelling errors above. I blame them on FFS (fluffy finger syndrome), autocorrect, and not going back to check my work!
Load More Replies...
This is the best way to explain it that I've heard, thank you, you are amazing
She is a great teacher. Just read this to my wife who has just started as a Teaching Assistant in a special needs school. She though it was an amazing idea. My son’s teacher last year found a way to keep him engaged to do the work. He struggled to adjust to going back to school after it being closed during lockdown. What they found is that he will do the work if he feels like he is control. So they give him the choice between two pieces of work. He is autistic. Sometimes he needs ear defenders.
I had a friend teach his toddlers the go give half of your Halloween candy to a kid who only went too a few houses and didn’t do the work. The whole fair taxes thing. I told him too teach “why am I such a greedy a-hole and have way more candy than I need”
Nice! But lay off the fake-face-filter. It's really distracting to get your message :-)
But the opposite is also true, by not treating everyone equitably, many often do get left behind. The method you are speaking of is the go-to for many educators, and even parents occasionally. I have seen to many kids get ignored because everyone being treated "right" meant they could not get what they needed to succeed. The expectations of do your personal best should be the same for all, with the understanding that achieving that is different is for everyone. I have seen too many of my daughter's, and even my own schoolmates horribly short-changed by everyone being treated "right." BTW, your statement "The goal.....is showing each person the path so they can make the most of themselves" is basically what equity is. Some just need directions, others may need a map, GPS, signposts and a flashlight in order to achieve that goal.
Load More Replies... 
EQUALITY: Three people are hurt: one serious head wound, one elbow scrape, and one deep cut. You give all three a bandaid. You've treated all three equally, but two are not helped. EQUITY: You give a bandaid to the elbow scrape, then take head wound and deep cut to hospital for medical attention. Everyone gets what they need. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Load More Replies...
That's pretty much the point - people need different types of help. Sometimes there have to be exceptions to rules. For example, no eating candy in class is a general rule. If someone is diabetic, an exception has to be made. It doesn't prevent other children from learning and it allows the diabetic to survive the day.
Load More Replies...
Sometimes the gifts are not seen. For example, someone with a disability that doesn't affect their intelligence might be treated as if intellectually handicapped. An example: Several decades ago, the school principal wanted to sent my sister to a less academic school (ahem, for the "special") because of her 10% vision. My mother resisted and pushed my sister to excel. What my sister needed was to sit at the front, be able to walk up to read the blackboard when needed and a few extra minutes to finish tests (low visions slows down reading). She's the only one in my family to have a Master's degree and to be gifted with the ability to manage groups of people. The principal tried to clip her wings, not those with better eye sight. Thank goodness times have changed.
Load More Replies...
If you teach enough kids not "Life should be fair" but "We should all be as fair/helpful as we can to each other" maybe we will stop accepting terrible treatment from others as ok. I think kids can understand the difference between events that happen that are not fair and people *choosing* to do things that are helpful or unhelpful.
Load More Replies...
As a student with ADHD I love this. This teacher seems to really care about helping each individual and not all teachers understand how to do that. Not only that but shes very open to helping each student try different things to help them achieve their best which teaches them to do this later in life instead of forcing themselves into methods that don't work for them. It normalizes accommodations and teaches these kids not to be ashamed of needing accommodations.
Helping people and equitable are the traits of a noble and kind person. I respect that.
I follow her on TikTok. She is amazing. She has great tips for helping students with everything from emotions to spelling. I wish she was my granddaughter's teacher, not that she doesn't have a wonderful teacher, but this woman is a whole new level.
I must not be as smart as a third grader because I didn't understand her bandaid lesson's point. After reading the comments, I think I get it.
I like the equal v fair/equitable meme with people standing on boxes. https://medium.com/@CRA1G/the-evolution-of-an-accidental-meme-ddc4e139e0e4
Looked it up because of your post. A great way of teaching the basics.
Load More Replies... When I went to school, it was more like "you're different, you'll be punished!" - no matter what else. Ok, THAT teacher left not long after I changed school, as her antics weren't that popular among parents or children or anyone at all ... but, right until then, she had been a teacher for about 30 years ... 30 years of effing up children's experience in education, and maybe losing a lot on the way who could be, whatever, an engineer who has THAT one idea that gets fusion reactors from lab stuff that's cool to an indefinite source of energy for any and every purpose ... who got into special ed because he was different ... and got into drugs, because nothing else made his life enjoyable ... actually, I know one who maybe could have been that one. Well, know ... knew. He OD'ed when he was 16. Highly intelligent, very considerate, but quite different and triggerable ... would have needed something else than a system that is run to accomodate the laziest teachers.
She should put bandaids on everyone and say hey we all need help we all have broken hearts and boo boos and scrapes but you know what scientist say we are all related and all one family and that's what we do were family and we're going to be here for each other. To pick each other up when we fall down because no man left behind. Unify them not put them in their own categories. And teach them about all the possible disabilities because there's a lot a s**t ton half the population is disabled in some way and on assistance so make sure they are very aware because it's a scary world out here. And we're going to need a village to fix it.
This is fantastic. Teaching young children this valuable lesson will assist them later on in life just as much as in the present. Ah, one favor, please. Could you teach their parents this lesson. Since the 2020 US elections, I'm sick of hearing adults whining about how life isn't fair.
Yep and you make all those tools available regardless of skin colour or gender or religion right? So there is no discrimination and all races, genders and creeds are treated equally on an individual basis.
Yes, you do! But you don’t take someone else’s accommodation and give it to someone else.
Load More Replies... This is why it irritates me when I hear someone say they treat all their children the same. That means someone is not getting what they need. Everyone, even identical twins, has different needs.
This is excellent! I work in a class with chilldren all with very different learning needs. What is helpful for one child is not helpful to another but it is important that all the children in the class get the level of help they need to achieve success and that they understand why that help looks different for each child!
What a stupid stupid analogy from the teacher. How does this teach kids to deal with genuine unfairness, such as the rich people stealing all our money and blaming that on the most disenfranchised in society. When a pupil is beaten at home, or lives in competitive poverty and cannot focus on lessons at school, how does the plaster analogy work then? To a child that doesn't have the disadvantage they will still see that the other has more attention than themselves. Less Tik Tok promotions for bad ideas would help the children
I thought she was going to bring up as to how bandaids are only in one color and not a variety for all shades. That's slowly changing, but I don't know if that covers the whole spectrum.
I like this, and also used this kind of idea in my class to teach fairness. We needed to revisit the lesson quite a few times as the year went on, as most first graders aren’t so good at remember things as third graders. It was a good lesson to use when there were students got accommodations they needed (and received) that the others did not need (and did not receive). In First grade this is ‘NOT FAIR!”. I loved the way they became more accepting and understanding towards their classmates. I think the use of the word ‘fairness’ is much better than the word ‘equity’ . Fairness refers to how each person is getting treated in ways that helps them succeed. The way equity is being used today comes across as taking from one group of people to provide a second group things that are seen, wanted, but not worked for. This teacher’s lesson would not have worked to the benefit of all the students had she taken a fancy notebook that parents sent in with one child and give it to another child.
Please excuse the grammatical and/or spelling errors above. I blame them on FFS (fluffy finger syndrome), autocorrect, and not going back to check my work!
Load More Replies... This is the best way to explain it that I've heard, thank you, you are amazing
She is a great teacher. Just read this to my wife who has just started as a Teaching Assistant in a special needs school. She though it was an amazing idea. My son’s teacher last year found a way to keep him engaged to do the work. He struggled to adjust to going back to school after it being closed during lockdown. What they found is that he will do the work if he feels like he is control. So they give him the choice between two pieces of work. He is autistic. Sometimes he needs ear defenders.
I had a friend teach his toddlers the go give half of your Halloween candy to a kid who only went too a few houses and didn’t do the work. The whole fair taxes thing. I told him too teach “why am I such a greedy a-hole and have way more candy than I need”
Nice! But lay off the fake-face-filter. It's really distracting to get your message :-)
But the opposite is also true, by not treating everyone equitably, many often do get left behind. The method you are speaking of is the go-to for many educators, and even parents occasionally. I have seen to many kids get ignored because everyone being treated "right" meant they could not get what they needed to succeed. The expectations of do your personal best should be the same for all, with the understanding that achieving that is different is for everyone. I have seen too many of my daughter's, and even my own schoolmates horribly short-changed by everyone being treated "right." BTW, your statement "The goal.....is showing each person the path so they can make the most of themselves" is basically what equity is. Some just need directions, others may need a map, GPS, signposts and a flashlight in order to achieve that goal.
Load More Replies... EQUALITY: Three people are hurt: one serious head wound, one elbow scrape, and one deep cut. You give all three a bandaid. You've treated all three equally, but two are not helped. EQUITY: You give a bandaid to the elbow scrape, then take head wound and deep cut to hospital for medical attention. Everyone gets what they need. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Load More Replies... That's pretty much the point - people need different types of help. Sometimes there have to be exceptions to rules. For example, no eating candy in class is a general rule. If someone is diabetic, an exception has to be made. It doesn't prevent other children from learning and it allows the diabetic to survive the day.
Load More Replies... Sometimes the gifts are not seen. For example, someone with a disability that doesn't affect their intelligence might be treated as if intellectually handicapped. An example: Several decades ago, the school principal wanted to sent my sister to a less academic school (ahem, for the "special") because of her 10% vision. My mother resisted and pushed my sister to excel. What my sister needed was to sit at the front, be able to walk up to read the blackboard when needed and a few extra minutes to finish tests (low visions slows down reading). She's the only one in my family to have a Master's degree and to be gifted with the ability to manage groups of people. The principal tried to clip her wings, not those with better eye sight. Thank goodness times have changed.
Load More Replies... If you teach enough kids not "Life should be fair" but "We should all be as fair/helpful as we can to each other" maybe we will stop accepting terrible treatment from others as ok. I think kids can understand the difference between events that happen that are not fair and people *choosing* to do things that are helpful or unhelpful.
Load More Replies...
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