Content

Introduction: Bean Bag Toss Exercise (elements of building trust)

1. Form groups of about 8 students each. Each group stands in circle.
2. Share the objective of this exercise: "Pass the bean bag to each person in the circle as quickly as possible."
3. Explain how the game works: One person tosses bag to someone across the circle (they should not hand the bag to someone next to them). Receiver indicates they have been thrown to and continues to pass bag to a student across the circle from them.
4. Establish pattern. Repeat pattern with the same teammates always tossing the bag to the same person. A cycle is complete when all teammates have tossed and received the bean bag. The last teammate passes the bean bag to the first person.
5. If a bag drops, the pattern starts over.
6. Add another objective, this one is even more important than the first! "Make your teammate (the person you are passing to) look good," In other words, if your partner drops a bag… it is your responsibility.
7. As group improves… introduce challenges (if appropriate):
8. 1. Add more bean bags.
   2. Throw bags as quickly as possible as a competition between groups.
   3. Have groups walk randomly around room while tossing beanbags. (rule: no one gets hurt!)

Materials/Notes

• 1 bean bag per group at start.
• Potentially 1-2 more bags given to each group later in exercise.

Content

1. Debrief:
   1. How did you feel at the beginning of the exercise when the goal was to pass the bean bag as quickly as possible? Did this exercise build trust or break it down for you? What helped us achieve our task (complete the pattern without dropping the bag and/or to complete the pattern without dropping the bag as quickly as possible)? What stood in the way?
   2. What happened when I suggested that it was your responsibility to ensure that your teammate caught the beanbag? How did it feel to be responsible for someone else looking good? How did it feel to know your teammate was responsible for making you look good?
   3. How might this game help us think about building trust? Losing trust? How does being accountable or responsible to someone else relate to building trust? To losing trust?

Materials/Notes

PowerPoint slides #2-#4

White board or poster paper to record ideas about how working as a team in this exercise relates to building and losing trust

Content

Finish.

Materials/Notes

Content

Identifying Trust in Our Lives

Give students the following instructions:

"Reflect on any of the following questions. You will be asked to share some of what you wrote with a partner after."

1. Think of someone in your life that you trust. How did they gain your trust?
2. Think of a time when someone lost your trust. How did they lose your trust? How could/did they earn your trust back?
3. Reflect on a time when you gained or lost another person's trust. What happened? If you lost someone's trust, what could you do to earn their trust back?

Materials/Notes

Note: Some students may have traumatic experiences resulting in loss of trust. If this is the case, feel free to omit question 2.

Slide # 5

Content

Pair-Share: "Turn to your shoulder-partner and take 2 minutes each to discuss what you wrote. If you have time, talk about what you do to gain and maintain trust in your relationships."

Materials/Notes

Content

Whole class share-back:

Students can share their insights and questions with the class.

Materials/Notes

Content

As an optional challenge, invite each student to choose a skill they can work on to better build and maintain trust in their communities. This can be simple. For example, saying please and thank you more often, doing their chores at home without being asked, apologizing when someone says we've hurt their feelings, or doing a random act of kindness once a week.

Materials/Notes

Optional: If students are interested in doing the challenge, consider writing down their goals on poster paper and hanging them in the classroom to encourage accountability.

Content

Read the provided quote, then have students pair-share in response to the following and then share their thoughts with the class:

• What does it feel like to trust someone?

• How do you know when you trust someone?

• Who are some of the people in your life that you trust?

Materials/Notes

Slide 7 quote

Content

Quick brainstorming:

• When you're having a hard day, who do you usually talk to about it?

• Who do you talk to when you're feeling emotional?

• What about when you have a problem you don't know how to solve?

Suggested transition statement:

All the people we just discussed are people in our support networks. They're people in our community that we trust and can go to to talk about personal and sometimes hard things. We all need support networks because life can be challenging and we don't have to face our challenges alone.

Materials/Notes

Slide 8: sample network map

Paper

Markers

Example of activity

Content

Activity: Create support network maps

1. Start with yourself in the middle of the paper

2. In any configuration around you, draw the people around you that you go to when you need help (examples: parents, grandparents, friends)

3. If you have time, write a sentence about what you talk to each person about. Write about how they support you.

Materials/Notes

• Slide 8: sample network map
• Paper
• Markers
• Example of activity

Content

Come back together and share your maps in the larger group.

Optional:

• Discuss with students how to find people to fill their support networks if they see gaps (example: They don't have anyone to talk to when they're feeling sad)

• Provide community support resources (counselors, therapists, mentorship programs, etc.

Materials/Notes