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Start small. Offering a link or a book to something the teacher may find useful may open up doors. A strategy that has worked for me in the past is to offer the reluctant teacher a brand new resource: who can resist a new book! Building on from here is to share the evidence of collaborative teaching. The results as experienced by the students and their work may be a strong influence in the success of attempting a collaborative approach.
Fullan, M.(1999) describes the characteristics of a collaborative approach. He lists four attributes; diversity and trust, provokes anxiety, connection and open endedness, fusion of the spiritual, political and intellectual. (p.38) Fullan goes on to describe how passionate teachers generate ideas and thrive in shared communities. Recently this occured in my workplace with the WeDo lego kits on loan from the Dept of Ed. The few teachers who had some experience of implementation were given time by our Principal to collaborate with class teachers to demonstrate the kits in classes. So many teachers commented positively and said it was ‘do-able.’
Fullan, M. (1999). Chapter 3: The deep meaning of inside collaboration. In Change forces: The sequel, (pp.31-41). London, Falmer Press, available CSU Library
