Materials:
Water Cup (opaque is best)
Water vessel (with more water than cup can hold)
Student notebook/scratch piece of paper to write on

(*note - this activity is best done in person - just go off notes and write on the whiteboard)

(*note - 7th/8th grade students might have seen this activity, so start with asking them if they know the term 'empty the cup' - if the majority do, have them explain what it means and how it works before diving into the discussion - and skip the demonstration)

"Okay. I'm going to tell you all a story. While I'm telling you this story, imagine that this cup here is a person (or their brain). Just like a real person, you can't really see what's going on with them on the inside, so imagine that any water that is in the cup - or that I pour into the cup - represents what's going on inside them, what they're thinking about, dealing with, etc.

If you're not sure what I mean, just follow along with my story, and I think you'll get it.

So this cup is a fellow student. Imagine that they wake up in the morning, and they realize that the alarm didn't go off, so they're a little late. Aaahhh! That's frustrating."

(pour some water into the cup)

"Okay, no big deal. They have to rush a little bit, so they don't eat a full breakfast"

(pour some water into the cup)

"But they get out on time. They get to the bus stop - right on time - but the bus driver sees them, shakes their head, and closes the door - right in their face. And the bus leaves!"

(pour more water in the cup)

"So they get to class late, and the teacher points it out - 'I know!' and they sit in their seat."

(pour more water in the cup, close to full)

"But the morning starts okay, nothing too big. And then, right as they walk out of class to go to outdoor PLT, one of the other students accidentally stumbles into their back - and"

(pour water until it overflows the cup)

"The student loses it, starts cussing, and gets kicked out of class."

"So . . . why did the student lose it? Did they have beef with the other student? Are they a bad kid?"

(get student thoughts/ideas on board; write whatever they say . . . if they are focused on the student 'having problems with the other student' or 'being bad', move to next question)

"Okay - so what was the water supposed to represent? Why was I pouring water in the cup?"

(get student responses; different ideas, but make sure to segue with references to "a lot of things are going on," "things build up," etc.)

"So the water represents all the things that build up for us in a day, stress us out, and lead us to having trouble staying focused or controlling ourselves. It happens to all of us. Things going on at home, struggles in class - makes us react to things that we would normally not really care much about in a much bigger way - even though it's something ELSE that really led to it."

"In a moment, you all are going to write down the things that might fill up your cup. It's best to think of things that are filling your cup right now, but if you can't think of anything - what has filled your cup up in the past? Remember - it can be a lot of little things that fill your cup, so it doesn't have to be big."

"For example, one thing that is filling my cup right now is (share an actual example from your life - keep it mostly lightweight - you do not want to prime students to share overly-private things right now). Now it's your turn - I'll give you a minute to write down what's in your cup. Go."

(after minute is up)

"So let's share out - what are some things that fill your cup?"

(*note - when students share something that is generalizable, and you think other students might also share, say "raise your hand if you have a similar situation filling your cup" to get more 'voices' in the room)

(students share, get responses, ask "what does that look like?", if you get an 'over-share' like 'dad is drunk all the time' say "Wow, that's really hard, thank you for sharing out; going forward, since we don't all know each other too well yet, I'm going to ask that we don't share details that might put individuals in a negative light, because people might take that out of context, but we will have opportunities to share like that as we build out our class culture" - make sure to follow up later to make sure the student understands)

"Okay, so there are a lot of things filling up our cups. And they're not easy to ignore. Which makes focusing in class, getting along with our classmates, and just learning, overall - kind of difficult sometimes. So how do we deal
with that?"

(go to next slide)