‘Quality of instruction is the top priority for the instructional principal’ (link to source). Lesson planning plays a crucial role in the delivery of quality instruction. Fostering an environment in which a faculty uses the same lesson planning structure and language can help create a culture of practitioners that work collectively toward student gains. One common lesson planning schema is via Jane Pollock.
Jane Pollock is a renowned author/co-author of seminal educational texts such as ‘Classroom Instruction that Works’. In her books she describes her ‘Teaching Schema For Master Learners’ which is an improvement/evolution of Madeline Hunter’s work and is referred to by the acronym GANAG. GANAG stands for Goal, Access Prior Knowledge, New Information, Application, Goal (revisit).
One question that may arise for Jane Pollock is ‘How does your schema differ from Madeline Hunter’. Mrs. Pollock’s response might be that we have had many advances in the field of neurology since Madeline Hunter’s work.
Facilitating faculty adoption of a consistent instructional language is an exciting and rewarding process. Along with quality teaching and learning improvements one might witness faculty being able to communicate with one another with more ease and fluency as they become familiar with a vetted common language. While such an endeavor may be vast and time consuming, teaching and learning along with general climate could see marked improvements in a short amount of time.