Ask one student to come up that believes that they are pretty good at catching. Hold up a ball each time and say, “This tennis ball represents school, this tennis ball represents your after school sport, this tennis ball represents friends, sports, chores, school clubs, planning a birthday party, family, part time job (anything students in class may be involved in or have to do on a regular basis as well as anythings they would like to do with their free time.)

Attempt #1: Tell the volunteer to get ready to catch each responsibility but don’t drop the ball on anything. Rapidly name off responsibilities as you toss tennis balls to the student. They will catch the first few but begin missing and dropping them. After all have been tossed ask the class why they dropped them or didn’t even catch the tennis balls.

Attempt #2: Ask the student if it would be better to plan ahead or maybe say “no” to a few things ahead of time. Decide what is most important and what should be tossed last or not at all. Also ask if they would like to plan some breaks every couple of tosses to put things down and focus on the balls (responsibilities) coming up. The second attempt should be easier. Ask the class what they think made it easier and how do the tennis balls relate to real life responsibilities.

Have students watching write down their thoughts for the questions after the first and second attempt and collect to see if they were processing it but did not take part in the discussion.