Fair isn't Equal Band-Aid Lesson - Back to School - Diversity and Inclusion

Fair vs. equal bandaid lesson. I absolutely love using this back to school lesson on the first day of school to teach my students that they will not always be treated equally because not everyone has the same needs. This lesson is perfect for building your classroom community as well as promoting diversity and inclusion at the same time.

While this lesson is perfect for the first week of school, it can easily be used any time of the year to help your students understand that fair isn't equal. They will know that just because one of their classmates is doing something that seems easier or different, they can't say, "That's not fair!" They will grasp that in your class, equal isn't always fair.

This resource includes the following:

-A lesson plan that explains how to teach the bandaid lesson

-A PowerPoint that makes teaching this lesson easier for you, as well as engaging for the students

-32 ailment cards (blank ones are available so you can handwrite extra ailments if you want)

-Editable ailment cards (available in a PPT file)

-Posters that say, "Fair is not everyone getting the same thing. Fair is everyone getting what they need in order to be successful." (There are more than 6 different designs to choose from)

***NEWLY UPDATED ON 9/6/23: I have updated the design of the Powerpoint as well as the posters. If you prefer 2018's or 2019's design, they are still included in the download.

THE LESSON

Students discuss with their neighbors whether an unequal situation is fair or not. Students are assigned an ailment. They create a story to explain how they got that ailment and share it with the class. After each student shares their story, the teacher “fixes” each of their ailments by placing a Band-Aid on it. A classroom discussion follows and students are taught that equal and fair are different. Equal means everyone gets the same thing. Fair means everyone gets what they need to be successful.

THE POWERPOINT

This 39-slide PowerPoint is eye-catching and engaging. All of the questions you need to ask during this lesson are on the PowerPoint, making it so all you have to do is open up the PowerPoint and teach.

THE AILMENT CARDS

Students are each given an ailment card. Ailments include: paper cut, broken arm, pink eye, bee sting, scraped knee, sprained ankle, stubbed toe, bloody nose, tooth ache, headache, tummy ache, allergic reaction, broken wrist, sore throat, runny nose, ear infection, food poisoning, the flu, throwing up, a really bad cold, poison ivy rash, chicken-pox, broken nose, bug bite, a really bad cough, strep throat, a big bruise, jammed finger, back pain, knee pain, dislocated shoulder, and concussion.

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© Lotts of Learning