Seven sheets covering all twelve lessons. Print the whole thing once, black and white, and pull the sheet you need. Each one prints on its own page.
Why these look so empty. Marcus's hand gives out after about three words, and every session that has ended in tears has ended in a writing block. Each sheet has three or four things to write and a lot of space to write them in. A twenty-item worksheet is not a harder version of this — it's a session that ends early.
Two rules on every sheet. Say the answer out loud before the pencil moves. And while he's writing, you say nothing — no spelling, no grip, no neatness. Feedback comes after, and it names one specific thing he did well.
No printer? Every sheet here is a few lines on blank paper. The headings are the only part that matters.
Stat card
Lesson 1
How to run it: you write the three player names on the left. You read out the yards. He writes the three numbers only. That is the whole writing task for Lesson 1 — three numbers, not words. Ask for the total in his head; he writes it if he wants to.
Player
Yards
Total
Stop rule: if he cries, says something like "I'm stupid," or leaves — the lesson is over. Squeeze, a few minutes alone, or something easy he's good at. Note which block it happened in.
Depth chart — running back
Lesson 2
How to run it: ask who his top three running backs are — real players or ones from a game, either is fine. Last names only, one per box. Three words total. If he asks for a fourth line he can have it; don't offer.
1 — Starter
2 — Backup
3 — Third string
Afterwards, one specific true thing: "You fit the whole name in the box without running out of room."
Three-word answers
Lessons 4 and 5
How to run it: Lesson 4 uses the first question only. Lesson 5 uses both. He says the answer out loud first, then writes three words — one per box. Not a sentence. Three words is the finished job.
1.
2.
Write the question on the line yourself, or just ask it out loud — he doesn't need to see it written down.
Show the middle number
Lessons 5 and 6
How to run it: two problems. For each one he writes the number he had to work out first, then the answer. That middle number is the thing school calls "showing your work." Two problems, four numbers — that's the whole load.
If he refuses to write the middle number, let him say it and you write it. He writes the answer. The point this week is that a middle step exists.
Problem 1
Middle number
Answer
Problem 2
Middle number
Answer
Read the problems out loud from the lesson page. He doesn't need them printed.
Put it in order
Lessons 3 to 6 — reading
How to run it: after he's read or heard the passage, he numbers these boxes 1 to 5 — or cuts them out and lays them in order. He writes five digits, nothing else. This is a reading task, not a writing one.
Write the five events into the boxes yourself, out of order, straight from the passage. Or use the screen version, which shuffles them for you.
If he gets three of five in place, that's a pass. Ask him about the two that moved, don't correct them.
One sentence
Lessons 7, 8 and 9
Lesson 7: he composes it out loud, you write it on the first line, and he copies the second half only onto the second line.
Lesson 8: he writes the whole thing himself. This is the biggest day of the month. Do not add anything to the lesson because it looks light — it's light on purpose.
Lesson 9: both lines, two sentences, same difficulty as Lesson 8.
Say it out loud first. All the way through.
Capital at the start. Full stop at the end. Those two things are the target — spelling is not, and does not get corrected. Not this month.
If he stalls at the blank line, say the first two words back to him and then stop talking. Don't write them.
Scouting report
Lessons 11 and 12
Lesson 11: the first three lines only. Stop at three even if he's going well.
Lesson 12: the last two lines. Then he reads the whole thing out loud, and it gets photographed and sent.
This is the finished thing the whole month was built toward. Don't fix the spelling on it — not even on the good copy.
Player
What he is good at
Why that matters
One weakness
Would you draft him?
Five sentences, in his handwriting, that he composed. Four weeks ago the entire job was writing three numbers on an index card.