During the summer 2021 term, I collaborated with Jon Norfolk, Learning Center Coordinator, at De La Salle High School in Concord, CA to design the Summer Reader's Workshop. This workshop provided the dual purpose of serving as a field experience for Education Specialist teacher candidates and providing DLS students with a jumpstart on their Fall semester. Teacher candidates learned the structure of "Reciprocal Teaching" and implemented a series of three workshops teaching DLS students how to use this structure to improve their reading comprehension of grade level novels.

This school-university partnership highlights the key features of effective teacher education by:

• providing field-embedded coursework (Lesson Planning)

• clinically-rich experience (opportunity for observation and reflection)

• mutually beneficial (met the needs of DLS students struggling to meet ELA course requirements)

• engaging with students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds (95% of students identify Black, Mixed Race, or Latino) additionally they are enrolled on basis of financial need through the Bishop Cummins scholarship 

Fall 2020 occurred during a time of extreme uncertainty. School districts in California were constantly setting re-opening dates and then postponing due to fluctuation of COVID-19 cases in their local county.