TIME Collaborative: College View Elementary School | Page 4

implementing a new Model
In joining the TIME Collaborative and pursuing
expanded learning time, College View aimed to
provide students with more time for academic
extensions, greater freedom in technological
exploration, and opportunities for self-discovery
through essential life experiences. But the most
important element was a focus on the whole
child, not just segmented parts of a student’s
experience.

“During our morning meetings, we greet each
other with a handshake, high-five, or fist pump;
wish each other good morning; and then talk
about a character strength,” Gamba says.
Sometimes students and teachers will watch a
video or they will act out a scenario that
demonstrates a quality. The goal is to help
students recognize these qualities in themselves
and others, and to practice them.

“When we started we had this big mission and
vision session, and we talked about what we
wanted for kids. Assessment didn’t come up once.
What did was being a good person and ensuring
our students have the skills necessary to be
successful,” Gamba says. To get there, the first
step College View took was to add 70 minutes of
time each day, which added up to 25 more
“traditional-length” school days over the
course of the year. During the first year of
implementation, those 70 minutes were used to
add a 40-minute technology block and a
30-minute “drop-everything-and-read” block. In
the midst of this first year, though, the College
View team quickly realized that although
extended time with stud ents was an exciting
prospect, if it wasn’t being used effectively there
wasn’t much point. And although the extra time
was a good start, the team observed it wasn’t truly
changing the student experience.
So the leadership team reorganized the school
day and made a handful of changes. First, College
View extended schoolwide morning meetings
that were typically 15 minutes to 30 minutes.
This time is used to focus in and highlight the
qualities the elementary school wants to nurture
in students, like grit, perseverance, curiosity, and
social awareness. (All of these qualities were
drawn from research on positive psychology and
characteristics that successful people, like
Martin Luther King Jr. or Gandhi, embodied.)

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